New leader of the degree programme Agro-Environmental Management appointed

Senior Researcher Lars J. Munkholm, JORD, will be the new leader of the master degree programme Agro-Environmental Management with effect from October 1, 2017. He will be taking over from Professor Tommy Dalgaard, who will soon become the Section Leader of SYSTEM. 

For Lars J. Munkholm Agro-Environmental Management is a baby that he helped into the world. Ten years ago, he was chairman of the work group that described the then new programme and apply for accreditation for it. Now he is ready to pick up the thread and perform a ten-year service check of the programme. 

- My first task will be to familiarise myself with the management tasks, but after that I will invite relevant parties to a meeting so that we can carry out a ten-year service check. We must look at what we have learned and what we might be able to improve on, says Lars J. Munkholm. 

The aim of the meeting will be to look into the past and learn from experience, and look into the future to see if there are new areas that we should include. 

- We must see if the programme has fared as we hoped, if the objective of the programme has been met, what we can do to ensure that the programme fits with the present and the future, and how we should address any problems there might be, says Lars J. Munkholm. 

Even though it was ten years ago that Agro-Environmental Management was established, it is still timely. 

- The programme is still relevant. Our vision is still valid and the national and global challenges in relation to ”combining a growing need for using our natural resources for agricultural production with a increased consideration for nature and the environment” are even more important now. However, I would like to see that the programme to a greater extent combines a holistic perspective with academic depth, says Lars J. Munkholm. 

Another task for the new degree programme leader will be to attract more Danish students. The programme has always been followed by many foreign students, which is an enrichment, but we need more Danish graduates targeted the Danish job market.   

- In order to attract more Danish students we must emphasise the job opportunities that the programme gives. This could be positions as advisers in commercial companies and municipalities, or as researchers. There are actually several graduates who have landed jobs as PhD students at Aarhus University and other universities, says Lars J. Munkholm, who has been very happy to teach the students through the years. 

- It gives me great pleasure to see the students grow and develop personally and professionally. I like contributing to that.