Transforming forest education to meet the changing demands for professionals

The traditional forestry practice is under increasing pressure to transform driven primarily by the changes in the public's perception of sustainability and to developments in science, communications, and global markets. In this context, the existing forestry education model is poorly equipped to cope with the changes sweeping through the forestry sector linked to digitization and rapid development in the information technology sectors. Previous studies have shown that in preparing professionals to practice forestry today, some notable discrepancies between what potential employers want and what the forestry institutions provide is apparent. In response, when hiring graduates of professional forestry programs, forestry employers have changed the set of skills and competencies sought. A similar scenario is also observed in Southeast Asia, which despite its large tract of forest resources and robust forest industries, is also experiencing dwindling interests among young people and reducing enrollment in many of the forest institutions. The prevailing financial constraints and political pressures on higher education make it difficult for educators to close the gap between forestry education and forest practice, but a more concerted effort from all stakeholders to revise the existing forestry education model to incorporate new courses and skills to better prepare the foresters of the future appears to be the way forward