MANSUR & SIREGAR GENETIC COURSES IN IPB Integrating Genetics Courses in the Curriculum of Undergraduate Programmes at Bogor Agricultural University-Indonesia I. MANSUR AND I.Z. SIREGAR1 Department of Silviculture Faculty of Forestry Bogor Agricultural University PO Box 168 Bogor 16680 Indonesia E-mail:irdikam@telkom.net; siregar@ipb.ac.id 1 Introduction Bogor Agricultural University is a university specialized itself on agricultural in broad sense. It is situated in Bogor, a small city 40 km south of the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta. The university was initiated in 1940 as School of Agriculture, and in 1950 become the Faculty of Agriculture as part of the University of Indonesia. Briefly, in 1963 the Faculty of Agriculture has become an independent university, i.e. Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) with 5 faculties (Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Veterinary Medecine, Faculty of Fisheries, Faculty of Animal Husbandry, and Faculty of Forestry). Currently, IPB has 36 Departments organized within 9 faculties. With total students reaching more than 25000 and lectures 1246, made IPB the biggest agriculture based university in Indonesia, and probably in Asia and even in the world. Enhancement of plant production has become the major issue in the teaching, research and community development activities in IPB. Therefore, plant and tree breeding and cultivation technology have been continuously developed in the university and delivered to students as well as community. Among faculties in IPB, Faculty of Forestry is the one responsible for the development of silviculture, including tree improvement. Current forestry situation in Indonesia has urged the Faculty of Forestry to form a new department, i.e. Department of Silviculture this year (2005) to work more focus on silviculture. This paper will describe briefly the current situation of Indonesian forest and its relevance to the integration of Genetics courses at IPB in general, and especially at Department of Silviculture. MANSUR & SIREGAR GENETIC COURSES IN IPB 2 Current Situation of Indonesian Forest Degradation of natural forest in Indonesia has reached an alarming level, which has been stated by the ministry of forestry in different occasion as high as 46.2 million hectares with annual rates of 2.8 hectares. According to the Information Center Office of the Ministry of Forestry, the national timber production is 32,951,431 m3. Timber supply from the timber estate (industrial forest plantation) has exceeded that from the natural forest, i.e. 14.3 million m3 from plantation forest compared with 5.9 million hectares from natural forest. Surprisingly, timber production from community forest (859,142 m3) and other sources, such as conversion of rubber plantation (204,406 m3) have exceeded timber production of the state forest company, Perum Perhutani (80,080 m3). Since 2003 the government of the republic of Indonesia has launched the national program of afforestation and reforestation (National Movement on the Land and Forest Rehabilitation) with target planting of 300000 hectare per year. The current situation of forest in Indonesia has brought concern on the threat of species and genetic diversity in Indonesia. The lost of natural forest causing the lost of tree species, especially the commercial ones. Logging activities (legal and illegal), mining, forest fire, and conversion of natural forest area for other purposes, such as plantation forest, palm oil and rubber plantation, also settlements contributed to the natural forest destruction. Transformation of the natural forest to become monoculture or multiculture forest with only few selected species will reduce species and genetic diversity significantly. Establishment of huge area of plantation forest is expected to compensate the progressive diminishing timber production from the natural forest. Minimum understanding awareness of field foresters and forestry policy makers on genetic resources could result in the establishment of monoculture plantation forests with narrow genetic base. Introduction of vegetative propagation of commercial tree species through tip cuttings and tissue culture from only few mother trees will even genetic diversity of the species in the future. MANSUR & SIREGAR GENETIC COURSES IN IPB 3 Establishment of Department of Silviculture Silviculture has become part of the Department of Forest Management since the Faculty of Forestry was established. However, realizing the future forest in Indonesia is depending on the managing the existing natural forest sustainably and boosting the plantation forest (industrial timber estate and community forest), silviculture need to be separated from the Department of Forest Management. The newly formed department is expected to work (education, research, and community service) more focus on silviculture system for natural forest and science and technology to support the establishment of plantation forest. The establishment of the Department of Silviculture was coincided with the reformation of curriculum and reorganization of department and faculty. Faculty of Forestry which was consisted of only 3 departments, i.e. Department of Forest Management, Department of Forest Product Technology and Departmen of Forest Conservation, now has one additional department, i.e. Department of Silviculture. The assignment of silviculture as a Department has several advantages. Firstly, the department could offer more courses on forest biophysics. Therefore, the graduates could deal with forest more professionally. Secondly, the department could formulate its competence more focus. Thirdly, topics on research and community service could be planned and promoted more effectively. Accordingly, financial, facilities and infrastructures would be provided equally with other departments in IPB. 4 The Structure of Curriculum 4.1 General structure of IPB curriculum Until 2005, IPB followed national curriculum structure that is study programme system, where it is applied nationally. In year 2000 IPB with three other universities, University of Indonesia, Gajah Mada University, and Bandung Technology Institute has become an autonomous university, which are allowed the universities to optimized their potentials to achieve academic excellent. Following the curriculum structure of IPB, it is known as major-minor curriculum system which contains four groups of courses. First group is known as matriculation MANSUR & SIREGAR GENETIC COURSES IN IPB courses which are delivered to all first year students of IPB. Second group is called the interdepartmental courses. These courses are essential to support the competence of students graduated from a particular department. These courses are provided by departments with relevance competence. Therefore, this group of courses, which is compulsory to be taken by students in a department, may be served by some different departments. The third group is the major courses that are provided by the home department and should be taken by students registered to the department. These courses are the main courses which develop the competence of the students. The fourth group is the minor/supporting courses, i.e. courses which are part of the major courses but available for students from other departments. It is called minor courses if it is consisted of a formulated courses to develop an additional competence to the students taking the courses. Supporting courses are elective courses that are picked by students to support their major courses. 4.2. Curriculum of Department of Silviculture As part of IPB, the Department of Silviculture has also developed a major-minor curriculum to fulfill the mandate given by IPB, i.e. to develop science and technology to manage the natural forest and to establish and manage plantation forest. The main differences between the courses offered by Study Programmes of Silviculture (under the Department of Forest Management) and the Department of Silviculture are the number of compulsory courses on biophysics increased significantly (from 33% to 42.4% of 144 total credits to get a BSc degree) and broader elective courses, as minor or supporting courses are available (the elective courses could possibly be taken from all other departments in IPB, 36 departments). Before year 2000 Forest Genetics course was part of Tree Improvement course; therefore, understanding of graduates on forest genetic was minimum. Between year 2000-2005, Forest Genetics course has become a stand alone course, but placed as an elective course. During this period competition of courses to become compulsory courses were very tight since too many courses were offered. In the meantime, the students needed only 144 credits to graduate. Since Forest Genetics course is an elective, MANSUR & SIREGAR GENETIC COURSES IN IPB the graduate may or may not understand and aware about the important of considering genetic resources in forest establishment and management. This situation, certainly worrying the future forest of Indonesia. Mother trees in the natural forest will not be considered as precious assets of the nation, and plantation forests may be dominated by few clones only. In the reformation of curriculum, considering the priceless genetic resources left in Indonesian forest, the Department of Silviculture has placed Forest Genetics course as a compulsory course for students of the department, and so does the Tree Improvement course. It was obvious that the offering of Forest Genetics course in the pass was mainly to support tree improvement programmes. Now it is also needed to promote the need of genetic conservation for sustainable forest management. Table 1-3 shows the current curriculum of the Department of Silviculture which will be applied to students enrolled at IPB in year 2005 and choose the major of silviculture in year 2006. The Department of Silviculture offer courses on Forest Genetics, and Tree Improvement. However, students interested in Forest Genetics and they want to broaden their knowledge on genetics and its application, they could attend courses offered by other Departments, such as courses on Basic Genetics, and Introduction to Molecular Genetics offered by the Department of Biology, and Genetics for Plant Improvement, and Applied Plant Improvement courses offered by the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture as supporting courses. Table 1. Matriculation courses compulsory for all first year students of IPB No. Course Title 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Introduction to Math Calculus Chemistry Biology Physics Indonesian Language English Sport and Art Religion Civics Credits Lecture Practical works 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 0 2 1 1 0 2 1 2 1 Department Responsible Mathematics Mathematics Chemistry Biology Physics General Courses General Courses General Courses General Courses General Courses MANSUR & SIREGAR 11. 12. 13. 14. General Economics General Sociology Introduction to Agriculture Sciences Entrepreneurships Total credits GENETIC COURSES IN IPB 2 1 2 1 2 0 1 0 26 10 36 (25%) ND* ND ND ND Note: * ND= not decided Table 2. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Interdepartmental courses compulsory for students of the Department of Silviculture offered by other departments in IPB Course Title Credits Department Lecture Practical Responsible works Introduction to Forestry Science and 2 0 Forest Environmental Ethics Management Statistical Methods 2 1 Statistics Structure and Wood Characteristics 2 0 Forest Products Forest Harvesting 2 1 Forest Management Soil Science 2 1 Soil and Land Resources Conservation of Natural Resources 2 0 Forest Conservation and Ecotourism Basic Forest Resource Inventory 2 1 Forest Management Forest Policy and Regulations 2 0 Forest Management Forest Resource Economics 2 0 Resource and Environmental Economics Climatology 2 1 Geophysics and Meteorology Forest Planning 2 1 Forest Management Research Methodology 1 1 Statistics Computer Application 1 0 Computer Science 24 7 Total credits 31 (21.5%) MANSUR & SIREGAR GENETIC COURSES IN IPB Table 3. Major courses compulsory for students of the Department of Silviculture No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Course Title Credits Lecture Practical works Dendrology 2 1 Forest Ecology 2 1 Forest Protection 2 0 Silvics 2 0 Forest Genetics 2 0 Forest Influence 2 1 Forest Syn-ecology 2 0 Ecology of Tropical Tree Species 2 0 Forest Nutrient Management 2 0 Forest Fire 2 1 Forest Tree Propagation Technology 2 1 Tree Improvement 2 1 Forest Pest Science 2 1 Forest Pathology 2 1 Natural Forest Silviculture 2 1 Plantation Forest Silviculture 2 1 Agroforestry 2 1 Forest Health Monitoring 2 1 Field work on Observation of Forest 0 1 Ecosystems Field work on Forest Management 0 2 (Plantation Forest) Field work on Forest Management 0 3 (Natural Forest) or Community Services Seminar of Final Year Project 1 0 BSc Thesis 6 0 43 18 Total credits 61 (42.4%) Department Responsible Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Silviculture Department of Silviculture offered three minor courses to students from other departments who are interested in studying silviculture, agroforestry, and forest protection. There are 5 courses offered for minor silviculture, i.e. Forest Syn-ecology, Silvics, Plantation Forest Silviculture, Natural Forest Silviculture, and Tree Improvement. Meanwhile minor agroforestry offered 5 courses, such as Silvics, Ecology of Tropical Tree Species, Plantation Forest Silviculture, Agroforestry, and Forest MANSUR & SIREGAR GENETIC COURSES IN IPB Nutrient Management. Lastly, minor forest protection offered 5 courses, i.e. Forest Pest Science, Forest Pathology, Forest Fire, Forest Influence, and Forest Health Monitoring. 5 Conclusion Genetic resources of Indonesian forest are under threat by lost of natural forest and establishment of plantation forest with tend to use possibly narrower genetic base planting materials. Knowledge and awareness of field foresters and forestry policy makers on genetics need to be improved to save the existing genetic resources and to improve genetic quality of the future plantation forest. Bogor Agricultural University, especially the Department of Silviculture has responded correctly on the needs to produce foresters with higher understanding and awareness on forest genetic resources. 6 References Anonimous. 2005. Draft of Major-Minor Curriculum. Faculty of Forestry IPB. Bogor (unpublished) Department of Silviculture, Ministry of Forestry. 2005. Eksekutif Data Strategis Kehutanan Tahun 2004. Departemen Kehutanan. Jakarta. http://www.dephut.go.id/INFORMASI (25 October 2005)