The European program Amerique Latine-Formation Academique (ALFA) has provided 12 Latin-American and 10 European universities and colleges with a framework for creating an International Master in Rural Development. Globalization, regional integration, and sustainability have created a new set of questions for rural areas, both in Europe and in…

Suggests that the mass media could contribute more to rural development in Jordan if information on agricultural issues were disseminated. (RB)

Describes how the staff and students of Ahmednagar College Center for Studies in Rural Development, Maharashtra, India, worked with the villagers of Pargaon to solve their irrigation problems. (JT)

The contributors to this document compare the main approaches to agricultural extension in sub-Saharan Africa; the cost-effectiveness in view of precarious national budgets; the weaknesses of the system for generating technology; the difficulties in forging productive partnerships between researchers, extensionists and farmers; the ineffective…

This article features CATIE (Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza), a tropical agricultural research and higher education center. CATIE's mission is to be instrumental in poverty reduction and rural development in the American tropics, by promoting diversified and competitive agriculture and sustainable management of natural…

Home to 65 million people, rural America is no longer insulated from national and international events. Once dependent entirely upon agriculture and natural resource industries, today rural America relies upon manufacturing and service industries. Jobs and other income opportunities in rural America must respond to global business cycles and…

Notes changes in the social contract between society and land grant universities and resulting implications for rural sociology's research, teaching, and extension agenda. Traces the legislative, academic, and social contexts of these changes. Suggests new organizational and networking strategies for rural sociology that will foster new…

The Antigonish Movement, Farm Radio Forum, and Centre for Community Studies were three Canadian community development programs that supported adult education's social change mission. Current extension practice focuses on cost recovery and marketing courses to those who can pay; these historical examples show a way to renew the mission and vision…

Wes Jackson, founder of the Land Institute (Salina, KS), seeks alternatives to the industrial agriculture that exhausts the soils and economies of small, rural Kansas communities. In Matfield Green (Kansas), interns from the Land Institute manage the town's cafe and help residents work together on achieving a sustainable economy based on renewable…

Alternative models of education which have succeeded in India are described. They are institutions of non-formal education and rural development with roots in the schooling process of ancient India. The author notes present factors which make India well suited for such systems to function better than the present British-imposed system. (JT)

This document presents a rationale and procedures for a series of workshops on land use planning. It was developed initially as a response to the need for information and materials for land use planning in rural Alaska. A four cycle planning model is provided and a suggested format is offered for an individual workshop session. Each session…

The contributions distance teaching (education delivered to learners who study anywhere and in their own time) can make to work-oriented, family and community, professional and paraprofessional, and general basic education in developing rural areas are discussed briefly. Its use in professional education is illustrated with description of the Free…

The effect of education and rural development in India is assessed from the standpoint of: farmers' education; out-of-school and college education of youth and women; university education; and school education. The general conclusion is that nonformal education has a direct and important contribution for rural development. (LBH)

A college instructor discusses his experiences in leading a student field study and planning project centered on the traditional rural African Market. Students benefitted from their work, but the instructor was unable to convince his colleagues about the project's validity. (Author/WB)

From its inception, the University of Limerick has cultivated a relationship with the local environment and worked for regional development. Its example shows how a university ethos geared to economic development issues can benefit the region in which it is located. (SK)