Forestry Education and Qualification Systems in Developed Countries : States and Direction of Recent Change

Abstract

An investigation into forestry education and qualification systems in six developed countries was conducted. The six countries were classified into two groups according to how their qualification systems operate: one in which the qualification system is operated by private professional associations (USA, UK, and Canada), and the second is operated by the national government (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). In the first group, training programs are provided by universities, and in the second group, training is provided by both universities and special vocational training schools according to the bureaucratic class defined by the national qualification system. The groupings are strongly related to the historical development process, although each country's system has been undergoing recent changes in response to social changes, such as the environmental movement or standardization of the higher education system to an international level. In some countries, career ladders enable forestry workers to gain promotion to become professional foresters. Such changes have also been observed in Japan, too, and it may be helpful to monitor the institutional development for improving educational and qualification systems of Japanese Foresters and Forest Practice Planners.