A new state-of-the-art facility to help students train in climate-smart, resilient agriculture and land management will be built at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) after securing 5.8 million of funding from The Office for Students (OfS).
The new Land laboratory Teaching Centre, which will replace the existing laboratories, will boast the latest equipment and technologies across a combined wet lab and IT-enabled learning environment, allowing students to cover a broad range of disciplines and skills.
Prof Peter McCaffery, RAU vice-chancellor, says: These new labs will help ensure the RAU plays a crucial role in tackling global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity and food security, and that the university is able to engage a growing and diverse range of students and practitioners in that mission.
It will help us ensure students and learners from all backgrounds and abilities, especially those from disadvantaged communities, can be at the forefront of resolving climate change and the goal of a sustainable world.
Innovative
It also, says Prof McCaffery, is chance for the university to lead the way and highlight how innovative the farming sector can.
It is a way of attracting new and exciting talent to the industry, showcasing just what kind of careers can be found in agriculture.
Prof McCaffery says: The new facilities will fully embrace agricultural disciplines as science but also as trades and professions to be proud of demonstrating world leading techniques and practices.
Agriculture, farming and land management are technical, skilled occupations. More needs to be done to equip a new generation of young farmers to address the challenges we face and this new centre will offer practical, hands-on experience for all students, bringing subjects to life beyond theoretical concepts via real world applications.
This really is fantastic news for the RAU. This is our first capital investment award of this magnitude from the OfS and I am delighted it will provide a step change in what we offer to our students and will literally open up our campus to the wider community.
