Coming down to E.A.R.T.H. : Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humeda (E.A.R.T.H.) -- a strategic evaluation

The evaluation covers the period 9/85-7/91. La Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humeda (E.A.R.T.H.) has made outstanding progress. The education provided is relevant to the management of natural resources for responsible farming in the humid tropics; faculty, administrators, and students are of high quality; resources are more than adequate; and financial viability at least through 1999 is reasonably assured. Emphasis now must be placed on making adjustments in strategy. The university is in a transitional period in which the locus of control is shifting from outside to inside the institution. As a result, there is considerable uncertainty among faculty, administrators, and students about E.A.R.T.H.'s fundamental purpose and direction, as well as conflicting interpretations of the educational paradigm. The following major strategic issues need to be resolved: (1) the extent to which the curriculum should be expanded to cover additional functions of novel farming systems for the humid tropics; (2) the method by which an appropriate paradigm of responsible farming should be developed, adopted by the faculty as its own unique ethical praxis, and translated into theoretically sound and ethically defensible educational strategies; and (3) assurance of E.A.R.T.H.'s long-term financial viability in terms both of financial and risk management.