RAU Environment video transcript

I think that the RAU is a fantastic place to come to learn about the environment, because 80% of the countryside is farmed, and to learn how to reinstate our natural environment to benefit both farming and the environment, you have to be able to understand agriculture. The reason I chose to come to the RAU, is mainly because it was more practical based around the course that I was interested in, this one provided an opportunity to go out in the fields and experience more things. And it is a lovely environment, I mean it is something that's all clicked. Just the location of the university being in the countryside, is ideal if you're study anything environmental. For me, I'm studying at the moment, countryside management, so you virtually having the farms and everything is just ideal for this. We have access to numerous habitats as you can see here, we've got our own arboretum, where you just step outside the campus, winter woodland, meadows, pasture, hedgerow habitat, ponds, everything here. The students that will come to this course, hopefully will be inspired to be land managers, that will go out and be able to give advice, to farmers and communities, about a complex web of legislation, that actually, on the ground needs to be interpreted so that people can actually get on and deliver good profitable businesses, but underpinned by environmental recovery and protection. We are looking at the end game, we're looking at employability, we're working backwards from their dream job, if you like, and then working toward what they need in order to achieve that. As part of the course we do a placement, and it gives you the experience to get into the industry, and I, myself, went to Kenya to be there in a game reserve, working as a manager. You learn how it works in a different country, and it was just an amazing experience. At the RAU they have the Rural Innovation Centre, they have valuable licences that they allow you to be taught, such as; chainsaw licences, ATV, coppicing, anything amongst those, as long as you put your mind to it they've got the courses there. I got to do quad biking, dry stone walling, and a chainsaw course, and it's really helped me prepare for the future, so if I'm on site I actually have the qualifications to help out. I think we've got a great opportunity with the Environmental Wildlife and Heritage programmes we provide here, in as much as the groups are relatively small, and we're therefore able to have some really good engagement with the students. The lecturers themselves, are absolutely wonderful, they're lovely people, they communicate with you well, if you're stuck on an assignment, or anything they will help you and guide you in the right direction. It's very reassuring that our lectures are working currently in the field, and they're working on current projects, and new research. It's really good to know that we can actually go out and do that sort of thing, and they'll back us up with it. As part of our courses, we build in industry standard skills, so that students can go on to careers in a range of organisations, such as; governmental such as Natural England, non-governmental such as the Wildlife Trusts, or increasingly industries, such as ecological consultancy. I graduated two years ago from the Royal AG, and since then, I've worked with Natural England and I now work with the Primary Wildlife Advisory Group. The broad spectrum of courses that I was studying, allowed me to see a bit of everything, and from that I've managed to narrow down to see what really was my passion. You're at the heart of an organisation that's internationally respected for being able to innovate in agriculture, and it's really important to be a part of something that is going forward with that innovation at a high speed.