What do we know about our graduates? Graduate analysis for forest sciences and related curricula

Forestry as such is an old trade; already the ancient Romans did it. Its education is less old, about two centuries. Apparently, as Lewark remarked in his introduction, in general foresters educated at universities matched the need of the forestry sector.. Only about 40 years ago, the need to know more about how good this match is and how good universities serve the societies became stronger (see also Kennedy and Koch). Nowadays, surveying alumni about their situation is normal practice and the need for methodical standards is growing. Time, says Lewark in his opening statement, for an overview. Before that, a short description of forestry education, which changed through the years in forest education, is given. Koch – in the paper he wrote together with Kennedy – identifies and analyses three stages during the last half century in Western-world natural resources management: • Traditional stage: natural resources first, foremost and forever; • Transitional stage: natural resource management, for better or worse, involves people; • Relationship stage: managing natural resources for valued people and ecosystem relationships. Koch sees as the driving forces behind these changes, the increasing diversity, complexity and dynamics of ecosystem values and uses over the last 50 years, requiring new ways for natural resource managers (foresters, wildlife biologists, etc.) to understand and relate to their professional roles and responsibilities - in accommodating urban and rural ecosystem users, and managing the complementary and conflicting interactions between them. Moreover he states that the impacts of these three perspectives on how natural resource managers view ecosystems and react to ecosystems, people and other life-forms is basic and can be profound. Implicitly, he assumes that changes in society like these had and will have their impact on universities and thus also on forest education. In this interface, graduate surveys have their role