Forestry education and training in Latin America

H.L. SHIRLEY and J. PRATS LLAURADÓ

HARDY L. SHIRLEY is former Dean of the State University College of Forestry, Syracuse, New York, and former chairman of the FAO Advisory Committee on Forestry Education, while J. PRATS LLAURADÓ FAO Forestry Department, is secretary. Abridged version of a report prepared for the fourth session of the FAO Advisory Committee on Forestry Education Ibadan, Nigeria, 11-12 July 1969).

With the exception of three schools for the Amazon, Caribbean and Central American areas, and possibly one for Ecuador, enough professional schools now exist in Latin America to meet needs to 1985, provided they can double their outturn of graduates. Each of the schools has need for quality improvement, some desperately so. Methods of assessing quality are suggested in the complete report and measures that can be taken to upgrade quality are outlined.

Schools for forest technicians are critically short. It is estimated that some 40 schools will be required, compared with 12 operating in 1968, only one of which was turning out the 65 - man aver age on which. the 40 schools are based. Moreover, at least half of those that were operating were actually turning out men trained at the advanced vocational rather than technician level. A major effort will have to be made at national level and by the technical assistance agencies to meet this need.

Although professionals and technicians are the key people in launching a successful forest development programme, forestry education must include forest workers at the vocational level, and a vast sector of the general public as well, if sound policies are to gain national acceptance, needed programmes financed, and forest industries contribute their full share to the national economies.

The purpose of this paper is to show that the programme advocated for the advancement of forestry education up to 1985 is realistic if weighed against the overall benefits that may be expected to accrue through carrying it out, and that the efforts required are commensurate with the region's possibilities in view of the striking development of forestry education and training in Latin America since the 1950s.

Purpose and methods of study

In 1967 the FAO Technical Committee on Forestry of the Fourteenth Session of the F A O Conference requested that a world-wide study of forestry education needs be made to determine how many additional schools would be needed, what their study programmes should include, and where they should be located. The study summarized in this note is the first of a series of regional studies to be made in response to the committee's request.

Educational planning, has made much headway in Latin America since it was first recommended at the regional level during the Second Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education (Lima, 1956). At the same time, the idea of economic planning is now commonly accepted in the region and the value of education as a productive investment of decisive importance to the development process as a whole is generally recognized. This paper is an attempt to apply the concept of integration of human resources planning with economic planning to a circumscribed yet important sector of the Latin American economy: that of forestry and. forest-based industries. The sectoral economic growth targets used in this study as a basis for planning educational and training requirements are part of a broader economic planning exercise; the authors have attempted, in turn, to fit their findings and suggestions on forestry education within the general educational plans of the countries concerned.

What has been done is to determine the numbers of forest technicians needed by the target year 1985 to perform the various tasks required if the goals of FAO's Indicative World Plan for Agricultural Development; (IWP) are to be attained. These include the establishment and care of forest plantations, management of natural forests, harvesting of timber and manufacturing lumber, pulp and other primary products. These requirements are arrived at by taking the IWP provisional production goals for 1985 and applying man power norms to them. :Needs for professional foresters are arrived at by applying supervisory norms to the various technician tasks. In addition, trained personnel requirements for multiple-use forestry for parks, wild. life, watershed management and recreation, as well as requirements for education, research, extension and training, have been estimated. By applying attrition ratios it was possible to arrive at the annual outturn needed for professionals and technicians. By using an average outturn for professional and technician schools; it was possible to project the number of schools needed to meet the overall task on a country-by-country basis.

The provisional projections of IWP supplied the main basis for quantitative estimates of educational needs for professionals and technicians. Much more, however, was needed to appraise the qualitative needs and the several facets of forestry other than those related to timber use. Here the authors made use of the rich experience FAO has had in Latin America. In addition, they visited numerous professional and technical schools and a questionnaire was circulated to all schools to obtain up-to-date information on enrolments, graduates, number of instructors, and other data.

To relate the projected educational programme to regional needs, the physical, economic and demographic features of the region as a whole are reviewed and some of the major tasks faced by the Latin American nations in developing and using their forest resources are highlighted. After examining the existing systems for forestry education in Latin America, the study suggests specific aims for the qualitative improvement and quantitative expansion of such systems in order to make them more rational and efficient. It also estimates the order of magnitude of expenditure necessary for these purposes. The exercise has been conducted for the region as a whole, and it is recognized that each individual nation must study its own situation. This will require critical review of the educational goals set forth, as well as of the targets for development of forestry and forest industries on which these goals are based. The authors have drawn attention to the danger of overvaluing formulae and undervaluing flexibility in making manpower requirements estimates. They have underlined the limitations of a method that covers, with the same set of assumptions and norms, many countries and diverse conditions.

The period up to 1985 has been selected for the study because 1985 is the second target year of IWP from which the estimates of trained manpower requirements have been derived. In addition to the use of IWP's provisional data, the authors have drawn liberally from the information and experience acquired by FAO as well as by the United Nations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) among the international organizations which have played a part in the educational and economic planning for Latin America.

Basic statistics for the assessment of trained manpower requirements

The contribution of forestry and forest industries to economic development will attain the levels advocated by IWP only if each country builds up an adequate professional and technical forestry and forest industries personnel to plan, control, and effectively implement the developments envisaged, especially with regard to new afforestation and reforestation, increased production of forest raw material and expansion of forest industry. An assessment of such personnel requirements is attempted on the basis of the relevant data from IWP's country accounts which are shown in Table 1A and Table 1B for forestry and forest industry respectively.

TABLE 1A. - BASIC DATA FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF TRAINED MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS FOR FORESTRY IN LATIN AMERICA BY 1985

Instruction in wood technology at the National Agricultural College, Chapingo, Mexico.

Quantitative estimates of trained manpower requirements

The trained manpower estimates given in Tables 2A, 2B and 2C have been based on the specific operations that will be necessary to attain the production targets advocated by IWP for 1985 and summarized in Tables 1A and 1B.

Empirical norms of technical staff per unit area of forest and unit of production have been used; estimates of professional staff have been derived from the numbers of technical staff by applying supervision ratios. These norms and supervision ratios are based to a large extent on experience gained elsewhere under similar conditions; while they are considered to be reasonable averages, they will need to be adjusted for each country and revised in the light of changing circumstances. The exercise is inspired on the methodological principles developed by S.D. Richardson ¹ and endorsed by the FAO Advisory Committee on Forestry Education at its third session (Munich, September 1967).

¹ S.D. RICHARDSON: 1967. Manpower and training requirements in forestry development planning, FAO document FO/IWP/67/1.

Although IWP does not give quantitative indication in this respect, minimum estimates have been made of the numbers of trained personnel required by 1985 for essential multiple-use forestry activities - including protection of selected natural forests - not directly related to IWP targets. For each country, these estimates (column 5 of Table 2A) are based on its probable requirements in the fields of: torrent control; soil and water conservation in mountain areas; forest protection against encroachment, fire, pests and diseases; forestry aspects of land settlement; and recreation, national parks and wildlife management. Here again, individual countries should adjust the estimates given according to their needs and possibilities.

Finally, the needs for development planning, extension, research, education and training activities have been calculated separately as percentages of the total numbers of forestry and forest industries trained personnel, keeping in mind the exceptional training effort required during the next 16 years.

TABLE 1B. - BASIC DATA FOR ASSESSMENT OF TRAINED MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREST INDUSTRY IN LATIN AMERICA BY 1985

	Roundwood consumption by forest industries		Pulp production
	Sawnwood	Panel products
	Thousand cubic metres ® per year in 1985		Thousand metric tons per year, 1985
Argentina	5014	712	870
Bolivia	281	16	-
Brazil	35177	5674	2160
Caribbean area	3694	833	195
Central America	8020	600	290
Chile	5870	637	1654
Colombia	4861	500	664
Ecuador	2012	142	160
Mexico	6562	930	430
Paraguay	344	48	-
Peru	1225	196	150
Surinam, Guyana, French Guiana	800	100	200
Uruguay	248	122	39
Venezuela	1265	212	386
TOTAL	75373	11722	8198

SOURCE: IWP provisional data and FAO document LAFC - 67/4, supplemented by estimates by the authors.

TABLE 2A. - TRAINED REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREST LAND MANAGEMENT IN LATIN AMERICA BY 1985

NORMS

1. Plantations

(a) Establishment (including related operations)

1 technician per 200 hectares

(b) Management

1 technician per 2 000 hectares in Argentina, Brazil and Chile;
1 technician per 1500 hectares in other countries

2. Natural forests

Management for production - 50 percent of the technicians required for the supply of industrial timber and fuelwood used by industry that is estimated to come from natural forests (see norm 3 below) and the percentages listed in the last column of Table 1A. For Mexico and Central America, the percentage used is 75 percent because of the extent of natural coniferous forests.

3. Supply of industrial timber and fuelwood (felling, logging and transport)

(a) For log production (sawlogs, plywood, veneer, sleepers)

1 technician per 10 000 cubic metres of roundwood removals per year

(b) For production of other industrial wood

1 technician per 30 000 cubic metres of roundwood removals per year

(c) Fuelwood production

1 technician per 100 000 cubic metres per year of industrial fuelwood (used in steel production, steamboats, trains, brick factories, etc.)
1 technician per 1 million cubic metres per year of nonindustrial fuelwood.

4. Forest industries

(a) Sawmilling

1 technician per 25 000 cubic metres annual input

(b) Wood-based panel industries

1 technician per 12 500 cubic metres annual input

(c) Pulp

1 technician per 5 000 metric tons annual output

5. Multiple - use forestry

Estimates based on the extent of: national parks; wildlife reserves and forest recreation areas; areas subject to torrential phenomena; watershed areas that need protection to avoid the silting of dams and other identifiable damage; forest management and forest plantation areas within land settlement schemes.

6. Ancillary activities

The needs of professional personnel for development and extension, :research, education and training, are estimated at 15 percent of total trained professional manpower requirements for activities 1 - 5 above.

TABLE 2B. - TRAINED MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREST INDUSTRY IN LATIN AMERICA BY 1985

		Timber processing			Pulp	Totals 1+2+4
		Sawmilling	Panel products	Subtotal 1+2
		(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Argentina	T	210	57	258	174	432
	P	40	19	59	87	146
Bolivia	T	11	1	12	-	12
	P	2	-	2	-	2
Brazil	T	1407	454	1861	432	2293
	P	281	151	432	216	648
Caribbean area	T	148	67	215	39	254
	P	30	22	52	19	71
Central America	T	321	48	369	58	427
	P	64	16	80	29	109
Chile	T	235	51	286	331	617
	P	47	17	64	165	229
Colombia	T	198	40	238	133	371
	P	40	13	53	66	119
Ecuador	T	80	11	91	32	123
	P	16	4	20	16	36
Mexico	T	262	154	416	286	702
	P	52	51	103	143	246
Paraguay	T	14	4	18	-	18
	P	3	1	4	-	4
Peru	T	49	16	65	30	95
	P	10	5	15	15	30
Surinam, Guyana, French Guiana	T	32	8	40	40	80
	P	6	3	9	20	29
Uruguay	T	10	10	20	8	28
	P	2	3	5	4	9
Venezuela	T	51	17	68	77	145
	P	10	6	16	38	54
TOTAL	T	3019	938	3957	1640	5597
	P	603	311	914	818	1732

NOTE: T = technical; P = professional.

TABLE 2C. - TRAINED MANPOWER :REQUIREMENTS FOR FORESTRY AND FOREST INDUSTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA BY 1985, BY SUBJECT AREAS

		Land management	Forest industry	Subtotal 1+2	Ancillary activities	Total 1+2+4
		(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Argentina	T	1834	432	2266	150	2416
	P	324	146	470	75	545
Bolivia	T	335	12	347	22	369
	P	69	2	71	11	82
Brazil	T	7584	2293	9877	534	10411
	P	1135	648	1783	267	2050
Caribbean area	T	1642	254	1896	104	2000
	P	273	71	344	52	396
Central America	T	2096	427	2523	136	2659
	P	341	109	450	68	518
Chile	T	2131	617	2748	172	2920
	P	347	229	576	86	662
Colombia	T	1706	371	2077	126	2203
	P	304	119	423	63	486
Ecuador	T	693	123	816	46	862
	P	120	36	156	23	179
Mexico	T	2540	702	3242	200	3442
	P	419	246	665	100	765
Paraguay	T	183	18	201	12	213
	P	37	4	41	6	47
Peru	T	1049	95	1144	74	1218
	P	215	30	245	37	282
Surinam, Guyana,French Guiana	T	375	80	455	32	487
	P	75	29	104	16	120
Uruguay	T	244	28	272	16	288
	P	42	9	51	8	59
Venezuela	T	925	145	1070	76	1146
	P	196	54	250	38	288
TOTAL	T	23337	5597	28934	1700	30634
	P	3897	1732	5629	850	6479

NOTE: T = technical; P = professional.

SUPERVISION RATIOS (PROFESSIONAL/TECHNICAL)

Plantations

(a) Establishment 1:7
(b) Management 1:6

Natural forests

Management for production 1:6

Timber supply 1:8

Industry

(a) Sawmilling 1:5
(b) Panel products 1:3
(c) Pulp 1:2

Multiple - use forestry 1:4

Ancillary activities 1:2

Demonstration in sawblade sharpening at the forestry Faculty, Agricultural University, La Molina, Peru.

Translating the manpower estimates into educational and training efforts

Table 2C shows that the trained forestry and forest industries personnel required by 1985 in Latin America will be in the order of 6 500 professionals and 30 600 technicians. This being accepted, the following questions arise:

(a) How do these figures compare with the present numbers of trained forestry and forest industries personnel?

(b) What should the annual outturns of professionals and technicians be, in order to attain the numbers estimated for 1985?

(c) Are these outturns realistic in view of the probable evolution of the countries' educational systems?

(d) What should be the role of existing forestry schools?

(e) What are the needs for new forestry schools; of what type and at what level?

(f) What is the order of magnitude of the required investments in education for forestry and forest industries?

(g) Are these investments commensurate with the benefits that can be expected from them?

PROFESSIONAL LEVEL

At the present time there are 17 schools in Latin America offering full-fledged curricula in forestry and/or forest industries at university level: Argentina, 2; Brazil, 4; Chile, 3; Colombia, 3; Costa Rica, 1; Mexico, 1; Peru, 1; Uruguay, 1 and Venezuela, 1. Although, usually, instruction in the field of forest products is offered as well (for example at Chapingo, Costa Rica, Medellín, Colombia and Turrialba, Mexico), the main emphasis at present is placed on silviculture, management and engineering, with only one school (Valparaíso, Chile) providing full undergraduate education in wood technology, and another school (Mérida, Venezuela) offering a postgraduate course in forest products The approximate numbers of graduates of all these schools are given in Table 3.

Most of the professionals at present engaged in forestry and forest industries come from the 17 above mentioned schools (approx. 1300). It is estimated that another 200 professionals come from about 20 university-level schools of agriculture in Latin America, offering limited training in forestry; from forestry schools outside the region; and from other professional careers such as chemistry or civil engineering. The 17 university-level forestry schools of Latin America graduate at present about 150 professionals annually, but could raise their aggregate annual outturn to some 450 professionals a year.

TABLE 3. - PROFESSIONAL-LEVEL SCHOOLS OF FORESTRY AND WOOD TECHNOLOGY OPERATING IN LATIN AMERICA IN 1968

	Location	Date of foundation	Course length	Graduate degrees¹ per year	Total graduates¹
Argentina	Santiago del Estero	1958	5	6	31
	La Plata	1960	23+2	5	25
Brazil	Vicosa	1960	4	20	33
	Curitiba	1963	4	30	81
	Piracicaba	1963	²4+1	³...	³...
	Rio de Janeiro	1967	³...	3...	³...
Chile	Santiago	1952	5	9	53
	Valdivia	1954	5	5	60
	Valparaíso4	1961	6	1	5
Colombia	Medellín	1950	5	9	54
	Bogota	1951	5	18	199
	Tolima	1962	5	³...	17
Costa Rica	Turrialba	1944	51-2	9	40
Mexico	Chapingo	1909	2,63+4	15	667
Peru	La Molina	1963	5	6	21
Uruguay	Montevideo	1960	5	2	6
Venezuela	Mérida7	1948	5	11	140
TOTAL				145	1432

¹ Approximate figures. - ² Forestry specialization following agronomy courses. - ³ ... No information available. - ⁴ Chemical forest industries. - ⁵ Graduate school. - ⁶ Includes part of secondary schooling. - ⁷ Undergraduate and graduate schools.

Assuming a wastage rate in the profession of 5 percent, an annual outturn of 500 is required to raise the present number of professionals engaged in forestry and forest industries (approximately 1 500) to the figure postulated for 1985 (approximately 6 500). Therefore, in quantitative terms alone, the existing university-level forestry schools in Latin America could practically cope with the educational effort required at this level, since part of the professionals needed, especially in forest industries, will come from other careers. The required yearly intake for university-level education in the field of forestry and forest industries (about 800 or less than 0.1 percent of all secondary school leavers) is unlikely to put any significant stress on the countries' educational systems.

In qualitative terms, however, a number of problems will have to be tackled. First, the geographical distribution of the schools is uneven. Thus, Colombia with its three university level forestry schools already faces an overproduction of forestry graduates, while there is only one school in the whole of the Central American and Caribbean areas. Second, adjustments will be necessary in the curricula and educational facilities, particularly to provide :for a higher proportion of trained professionals for forest industries and for timber supply. In the major forestry countries, provision at the university level for two curricula, one for forest land management and the other for forest industries and wood technology, is overdue. Third, provisions will have to be made to increase the facilities now available in Latin America for postgraduate training, specialization and continuing education in forestry and forest industries, as well as the opportunities for advanced training outside the region. All these aspects are discussed in detail in the full report.

TECHNICAL LEVEL

Compared with the present availability of forestry and forest industries technicians in Latin America, the figure of nearly 31000 technicians estimated for 1985 will require a sharp change of emphasis in present forestry education policies in favour of technical training.

According to available information, there are at present 12 technical-level forestry schools in Latin America. The aggregate outturn of these schools can be put at about 480 technicians yearly. Most if not all of these schools are of recent foundation, and it is estimated that the present number of forestry and forest industries technicians in the region, including those now employed who have had little or no formal training but have been trained in service, does not exceed 2500.

If Latin America is to increase the existing number of forestry and forest industries technicians to 30600 by 1985, its annual outturn of these technicians - assuming a wastage ratio of 5 percent - must average nearly 2700 annually between now and 1985. If it is assumed that this yearly figure can be reached by 1975, it will be necessary to compensate the below average outturn of the period prior to that, year by stepping up the outturn to about 3000 technicians a year between 1975 arid 1985. In addition to operating the existing schools at fully capacity - and expanding their capacity where possible - it will be necessary to create about 28 new schools. The breakdown by countries of the new schools proposed is shown in Table 4.

The reorientation of secondary education in favour of technical training is becoming increasingly accepted in Latin America and it can be assumed that the required intake of the technical-level forestry and forest industries schools - 3 300 a year on average - can be accommodated in the various national educational plans. It must be noted that, presumably, in-service training will continue to play a major role, particularly for forest industry technicians.

TABLE 4. - EDUCATION AND TRAINING CENTRES FOR FORESTRY MANPOWER IN LATIN AMERICA: EXISTING AND PROJECTED NEEDS TO 1980

	Professional level		Technical level
	1968	1980	1968	1980
Argentina	2	2	0	3
Bolivia	0	0	0	1
Brazil	4	4	0	14
Caribbean area	0	1	2	2
Central America	1	2	2	2
Chile	3	3	2	4
Colombia	3	1	0	3
Ecuador	0	1	1	1
Mexico	1	1	1	3
Paraguay	0	0	0	1
Peru	1	1	1	2
Surinam, Guyana, French Guiana	0	0	1	1
Uruguay	1	1	1	1
Venezuela	1	1	1	2
TOTAL	17	18	12	40

POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

Forestry education cannot be placed on a self-sustaining basis intellectually without postgraduate institutions to prepare men for high level administrative responsibilities, for education, and for research. At present, Latin America has but one well-established postgraduate school, the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IICA) at Turrialba. Steps are underway to develop a postgraduate programme at the University of the Andes. Both of these need hemisphere-wide encouragement and support. There will still be justification for establishing one at the University of São Paulo to specialize in wood technology and forest utilization.

Frequent mention has been made of the desirability of Latin American schools establishing sister relationships with strong schools in North America or Europe. This would be especially beneficial for postgraduate education and research. One school deserves special mention, the Spanish Forestry School at Madrid. Already it has presented a proposal to become a centre for postgraduate education of Spanish-speaking foresters. An adjunct to the proposal is that the postgraduate programme be developed jointly by the Madrid school, representatives of Latin American schools and by FAO.

It is a canon of educators that not all members of a faculty should hold their degrees from a single institution. The same applies to members of a forest service. Three centres for postgraduate education within Latin America itself are desirable: IICA, the University of the Andes, Venezuela, and the University of São Paulo. Added to this should be the University of Madrid. There will still be need to send men to other northern universities for postgraduate education in fields of special interest. Funding agencies should keep all these desirable channels open.

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS REQUIRED

The list of professional and technician schools likely to be required to educate the numbers of professionals and technicians estimated in Table 2C is given in Table 4. This list is based on the median outturns of forestry schools shown in Table 5.

Financing the programme

The study is directly concerned only with the costs and expected benefits of a forestry education programme, but it must be recognized that it is neither possible nor desirable to segregate these costs and benefits from those of the entire development programme for forestry and forest industries suggested in FAO'S Indicative World Plan. For this reason an attempt is made, first, to relate the educational costs with the physical capital investments in forestry and forest industries envisaged in the Plan, and, second, to compare these costs with the overall benefits that will accrue from carrying out the proposed development programme.

TABLE 5. - SUGGESTED OUTTURN, ENROLMENT AND TEACHING STAFF OF FORESTRY SCHOOLS IN LATIN AMERICA

	Professional - level schools (5 - year course)	Technical - level schools (3 - year course)
YEARLY OUTTURN
Minimum	15	25
Median	30	65
Maximum	80	80
ENROLMENT
Minimum	105	100
Median	210	240
Maximum	560	300
FULL - TIME TEACHING STAFF
Minimum	1 (10)	(9)
Professional	8	4
Technical	2	5
Median	l (20)	(22)
Professional	17	10
Technical	3	12
Maximum	1 (52)	(27)
Professional	46	12
Technical	6	15

¹ Excluding teaching staff other than forestry trained staff (the latter estimated at 75 percent of total staff).

Use of the chain saw being demonstrated to students at the Forestry Training Centre, Conocoto, Ecuador.

The average unit costs shown in Tables 6 and 7 are applied to the total outturns necessary to reach the total numbers of 6 500 professionals and 30 600 technicians shown in Table 2C as needed by 1985. Such numbers will be attained by graduating an average of 500 professionals and 2 700 technicians yearly, or about 8 000 professionals and 43 000 technicians during the period up to 1985. As it will be seen in Table 8, the total costs of this educational effort will be in the region of $204 million, of which about $135 million for forest land management personnel, $55 million for forest industry personnel, and $14 million for personnel in ancillary activities. Recurrent expenditures for professional and technical forestry education in the region over the period 1969 to 1985 are estimated in Table 8 at about $191 million or $12 million per year on average. This compares with a United Nations hypothetical projection of annual current expenditure of $4 700 million by 1980 for university and secondary education.

If one examines the physical investments in forestry and forest industries estimated in IWP, it appears that the whole cost of education of professional and technical forestry personnel represents 3.5 percent of all physical investments, with 13.2 percent of investments in forestry as the cost of training the personnel engaged in land management (including multiple-use and protection forestry) and 1.2 percent of investments in forest industries as the cost of training the forest industries personnel (excluding the personnel coming from engineering, chemistry, and similar nonforestry-related schools).

The cost of training the vocational personnel and the skilled workers engaged in forestry and forest industries has not been investigated in any detail but it can be put at an extra 6 percent of investments in forestry and 0.8 percent investments in forest industries, respectively. For this very rough estimate it has been assumed that:

(a) the personnel ratios technical/vocational and vocational/skilled labour are on average 1:6 and 1:8 respectively;

(b) the vocational - level personnel and the skilled workers receive, on average, formal training of six months and one month, respectively.

TABLE 6. - ESTIMATED AVERAGE CAPITAL INVESTMENT COSTS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FORESTRY SCHOOLS IN LATIN AMERICA

		Total cost	Cost per student place	Cost per graduate (new school)	Additional cost per graduated (existing school)
		U.S. dollars¹
Professional level		750000	3600	1250	250
Yearly outturn	30
Enrolment:	210
Technical level		400000	1650	300	60
Yearly outturn	65
Enrolment	240

¹Rounded figures

NOTE: Costs include: land academic quarters, student quarters, staff housing and equipment.
Costs per graduate on the basis of a 20 years amortization period for all capital investments except land.

TABLE 7. - ESTIMATED AVERAGE RECURRENT COSTS OF FORESTRY EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICA

		Yearly expenditure per student place	Expenditure per graduate
		U.S. dollars
Professional level		1030	7200
Yearly outturn	30
Enrolment	210
Technical level		800	3100
Yearly outturn	65
Enrolment	240

NOTE: Costs include: teaching and nonteaching staff, students' board and lodging, supplies and maintenance.

(For each individual country, costs should be multiplied by a factor ranging from about 0.7 for Bolivia to about 1.5 for Venezuela.)

TABLE 8. - ESTIMATED CUMULATIVE EXPENDITURE IN EDUCATION FOR FORESTRY AND FOREST INDUSTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA: 1969 TO 1985¹

	Professionals	Technicians	Total
	Thousand U.S. dollars
Number of graduates	8	43	51
of which:
in existing schools	6,5	13	18,5
in new schools	1,5	30	31,5
Capital investments per graduate
in existing schools	0,25	0,06	-
in new schools	1,25	0,30	-
TOTAL CAPITAL INVESTMENTS (1)	3500	9780	13280
of which:
in existing schools	1625	780	2405
in new schools	1875	9000	10875
Recurrent expenditures per graduate	7	3	-
TOTAL RECURRENT EXPENDITURES (2)	57600	133300	190900
TOTALS EDUCATIONAL COSTS (1+2)	61100	143080	204180

¹ Professional and technical levels only.

The above figures give an idea of the size of the educational task ahead for Latin American countries in the field of forestry and forest industries. Only an effort of this order of magnitude and the efficient use of existing and new educational facilities will make it possible to raise the annual gross value of forestry and forest industries production in the amounts foreseen in IWP. The IWP estimates for the whole of Latin America, a forestry production growth from about $900 million in 1962 to about $2 200 million in 1985, and a growth from about $1 000 million in 1962 to about $4 500 million in 1985 for forest industries production.

Realism of the programme

It is possible in the Indicative World Plan and in this specific study of forestry educational needs only to indicate what might be accomplished within achievable limits. It is clear that a major overall advance is projected, but this is what the people of most countries demand and expect. Nations that can exceed the projections set forth are encouraged to do so. Others may wish to lower them. Few of the assumptions that had to be made at this stage have validity beyond the planning period. Much will depend on the capacity of each national economy as a whole to develop rapidly enough to sustain the forestry and forest industries development programme.

When one measures the proposed development of forestry education to 1985 with what actually occurred in Latin America between 1950 and 1968, the projections appear to be but a continuation of past trends. It is believed that within the broad framework suggested is ample latitude to absorb the best efforts of national governments, educational institutions and financing agencies.

If seen in isolation, the educational programme proposed in this study might appear costly, but the authors have attempted to show that, measured against the total benefits to be expected, it appears to be within reason. The authors have also endeavoured to illustrate that the suggested programme is wholly in tune with present trends and strategies of general education in Latin America.

Conclusions

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

1. Latin American nations, and those international, national and private agencies that seek to assist them, would do well to think of their efforts in forestry education and training as embracing a system that will meet the needs for professionals, technicians, foremen and skilled workmen together with special programmes directed toward responsible industrialists, public leaders and the public in general.

The key to the system in countries having sizable forest resources is the professional forestry school with its formal education for undergraduates and postgraduates, its research activities, and special programmes of continuing education for professional practitioners.

Education of forest and forest products technicians is essential to supply men to carry out effectively and intelligently the major forestry programmes planned and directed by professionals in government and industry.

2. Forest guards, foremen, and skilled workmen are highly important to efficient operations in forest and industrial plants. Only a beginning had been made in Latin American countries up to 1968 in this type of training. In the future, a considerable proportion of the professional and specially technical forestry personnel available will have to engage, at least part-time, in this task.

3. Industrial executives, financiers, attorneys at law, legislators, journalists, school teachers and other leaders and formers of public opinion should be adequately informed to assure support for a nationwide forestry programme.

4. Quality-wise, all Latin American forestry schools need strengthening, especially by increased financial support. This alone will fail to meet requirements unless forest policy issues are clarified in most Latin American countries. A strong national forest service cannot be created without adequately trained personnel. On the other hand, schools do not become strong in nations having weak or unenforced forest policies.

5. A complete system of forestry education is expensive. A minimum size for a school exists below which effective instruction cannot be carried on. Not every Latin American country should aspire to operate a professional-level school initially, and even fewer should attempt postgraduate education. A degree of intraregional cooperation on forestry education and training already exists and should be further encouraged.

6. An association of Latin American forestry school directors should be formed to hold meetings at about two-year intervals. Such an association could also be helpful in promoting collaboration in specific areas of education and research, in avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort, and exchanging information on methods that have been used successfully to obtain adequate budgets, recruit and motivate teachers, and to build rapport with students.

7. Interest in accrediting forestry schools on a continent-wide basis should be encouraged. The proposed International Union of Societies of Foresters might be enlisted to support an accrediting system.

8. The individual schools, in cooperation with FAO and other agencies, should increase their efforts in reviewing their textbook needs, making these known to financing agencies and seeking means of getting them written.

PROFESSIONAL LEVEL SCHOOLS

1. With 17 schools offering professional-level education in forestry, Latin America comes close to meeting the needs to educate the 6 500 professional men estimated to be needed by the year 1985.

2. One outstanding gap needs to be filled - a school for the Brazilian Amazon area. The justification for three professional-level schools in Colombia, is questionable. Two :might better concentrate on preforestry or forest technician training. The needs of the nations in Central America and the Caribbean area could be met by sending graduates abroad for forestry education offered at ICA and elsewhere´, together with the schools being started in Honduras and Cuba.

3. The minimum size for a professional forestry school would be one capable of graduating 15 men annually, and having at least 7 professionally educated men among its instructors.

4. Professional schools :in nations already having well developed forest industries should offer two curricula, one for the forest land manager and one for the forest products technologist. Ultimately, it may be desirable in some nations to break down the curricula further into such areas as wildlife management, range management, park planning and administration, watershed management, mechanical forest industries and pulp and paper technology.

5. Three countries will need a considerable number of pulp and paper technologists: Mexico, Brazil, and Chile. Chile already has an education programme for this type of personnel, which can be expanded to meet future needs. In Brazil a logical place to develop such education would be at the University of São Paulo main campus, where it could have the backing of Chemical Engineering and of the Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas. It would also appear feasible to develop a good programme around the strong engineering faculties of the University of Paraná at Curitiba, where it would have the backing of the Forestry School. Mexico would do well to develop its school for pulp and paper professionals and technicians in or near Mexico City, where it could be associated with a school of chemical engineering and have liaison with the Forestry Department at Chapingo and the Forest Research Institute in the City. The need of northern South America could be served by developing a programme at the University of the Andes, Mérida, Venezuela, where studies in forest chemistry and pulp and paper technology have been carried out for several years and where the Forest Products Research Institute is available.

6. Research is seen as a necessary obligation of every professional-level forestry school and indispensable for those undertaking postgraduate education.

7. Postgraduate education is important to prepare men for teaching, research, and high - level administration. It is not recommended for an individual country but rather on a regional basis for the period up to 1985. First there is need for three strong centres in Latin America - the Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas (IICA) in Costa Rica, the University of the Andes in Venezuela, and the University of São Paulo. Brazil. The last two are still to be developed and need support. The proposal of the Spanish Forestry School in Madrid to offer postgraduate education for Spanish speaking foresters has merit and should be supported as an adjunct to the three above. Nothing, however, should be done to discourage individual Latin Americans from seeking postgraduate education in any northern university that offers special opportunities to them.

8. An effective way of strengthening individual schools in their teaching and research activities is through long-term liaison with a strong forestry school in Europe or North America. This should be organized to provide benefits to both institutions. FAO could perform a major service in developing means to bring this about.

9. Professional schools should maintain close liaison with the public forestry organizations, with forest industries, and with education directed toward public leaders and laymen.

TECHNICAL - LEVEL SCHOOLS

1. Compared with the present availability of forestry and forest industry technicians in Latin America, the estimated needs for 1985 of nearly 31000 technicians will require giving high priority to technical training in forestry education policies.

2. Schools for forestry and forest industry technicians are seriously lacking in numbers. Establishing some 28 new schools and strengthening the existing ones will place a heavy demand on the individual nations and financing agencies to build and equip such schools and provide qualified teachers.

3. A minimum size for a forest technician school would be one graduating 25 men annually.

4. Mexico's needs for forest technicians could be met by converting her schools for forest guards and forest industry workmen into full status technician schools. The needs of Central America and the Caribbean area could be served by existing schools or those now being planned, except for forest industry technicians. Among South American nations, only Surinam, Guyana, Uruguay, Ecuador, and possibly Peru, have adequate provisions at present for educating the numbers of forest and forest products technicians that will be needed by 1985.

5. It is believed that a total of about 40 forest and forest industry technician schools will be needed by the year 1980. Of this total, there should be established in these six countries as early as possible nine new schools to train the following students:

Argentina	forest, range, wildlife, and park technicians
Bolivia	forest and forest industry technicians
Brazil	forest technicians, Amazon region
	forest technicians, _southern Brazil
	forest industry technicians, southern Brazil
Chile	forest technicians
Colombia	forest industry technicians
	forest technicians
Paraguay	forest and forest industry technicians

Recommendations

TO FORESTRY SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

1. Grant sufficient status to the professional forestry school so that it is not subordinated to other schools.

2. Study FAO's Indicative World Plan and the plans and programmes of your national planning board to determine what obligations these will place on the local school of forestry, and set forth a plan and budget to enable it to discharge them.

3. Make the necessary changes in curriculum and programme to match the forestry and forest industries development plans.

4. Review the suggestions for improvement in quality and seek means to carry out those which are appropriate.

5. Pay salaries adequate to compensate for full-time services of professors and expect this of them.

6. Recognize the contribution that mathematics, engineering, the physical and biological sciences, the social sciences and humanities can make to education in forestry and seek to obtain collaboration from professors in these areas.

7. Develop a research programme in forestry oriented toward local needs.

8. Develop and maintain close liaison with the government forest service and with all forest industries.

9. Cooperate with the national forest service to launch a programme of continuing education for practitioners.

10. Seek to establish working liaison with a strong forestry school in Europe or North America.

11. Establish a Council of Latin American Professional Forestry School Directors to meet biennially to exchange information on ways of improving quality of schools, eliciting public support, and of coordinating plans so that the major needs for forestry education in Latin America are met in the most economical way. An early task of such a council would be to plan for meeting region wide needs for postgraduate education and continuing education.

12. Develop postgraduate education at the Master's level on a regional basis as has been done at IICA and is planned at the University of the Andes in Venezuela.

13. Take full advantage of the opportunities for postgraduate education in North American and European universities, particularly the Spanish Forestry School. This does not substitute for the need to support existing and develop new postgraduate study centres in American tropical forestry.

14. Develop postgraduate education at the PhD level in collaboration with strong universities in North America or Europe.

TO FOREST TECHNICIAN SCHOOLS

1. Review the Indicative World Plan and the plans and programmes of your national planning board to determine the requirements for technicians, to decide on the number and nature of schools needed and to schedule their establishment.

2. Build the schools and start training with careful development of curricula to meet these needs.

3. Establish liaison with the forest industries and national forest service to gain their recommendations on the educational programme and employment of graduates.

4. Assist the forest service and forest industries in developing training centres for forest guards, foremen, and skilled workmen.

5. Participate in the overall programme of educating the general public.

6. Establish a programme that will involve constant attention to quality improvement both from within and from review by outsiders concerned with employing technicians.

TO FOREST INDUSTRIES

1. Establish liaison with schools for professional foresters and forest technicians in order to acquaint them with operating problems and solicit their help in areas of their competence.

2. Employ technicians and professionals to upgrade the quality of products, the performance of workmen, and the planning of operations.

3. Cooperate with the schools and the forest service to establish training centres for workmen. Send promising young employees to such centres for instruction.

TO GOVERNMENTS

1. Have a competent government - appointed board review critically the forestry part of IWP and set national goals for forest development to the year 1985.

2. Determine educational :needs in forestry and forest industries and make them compatible with the country's general educational system.

3. Ensure that public and private expenditure in forestry and forest industries education and training is commensurate with physical investments in the forestry and forest; industries sectors.

4. Cooperate with industry and education in developing vocational training for forest guards, foremen, and skilled workmen as required.

5. Make certain that an adequate programme of education in forestry is provided for political and community leaders, bankers, teachers, journalists and the public in general.

6. Cooperate with other governments in the region in developing forestry education.

7. Cooperate with governments in Europe and North America and seek multilateral and bilateral assistance for the development of forest industries.

TO MULTILATERAL AND BILATERAL ASSISTANCE AGENCIES

1. Recognize two major educational tasks in Latin American forestry:

(a) upgrading quality of professional schools;
(b) helping to establish schools for forest and forest products technicians.

The first task can be met in part by providing fellowships for study abroad by local professors, and by providing visiting professors from European and North American schools to Latin American schools. Another means is to help finance initially liaison between Latin American schools and strong schools in other countries.

Establishing technician schools should be favoured, especially where needs are well understood so that graduates will be employed and a programme for establishment and local financing has been worked out.

2. Seek ways of helping to get good textbooks written and published. Some able authors are willing to help get them written.

3. Seek to promote a system of accrediting, professional forestry and technician schools on a regional basis.

4. Cooperate with countries in working out means for covering the educational needs of nations whose requirements for professionals are too small to justify establishing EL school.

5. Promote concerted actions through multilateral and bilateral aid to help the Latin American nations to achieve their objectives in the field of forestry education and training.