Bulletin

Issue: July 2006

International

New La Trobe Degree for Third World

La Trobe University is introducing a new double degree next year to train graduates to work in third world countries.

Called a Bachelor of Agricultural Science / Bachelor of International Development, the combined degree aims to attract those wishing to work in developing countries and to help improve their agriculture.

A senior academic in La Trobe’s Department of Agricultural Sciences, Dr Peter Sale, a co-ordinator of the new course, has first hand knowledge about the needs of the communities the new course is designed to help.

Dr Sale spent part of last year working as a volunteer with a non-government organisation, the African Child Foundation (ACF), in Ugandan villages in East Africa, where HIV/AIDS is rife and many young children are orphans.

Years of war, political upheaval, and sickness have left a once rich agricultural area in poverty, without infrastructure and insufficient finance to raise agricultural production to its potential.

Dr Sale worked on agricultural projects while his wife, Julie, also a volunteer, worked as a teacher and helped with HIV/AIDS testing with village communities.

After returning from Uganda, the Sales are continuing to help these communities. Julie has been raising funds to help ACF build and equip classrooms for a small school in the village of Katebo, near Lake Victoria.

‘Julie has received support from staff at La Trobe, local Rotary and local schools in Melbourne,e’ said Dr Sale who lectures in plant production and farming systems.

‘After discussing the needs of the Katebo community with the local people, my aim is to help the ACF raise funds to develop a goat farm and provide small goat flocks to the many widows who currently have no income,e’ Dr Sale said.

‘My experience in Uganda showed me first hand the need for the specialised training, both in agriculture and in the area of development studies, which is what this new double degree course is designed to provide.

‘The course will offer a range of skills required in these situationse’, he added. Dr Sale is co-ordinating the Agricultural Sciences segment of the double degree and Dr Alberto Gomes, a senior lecturer in La Trobee’s Sociology and Anthropology Program, will co-ordinate the International Development segment.