The Effective Factors on Improvement of Practical Training Quality from Agricultural Student's Viewpoints (The case: University of Zanjan)

The national higher education system of agriculture is encountered with serious problems in training of experienced and skilled educated students، due to dominance of theoretical training on practical training in current conditions. These problems had lead to consequences such as unemployment of university graduates in agriculture، lack of accountability to market needs، dissatisfaction of graduates، unhappiness of executive agencies and destruction of valuable resources of agricultural sector. This descriptive -survey study was carried out to identify and analyze factors influencing the quality of practical training from the perspectives of senior students of agriculture at the University of Zanjan. A stratified sampling was used to select 171 respondents from a total of346 persons who comprised the statistical population. A questionnaire was used for data collection which was further validated by an academic panel of agricultural extension and education experts. The results of factor analysis showed that the factors can affect the quality of practical training in three general categories، namely active participation of teachers in the process، planning and implementation of practical training، targeted and effective communication inside and outside the organization، and active and meaningful participation of students classified. Finally 68/69% of variance in the dependent variable was explained by these factors. Based on research findings were suggested that university has strong links with agriculture sector; Necessary equipments be given to agricultural colleges for practical training; Part-time training be provided for students during their study; Headings and content of practical courses be determined with regard to labor market needs by university، representatives of farmers and executive agencies; In educational evaluation More attention should be to Practical abilities of students; and in obtaining employment opportunities should be considered to Practical performance of students.