Using the UK experience as its main focus, this paper examines the pressures on rural higher education, their impact on institutions, and the consequences for those who work in those institutions. It argues that much of the adjustment that has taken place has been an incremental, ad hoc reaction to a succession of crises, rather than as a result of a planned strategy. One of the results is a loss of direction and self-confidence in the sector. Those charged with managing agricultural education can learn from examining anew what their institutions teach students about business management, and questioning whether they really practise what they preach.
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