Новата Академия "Agricultural Education and Science": A roadmap with creative policies and practices

On 17 August 2020, a new Academy "Agricultural Education and Science" was launched. This innovative project is highly charged, incorporating ideas, energy and resources to build upon the existing levels of collaboration and connectivity between agricultural education, agrarian science and agribusiness. The fundamental transformation of information, educational and research processes promises to turn into a generator of high awareness, to create perspectives and new platforms for knowledge exchange.

Horizon No. 1 of the scientific team of the new formation is, with the help of a highly technological and intellectual academic toolkit, into whose selection professional and scientific competences and expertise of the highest class have been "implanted", to achieve the ambitious objectives of the "green" policies in Bulgaria, as part of the united European agricultural area – sustainability of precision agriculture, environmental protection, intensity, risk management and high performance under conditions of changing climate and unstable phytosanitary environment.

The launch of such an educational platform for applied research activities for colleagues practising the agricultural profession is a logical continuation and development of our extensive, long-standing experience in the field of agricultural education and applied agronomic science. "This initiative comes to fill a large niche which, in my opinion and in the opinion of many colleagues from practice, exists between agricultural education, agrarian science and agribusiness!", is convinced Prof. Tonyo Tonev from the Agricultural University in Plovdiv, founder of the Academy. A turning point that motivated and provided confidence in making the decision to establish a company with an educational mission is the possibility to use modern means and achievements of information technologies for distance learning. Through them, teaching is already widely conducted in schools and universities in Bulgaria. In some highly developed countries, including leading world universities, the distance form of training is already a tradition, established as a reliable way of delivering the educational process. In practice, the training that will be offered at the Academy „Agricultural Education and Science“ will be a kind of hybrid between distance and part-time form. It will provide an opportunity for participation to all who are related to the basic knowledge and innovative approaches in agricultural science and practice and who have dedicated themselves to this highly noble profession.

The first module – a course on applied aspects of plant protection will be held from 15 November 2020 to 15 March 2021.

What is the profile of the new Agricultural Academy? What is the philosophy of the team? You will read the answers to these and other questions addressed to Academy "Agricultural Education" on the Academy's website www.acadzon.bg and in the new 10/2020 issue of the journal “Plant Protection”.