I am happy to announce that the Faculty of Forestry is pursuing accreditation of our Master of Forest Conservation program. The Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board’s application process is rigorous and requires the participation of our professors, instructors and administrative staff. We plan to submit the application before September and this will be followed by a review team visit late in 2013 or early 2014.

Why are we applying for accreditation?  Our Faculty is a non-traditional forestry school because we do not graduate foresters with Bachelor of Science degrees in forestry.  Instead, our forestry graduates obtain Masters and PhD degrees in diverse areas of research such as forest conservation and forest biomaterials science, as well as forestry.  The Canadian Federation of Professional Foresters Associations (CFPFA) and the deans of forestry schools recognized that change and innovation in forestry science and practice require opportunities for different approaches to forestry education.  The accreditation of forestry programs can now be decided on the basis of the ‘demonstrable competencies’ achieved by students  during their studies rather than exclusively determined by an undergraduate forestry degree.

You are invited to review the various documents associated with accreditation, which are shown on our website.

We believe that pursuing accreditation for the MFC program will help our graduates to enter specialized career paths and entrepreneurship, and to establish them as professionals in a broader natural resource platform. For those students who wish to do so, it will facilitate their entry into professional practice following graduation.

It will also raise the profile of our Faculty in forestry education, it will enhance our ability to attract good students and it will contribute to community building within the Faculty.

Regards,

Mohini Sain

More Information:

Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board —Policy Statement

CANADIAN FORESTRY ACCREDITATION BOARD —Academic Standards for the Accreditation of Degree Forestry Programs in Canada

 

 

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