Background
Agricultural universities worldwide are facing numerous challenges including increasingly limited resource allocations, declining enrollments, keeping up with advances in information and other technologies, remaining aware of and responsive to stakeholders, and the need to aggressively globalize their teaching, research and outreach programs. Although the scale of the problems and the local conditions vary across and among regions, there are remarkable similarities in the fundamental nature of these challenges.
The realization that these are shared challenges, combined with a political and economic climate that lends itself to the lowering of national barriers, presents an environment conducive to global networking and cooperation among universities. However, when GCHERA was born, existing international organizations did not (and do not) have the mandate to bring together agricultural universities on a global scale to share lessons learned.
GCHERA grew out of an international conference held in 1998 in Kiev, which marked the 100 th anniversary of the National Agricultural University of Ukraine and the completion of a four-year university linkage project involving many institutions around the world and financed by the United States Information Service. The consortium was formed as a result of shared concern for the future of the planet and a conviction that higher education in agriculture should play a leadership role in solving problems associated with food security and environmental sustainability. The consortium aims to include and serve institutions with programs in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and natural resources management, including the biological, physical and social sciences dimensions of these fields. The founders designed the organization to be helpful to institutions world wide that are working to make significant reforms in their systems of higher agricultural education.
The consortium is governed by a regionally balanced Executive Committee and led by a President. Global meetings of the consortium are held every two years, the first having been held in Amsterdam in 1999. Currently the consortium has approximately 400 members from more than 100 countries.
GCHERA was established in 1998 to bring the world’s agricultural higher education community together to meet global Challenges – agricultural and food products quality and safety and environmental protection. Currently GCHERA has 403 institutional members and individuals from 136 countries of the world. All world regions are represented on the GCHERA Executive Committee.
Mission and Goals
The mission of the Consortium is to foster global cooperation for the improvement of higher education and research for agriculture as a prerequisite to solving the food security and environmental problems confronting our world.
The goals are as follows:
- Development of a world system of cooperation in higher education and research for agriculture utilizing conferences, working groups, and new information technologies to facilitate interaction on a global scale, and;
- Support activities and close cooperation with international organizations in the areas of international education, and agricultural research and development (UNESCO, FAO, TACIS, OECD, TEMPUS, USAID, etc.).
Objectives of the consortium are to:
- Conduct international scientific conferences on topics of critical importance;
- Share international models of curricula for training professionals in the field of agriculture;
- Assist members in the reform and alignment of curricula for specialization in agriculture;
- Promote the exchange of faculty and students;
- Offer assistance to universities which express the need to reform their organizational structure and activities;
- Organize international schools of professional improvement for university administrators and faculty;
- Implement and disseminate up-to-date achievements in applying fundamental and applied sciences and information technologies in teaching;
- Organize the publication of a proceedings of each conference; and
- Support the activities of existing international organizations which already work on the problems of agricultural education and research systems such as UNESCO, the InterUniversity Conference of Agricultural and Related Universities, FAO, USAID, USIA, and special state and private foundations.
Past Global Conferences
GCHERA has held four global conferences since its founding in 1998. They include:
- The First Global Conference, held in 1999, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- The Second Global Conference, held in 2001, in San Francisco, California, USA.
- The Third Global Conference, held in 2003, in Kiev, Ukraine.
- The Fourth Global Conference, held in 2003, in Hangzhou, China.
- The Fifth Global Conference, held in 2007, in San Jose, Costa Rica.
- The Sixth Global Conference, held in 2009, in Nairobi, Kenya.
- The Seventh Global Conference, held in 2011, in Beauvais, France.
For more information about GCHERA visit www.gchera.com
Founders of GCHERA
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Three universities organizing the conference proposed a structure for global consortium and initiated it as founders:
Each of these universities pledged to identify and recruit other universities to participate in the consortium. At the conference, other universities from Europe and the United States stepped forward to join the Founding Committee of the Global Consortium of Agricultural Universities.  |
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On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the National Agricultural University of Ukraine a scientific conference entitled "Globalizing Agricultural Higher Education and Science: Meeting the Needs of the 21st Century" was held in Kyiv in September 1998. Participants included over 400 representatives from 30 different countries. At the conference, the idea of a global consortium of leaders in agricultural education and science was born. 
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GCHERA Presidents Dr. Vladimir Bautin, the current President of GCHERA Prof. Vladimir Bautin is a Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Agrarian Sciences and a Rector of Russian State Agrarian University – MTAA named after K.A.Timiryazev (Moscow) since November 2002. Prof. Bautin is famous scientist-economist in a field of agricultural science and education in Russia. He is well known to scientific and educational community, practitioners of AIC as a researcher, director and manager of some sections of the Federal and Industrial Scientific and Technical Programs in Russian Federation. In 1998-2002 Prof. Bautin was the Head of the Department of Science and Technical Progress of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. 1988-1998 – Director of Russian Research Institute of Information and Technical and Economic Studies on Engineering and Technical Provision of Agro-Industrial Complex” (FGNU “Rosinformagrotekh”). His scientific contribution is recognized internationally by the Universities and Academies of nine European countries and CIS countries where he was awarded as an Honorary Doctor and Honorary Professor. In 2011, Prof. Bautin became GCHERA President for the period of 2011-2013. |
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Dr. Martin Jischke, the first president of GCHERA Dr. Martin Jischke became president of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, in August 2000. Previously, he served nine years as president of Iowa State University. Under Dr. Jischke's leadership, Iowa State University enjoyed a period of substantial growth and development The quality and size of the faculty, student body, staff, and administrative leadership were improved. Research and economic development programs were expanded. Dr. Jischke went to Iowa State University from the University of Missouri, Rolla, where he was chancellor from 1986 to 1991. Prior to his tenure at the University of Missouri, he was dean of the College of Engineering and interim president of the University of Oklahoma. He is the author or co-author of 31 archival journal publications and 21 major technical reports. He has served as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Transportation. He was the 1998 chair of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGQ board of directors and is a member of the board of the American Council on Education and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. He has received the Centennial Medallion from the American Society of Engineering Education and is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Jischke is a member of the Founding and Organizing Committees of GCHERA. He earned his B.S. in physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology and his graduate degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Founded in 1869, Purdue University is a public, land-grant research university with an international reputation for academic excellence. Its programs include engineering, agriculture, science, veterinary medicine, management, technology, consumer and family services, education, liberal arts, pharmacy, nursing, and health sciences. Purdue's all campus enrollment exceeds 67,000, 12 percent of whom are graduate students. Its enrollment of international students is the largest of any U.S. public educational institution. Faculty and staff exceed 14,000, and the annual budget is more than $1.1 billion. |
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Dr. Dmytro Melnychuk, the second president of GCHERA Dr. Dmytro O. Melnychuk has been rector of National Agriculture University (NAUU) in Kyiv, Ukraine since 1984. He is the Member of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He holds a doctorate of biological science and is a laureate of the State Prize in Science and Technology. Being a prominent scientist in biochemistry, he is the president of the Ukrainian Biochemistry Society and the Head of Ukrainian Agricultural Universities' Council of Rectors. In 2003, Dr. Melnychuk got the highest national title the Hero of Ukraine with presentation of State Order . He also awarded upon medal "For Labour Valour", honorary merits of President of Ukraine - Orders "For Merit" of IIIrd and IInd degrees, Merited Worker in Science and Technology of Ukraine, Laureate of International Prize "Friendship", Laureate of Vernadskiy Prize. Dr.Melnychuk serves as Member of State Committee Presidium for State Prizes of Ukraine in the field of Science and Technology, State Accreditation Commission of Higher Educational Institutions of Ukraine andCommission for Degrees of Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and also Bureau of Departments of Molecule Biology, Biochemistry, Clinical and Experimental Physiology of NASU; Member of Higher External Council for Director General of FAO UN; Honorary Professor of Iowa State University (USA, 1996); Honorary Senator of Louisiana State (USA, 1999); Honorary Doctor of Humboldt University in Berlin (Germany, 2001) and Gent University (Belgium, 2003); Travelling Professor of Tokyo Agricultural University (2004). |
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Dr. Cheng Jianping, the third president of GCHERA Dr. Cheng Jianping is part of the founding leadership of the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture and is a current member of the Executive Committee, a requirement stated in the GCHERA Bylaws for election to this leadership position. Moreover, Dr. Cheng Jianping comes from a region of the world different from the current President (Martin Jischke) and the incoming President (Dmytro Melnychuk) thus to the GCHERA goal to be globally inclusive. |
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Dr. Jose A. Zaglul, the fourth president of GCHERA Jose A. Zaglul is the President of EARTH University, was the since 1989. Previously, he served as Head of the Animal Production Department at the Centrо Agricola Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica. From 1981 to 1985, Dr. Zaglul was Professor of Food Science and then Vice President ofResearch and Extension of the Institute Tecnologico de Costa Rica (ITCR). He obtained his B.S. and M.S. from the American University ofBeirut (Lebanon) with majors in Agricultural Economics and Animal Science, respectively. He received another M.S. from the University of Florida in Food Science and Human Nutrition, and his PhD from the same university in Meat and Muscle Biology.Dr. Zaglul member of the Executive Committee of the Pan-Pacific Basin Workshop on Microgravity Sciences; member of the Executive Committee and President of the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture (GCHERA); American Meat Science Association; Asociacion Latinoamericana de Produccion Animal; Colegio de Ingenieros Agronomos de Costa Rica; Asociacion Centroamericana y del Caribe de Procesadores de Came; and the Institute of Food Technologists. |
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Dr. Nick Gatheru Wanjohi, the fifth president of GCHERA Prof. Wanjohi is the holder of B.A. (Government and Sociology), M.A. (Government) and Ph. D. (Government) Degrees. Currently he is the Vice-Chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and associate Professor of Political Economy at the same university. Also he is full professor of Political Science in areas of Political Economy and Comparative Politics at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology; visiting professor of Political Economy and Governance at St. Mary's University, Minnesota, Tangaza College Campus, Nairobi. He held such Leadership Positions as Chairman of Kenya Education Network (KENET) (2003 to date); Vice Chairman of African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD) (2003 -2006); Member of Planning Group of Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) (2003-2005) |
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Dr. Philippe Choquet, the sixth president of GCHERA Working experiences 2009-2011: GCHERA - Global Consortium for Higher Education and Research in Agriculture, President Since 2008: ICA – European Association of Life Sciences Universities, Vice-president, Board member Since 2007: IALU - International Association of LaSalle Universities (70 universities), Member of the World Executive Comittee Since 1999: Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais, Director-General 1500 students of which 600 MSc and PhD students . Fields: agriculture, geology, environment, food industry, marketing, management 1992 - 1999: PERI-G, consulting company, subsidiary of Credit Agricole-Indosuez, Manager - Consulting in strategy 1989 – 1992: SEMILLAS VERNEUIL S.A., Cordoba – Spain, Marketing manager and deputy to the director 1987 - 1988: AGRAL CONSULTANT INTERNATIONAL – International marketing, Consultant |