COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND NON-COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE STUDENTS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURE AND RELATED FACTORS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the knowledge of selected college students, regarding international agriculture and related factors. The population consisted of selected students in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University. Although the study does not represent a representative sample of students in the two colleges, the results may have implications for internationalizing the undergraduate curriculum from a practical basis. Through the use of a validated pre-mastery assessment instrument, the knowledge of the respondents relative to international agriculture and related factors were determined. The results indicated that both groups demonstrated reasonably good knowledge about some of the geographic characteristics in Michigan, but they were less knowledgeable about the geographic characteristics of the USA and the world. Their knowledge about international agriculture was fairly good, but they possessed limited knowledge about some of the most critical factors in regard to U.S. and world agriculture. The findings from this study provides additional research for building the foundation for an internationalized undergraduate curriculum.