The purpose of the PhD in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology programme is to produce scientists who meet the human resource crop improvement and related discipline needs of the public and private sector. The graduates of this programme will provide training as well as lead scientific development agenda of their countries. This purpose will be fulfilled through research and educational programmes that link advances in fundamental and applied biological sciences to contemporary agricultural development challenges.
Program Objectives
The mission of the PhD in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology programme is to produce scientists who meet the human resource needs for specialists in crop improvement and related disciplines to serve the public and private sector. The graduates of this programme will provide academic training as well as lead the scientific development agenda of their countries.
Special emphasis is given to recruiting women and facilitating their success through provisions of suitable housing and other arrangements for infants accompanying their mother. Through the history of the program, forty percent of the PhD students have been women, almost all of them successfully completing the programme and obtaining relevant employment.
Specific Objectives:
- To give graduates a solid understanding in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology that will permit them to effectively engage in crop improvement and science-led agricultural development.
- To provide to students with training that develops the core-competencies needed for them to initiate, refine, and manage variety development programs, to create new knowledge that addresses critical constraints in improving agricultural production, and to train others in the needed competencies.
- To produce high-calibre scientists who will lead training and research, by providing the students with an understanding and hands-on experience of different disciplines within the realm of plant breeding and biotechnology, research management and broader development issues.