Gardner, Douglas J.

Kurjatko, Stanislav

Kúdela, Jozef

Paule, Ladislav

English

Wood and Fiber Science (E-Journal)

WOOD AND FIBER SCIENCEJOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF WOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYVolume 37 April 2005 Number 2THE STATUS OF WOOD SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMSIn the last century, mainly after World War II,wood science as an academic discipline was char-acterized by considerable development; but at thebeginning of the 21st century, there appears to be adecline in wood science. Recently, several papershave appeared in which scientists discuss the futureof research and education programs in wood sci-ence.Paul Winistorfer has thought about the future ofwood science and states that wood science educa-tion in the United States has recently experienced aperiod of continual decline (Winistorfer 2003). Heevaluates the situation in American wood scienceas rather insufficient, and he lists bad budgets, re-tirement of top specialists, low student numbers, amaturing woodworking industry, and overwhelm-ing offshore competition for North American pro-ducers as primary problems impacting thediscipline. All of this is wrapped up in the contextof fast-progressing, changing, and technologicalglobal society. The latter may be our biggest hurdlein changing our academic programs, to be vibranteducational and challenging environments that canproduce students who will lead the industry and dosocietal good.For the question of why university students havechosen specializations (sciences, engineering,medical professions) other than wood science,Winistorfer  proposes an answer—the educationprograms and woodworking industry are not attrac-tive enough. Academic programs are slow tochange, and their erosion will further continue un-less we change.It is necessary to improve academic research andoutreach programs, to incorporate innovations, tomove the frontiers on instrumentation, material sci-ence, use of technologies, and unconventional ap-proaches to nearly everything. It is not enough tomaster traditional knowledge of wood, withoutlinking this knowledge to other subject matter andprevious education.In the same issue of Wood and Fiber Science,Jim Bowyer, University of Minnesota, points outpositive and negative features of wood science(Bowyer 2003).Bob Youngs (2003) presented a detailed analysisof research in the field of wood science and tech-nology from 1990 up to the present and with anoutlook for the future. He does not see it so pes-simistically. According to his analysis, the task forthe future is to present wood as a modern industrialmaterial and link its utilization and sustainablemanagement of forest resources.It is necessary to involve our entire talent andbrain capacity in connection with scientific, techni-cal skills and knowledge provided by other sciencebranches—with the purpose of driving researchmore into the depth of the issue. To increase the po-tential of wood as a material requires developing aclose cooperation with specialists from relatedbranches of science and engineering. It is necessaryto transfer the knowledge from other disciplinesand make it profitable for our use. We need to at-tract the interest of students to convince them ofthe challenges, perspectives, and tasks in the area(Ifju 1996).Urgent changes in the curricula of wood scienceeducation are imperative in North America, and arealso necessary in Europe (Kurjatko and Babiak2004). The university educational system in Eu-rope is subjected to a process of globalizationlaunched by the Bologna Declaration (BD) in1999. Its aim is to develop a coherent and compactEuropean Education Area. The BD considers themain components playing a role in the develop-ment of universities: (1) increasing requirement foruniversity education worldwide; (2) globalizationand internationalization of education and research;Wood and Fiber Science, 37(2), 2005, pp. 189–191© 2005 by the Society of Wood Science and Technology(3) reorganization of the system of knowledge—in-terdisciplinary character of knowledge and re-search; (4) competitive environment; and (5) roleof universities in regional development.One of the last documents concerning the Euro-pean Education Area is a communiqué of the Con-ference of Ministers Responsible for UniversityEducation held in Berlin on September 19, 2003. Inthis communiqué, the European dimension of uni-versity education is accented (Kurjatko and Babiak2004). From the viewpoint of accreditation of aca-demic programs, the ministers agreed that the national systems evaluating the quality of univer-sity education should incorporate: (1) definition ofthe responsible extent of interested organizationsand institutions; (2) evaluation of programs and in-stitutions, including internal evaluation, externalrevisions, participation of students, and publicationof results; (3) system of accreditation, certification,and comparative procedures; (4) international par-ticipation, cooperation, and networking. A linkagebetween the European Education Area and Euro-pean Research Area was highlighted.From the above-mentioned analysis outcome,we have the flexibility to react to significantchanges. There appear a set of questions, for whichwe have to find answers: (1) What do we do tokeep the wood science profession sufficiently at-tractive for students? (2) Is the wood science pro-fession accepted by other scientific institutions andby the public? (3) Are our education programs con-structed in a way to educate a specialist for themodern woodworking industry on a global world-wide scale? (4) Shall we attract more students byour high demands or benevolence? (5) Whatshould be done to improve the position in a strongcompetitive education market? (6) How do we uti-lize our uniqueness in favor of society? (7) How dowe find ways of cooperation with other branches ofscience, mainly material science leading to mutualprosperity? (8) Where do we find cooperation be-tween forestry and wood science?It is not an easy task to find answers for thesequestions. One of the possibilities of searching foranswers to these questions and problems was therecent International Symposium “Wood Science—Education and Research Programs” held August16–20, 2004, in Stará Lesná, Slovakia.The 3-day symposium was co-sponsored by theTechnical University in Zvolen, the InternationalUnion of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)Division 5—Wood Science and the Society ofWood Science and Technology (SWST). Academicprograms from eight countries from North Americaand Europe were presented at the conference. Topics covered by the symposium included devel-opment of new academic programs and curricula in wood science and technology at both the under-graduate and graduate level, accreditation of academic programs, and delivery of continuing ed-ucation for practicing professionals. Even thoughthe participation was more modest than expected,the symposium fulfilled its mission and created thebasis for further development of educational pro-grams for education of young specialists in thisprofession.From among the programs presented, several au-thors emphasized the necessity of closer coopera-tion and bridging between forestry and forestproducts academic programs. The evolving formatof university studies in Europe over the past 50years has been the development of independentunits (faculties) or specialized schools of wood sci-ence and forest products, and has surely been a suc-cess in many respects. Wood science educationgained independent status, created numerous spe-cializations, and formed a good basis for future de-velopment. It happened, however, that because oflegislation and also practices at forestry and forestproduct schools, both academic programs startedwith multidisciplinary issues, formed specializa-tions, and ended at mutual isolation. This develop-ment at present shows the necessity of closercooperation between academic programs and intro-duction of a closer inter- and multidisciplinary ap-proach. Regardless of the existing specialization,the academic programs in wood science need morebiological background, and forestry academic pro-grams need more disciplines linked to wood prop-erties and wood processing. Only in this way cangeneral and versatile programs in renewable re-sources management be attained.A positive feature of the last development of in-ternational collaboration is that within IUFRO theworking unit aimed at education in wood scienceand forest products has recently been established190 WOOD AND FIBER SCIENCE, APRIL 2005, V. 37(2)and creates a good platform for international col-laboration. Another medium of international col-laboration is also represented by the InternationalPlatform of Forestry Education, which is at presentcoordinated by the University of British Columbia,Vancouver, Canada. It is expected that the IUFROunit 5.14.00 and the platform on forestry educationwill be a versatile tool for substantial improvementof international collaboration in the field of for-estry and forest products education worldwide.It is clear from the discussions among the con-ference participants that the symposium, which fo-cused primarily on educational aspects of woodscience, was enlightening and an important forumfor presenting novel pedagogical ideas. Some com-mon themes and ideas arose during the symposium.These are listed in no particular order of signifi-cance: (1) The teaching of basic wood materialproperties (anatomy, chemical, physical, and me-chanical properties) is still an important foundationof wood science-based academic programs. (2)There is a need to better link the teaching of tree bi-ology and forestry practices to wood science mate-rial properties. (3) Accreditation or evaluation ofacademic programs whether done by a professionalsociety such as SWST or by an academic board atstate or country level is deemed important, and ex-ploring international academic accreditation ofwood science programs should be explored ingreater detail. (4) Novel or modified academic pro-grams based on wood science and technologyshown to be successful rely on input from the enduser groups be they industrial producers or forestproducts distributors. (5) Recruitment of studentsis still a primary issue at academic institutions rep-resented at the conference. Several programs haveexperienced success in recruitment, and the factorscontributing to this success should be disseminatedto the profession. (6) It is recognized that the devel-opment of emerging technologies of which wood isa component including advanced wood-polymerhybrid composites will require education in materi-als science and engineering. What will be effectiveteaching methods for addressing these emergingmaterials? This will most likely be done at the post-graduate level or in 5-year programs that are nor-mal for European academic programs. (7) Greatercooperation among wood science academic pro-grams is important. Wood science academic pro-grams should be working together to build onstrengths. The issue of standardization of programsacross European Union countries and globally intransferring course credits across programs was a common theme in many presentations. (8) Theparticipants agree that another conference of thistype should be held in 3 years. It is hoped that therewill be greater participation in a future conference,including participation by other parts of the worldincluding Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America.referencesBoyer, J. L. 2003. Changes needed in wood science educa-tion. Wood Fiber Sci. 35(4):631–632.Ifju, G. 1996. To secure the future of the wood science andtechnology profession. Wood Fiber Sci. 28(2):145.Kurjatko, S., and M. Babiak. 2004. Where goes univer-sity education in wood science? (in Slovak). Univerz.Nov. TU vo Zvolene 12(1):3.Winistorfer, P. M. 2003. The future of wood science andforest products—in our hands or theirs? Wood Fiber Sci.35(4):481.Youngs, R. L. 2003. Wood science and technology in NorthAmerica. Forest Prod. J. 53(11–12):12–21.Douglas J. GardnerWood Science and TechnologyUniversity of MaineOrono, Maine, USAStanislav Kurjatkoand Jozef KúdelaFaculty of Wood Science and TechnologyTechnical University in Zvolen, SK96053Zvolen, SlovakiaLadislav PauleFaculty of ForestryTechnical University in Zvolen, SK96053Zvolen, SlovakiaGardner et al.—THE STATUS OF WOOD SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS 191

The Status of Wood Science Education Programs

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The Status of Wood Science Education Programs

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