The University and other infrastructure in Dili and throughout Timor Loro Sae, was devastated by the crisis that followed the 1999 referendum. The human resources of the University have been severely depleted when experienced Indonesian staff left and only a few inexperienced staff remains.
The University reopened as the National University of Timor Loro Sae in November 2000 with strong support from CNRT, UNTAET, NGO's and former staff and students. Agriculture was re-established with 25 academic staff and over 1000 students enrolled. The agricultural sector employing more than 80% of the population, contributing 40% of GDP and 90% of the foreign exchange. Agriculture in East Timor is expected to be private sector driven in the future and graduates will be needed with different skills from those required under the Indonesian administration. It is anticipated that the graduates will need to have develop self-reliance and skills, which support participatory development.
In the short term, the project will assist the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Timor Loro Sa'e (UNTL) by training staff and providing the essential equipment, library books for teaching, laboratory and field work. In the first year, the Faculty will teach the Indonesian Agricultural curriculum. In year two, a revised curriculum will be developed as the first stage in participatory curriculum development that focuses on the needs of Timor Loro Sa'e. Where possible Faculty undertaking final year research, project supervision will be assigned appropriate academic staff from project Universities. In this period advisers will be selected who have Bahasa Indonesia skills and are capable of working collaboratively with their East Timor counterparts. English language training is a priority activity in this stage.
In the medium term, the project will focus on improving staff knowledge in their discipline area and continuing to improve English language skills. The teaching skills of the UNTL Faculty of Agriculture academics will be improved. The staff will be encouraged to become reflective practitioners seeking student and graduate feedback as a basis for planning and implementing improvement teaching and learning. Student projects will be oriented to the nations development needs and will involve UNTL staff and students in participatory rural development programs.
In the long term, strategic plans for teaching learning will be developed by academic staff and stakeholders. Advisers from the commissioning and collaborating institutions will assist the curriculum development process. The staff will be trained in curriculum development, educational design and assessment during study visits to Australian universities. A similar process will be used for developing a research and development strategic plan. Preparation of key staff will enable them to compete for postgraduate fellowships offered by AusAID, ACIAR and other donors. Research capability will improved by the involvement of staff and students in agricultural development conducted by Australian agencies, other donors and NGO's.
Curtin University of Technology is the commissioning organisation has a campus at Miri, Sarawak and also has twinning arrangements with Universities in Indonesia and Malaysia and experience in University development in Eastern Indonesia.

The Northern Territory University had an MOU with the former University of East Timor and has pursued connections with East Timor over many years through Agricultural and livestock development projects in Eastern Indonesia including East Timor.

The University of QLD Agriculture Faculty including Gatton College is "twinning" with the second agricultural campus in Papua New Guinea (Vudal University) and has a history of project involvement in Eastern Indonesia

The Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific at Sydney University is a collaborating organisation offering training in English language and in curriculum development for UNTL staff.

Staff will be recruit from Australian Universities and other organisations NSW Agriculture, Agriculture WA and QDPI as appropriate.

The National University of Timor Loro Sae and the National Research Centre are the major collaborating organisations in East Timor.

The project will form R&D and management linkages with the ACIAR Crop Sciences 1 "Seeds of Hope" initiative, other projects and NGO's.

There been considerable progress in the development of capacity in Research and Development and in Teaching and learning at the University through this project during 2002- 2003. This included the completion of the rehabilitation of the University farm and laboratory facilities, which were . The highlight was the officially opened of the facility by His Excellency the President of Timor Leste, Xanana Gusmoaoa and His Excellency the Australian Ambassador Mr Paul Foley on the 13 February 2003. The President Xanana Gusmao, the Prime Minister Alkatiri, the Australian Ambassador to East Timor, the Deputy Director of ACIAR Dr John Skerrit and the project team and all faculty staff and collaborators involved in the project attended the ceremony.

Research and development

The restoration of the laboratories for teaching and research at the Hera field station has been completed. The facility is being used intensively by students under the supervision of academic and technical staff from the Departments of Agronomy and Animal Science of the Faculty of Agriculture. Science Faculty students from the FKIP are also using the laboratories for Chemistry and Biology practicals.

USAID have provided funding for a A joint 3-month research project involving between East Timorese (Head of the Department of Agronomy, Ir Acacio Guterres) and Australian project the projestaff ct (Dr Robert Williams) and students and USAID on Mon maize quality, and thisquality and cooking quality of East Timorese farmers" has commenced. The project proposal was developed by the Dr Robert Williams, Project Collaborator) and the Head of the Department of Agronomy, Ir Acacio Guterres and was successful in attracting UASAID funding. The research involves staff and students from the Agronomy Department and utilisesses the laboratory at Hera. This project also uses maize lines introduced through the ACIAR "seeds of life project" .Eight final year students (5 agronomy and 3 animal science) are conducting research work at the Hera Field station while seven students have already completed their dissertations based on work at the station.

During Feb-ruary March 2003, the Head of the Agronomy Department and a part time lecturer who is employed by the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Forestry (MAFF) attended a course in the Biological control of weeds in Brisbane and then a workshop conducted in Cairns on the Biological control of Chromolaena odorata. Both of these visits were funded through ACIAR grants

Student Research (two headings of same title below)

Eight final year students (5 agronomy and 3 animal science) are conducting research work at the Hera Field station while seven students have been completed their dissertations based on work at the station

A significant advance has been made in research design and analysis following training funded by the project under the short visit collaborator program. Dr Bernadetha Mitakda (from the UUniversity of Brawijaja, Malang, Indonesia). who was recommended by Assoc Professor Mick O'Neil, Biometrics, Sydney University. As a result one of lecturers has developed sufficient expertise in the statistical package Minitab to be able to train her colleagues and students in the use of the package. Computers donated by the WA Department of Agriculture are being used to store and analyse research data.

The faculty staff have been involved in development of three rResearch proposals:
A proposal has been submitted to ACIAR for the Biological control of Chromolaena odorata involving staff from the Agronomy department of the faculty, and staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).
An IPM in vegetables project has been initiated by the Victorian government and will involve capacity building and farmer training courses. Faculty staff has been invited to attend the farmer training courses to learn about participatory methods and IPM.
A project The European Commission, and NGO's GTZ and World Vision have initiated a project to increase local village incomes through the production of pressed coconut oil using simple coconut presses. An Australian researcher (CSIRO fellow, Mike Foale) involved in the project has agreed to include faculty staff wherever possible.

MAFF and the Faculty of Agriculture are developing a memorandum of understanding, which will foster cooperation, and the sharing of resources. MAFF staff will undertake some teaching in the Faculty and MAFF will have access to resources at Hera and staff and students will have access to MAFF resources such as the Soil Laboratory.

Teaching and Learning

Curriculum Development
The new curriculum developed at the Maubara workshop with input from the Australian project team and academic staff from the Faculty of Agriculture in July 2002 has been implemented. This included a shift from the former Indonesian Agriculture curriculum to one that more closely addressed the needs of East Timor.

The Dean of Agriculture, the Project officer and the Head of the Socio-economics department studied curriculum development during a visit Muresk Institute and Sydney University in August 2002. This team used their new knowledge and skills to lead the faculty staff through the development of a new curriculum for the faculty.
The workshop facilitated by the understanding developed by of the Dean of Agriculture, the Project officer and the Head of the Socio-economics department of curriculum development which they studied during a visit Muresk Institute and Sydney University in August 2002.

The new curriculum has incorporated useful and relevant elements from the Indonesian curriculum, and added new subject areas in response to the agricultural needs of East Timor, eg new units on pig production and pig husbandry. It also has moved toward a less fragmented curriculum placing more emphasis on integration between subject areas and an improving the learning outcomes which are relevant to the development of agriculture in the new nation.

This curriculum was reviewed again in June 2003 as part of a University wide review. Changes were made to incorporate another unit in English language and one in Portuguese at the fourth semester level.

Unit Development

Four staff members visited the Muresk Institute, Curtin University of Technology while three visited Gatton College University of Queensland. During the visit the staff developed unit outlines for 12 subjects and collected materials to develop the teaching manuals for each of the subject areas. The outlines, which the staff have developed, demonstrate that they have significantly increased their understanding of the need to facilitate the development of appropriate skills (learning outcomes) within the teaching/learning program areas as well as to present appropriate content. Units have been developed by agronomy staff in association with Dr Robert Williams in Plant Breeding and with Ms Tania Paul in Crop Protection while Dr Richard Copland has assisted with the development of practicals for a number of units in animal reproduction and in animal health.

Project Impacts

In the events following the referendum of 1999, the University facilities including the Faculty Agriculture teaching facilities in Dili and the laboratory and field station at Hera were destroyed and the buildings were severely damaged. The majority of the staff who had been appointed from outside East Timor left for West Timor. The Timorese academic and support staff most of which had first degrees from Indonesian Universities remained. At the commencement of teaching on 17 November 2000 there were 19 academic staff, but several had been recruited from secondary schools and from the Indonesian provincial agricultural service. Since that time the Faculty has been teaching over 1000 students enrolled across the four years of the course. The Project MOU was signed in June 2001 after UNTAET and the Provisional Government had agreed that the University could commence operations and various amendments had been made to the MOU. Project implementation was further delayed until after the election for the Provisional Government in 30 August 2001. Little progress occurred prior to the election because University staff and students were involved in the political process and the University was in recess until October 1 2001. The project team met with Agricultural Faculty staff and Timorese counterparts in Dili from 23 -28 of October 2001 to review the Project document that had been written in December 2000. By this time staff numbers had grown from 19 to 27 persons.

The staff was keen to teach, develop facilities and initiate research activities. They had come out of a system which in general had been top down and which had not empowered staff to develop. The team which hade been gathered from Curtin University, Charles Darwin University (formerly Northern Territory and Queensland University (Gatton College) decided that staff needed to be encouraged to use their own capacity rather than be dependent on advisers. Staff have been encouraged to contribute to their own development through active participation in workshops and by empowering them to contribute to the development process.

In the initial phase staff were asked during workshop sessions to consider where the graduates may find employment in the new nation and what graduate attributes may be important in the future employment environment. This enabled staff to question the leaning outcomes of the earlier Indonesian curriculum, which had a focus on producing professionals for the public service. It was generally agreed that post-independence most students would not find employment in the public service but instead would need to be self-employed or work in the developing agribusiness sector. This new educational paradigm would be much more focussed in developing students problem-identification and problem-solving skills than Indonesian higher education model.

It was agreed that University staff and graduates require applied research skills. Staff were of the opinion that a research approach which identifies problem and constraints within farming systems and plans appropriate applied scientific research on farms is required. Staff considered that resources available for research and development would be limited and so it would be appropriate to develop cooperative research arrangements with MAFF, farmer groups, NGOs and other agencies.

(i) Community impacts (social, economic, environmental etc.)

The community sees the University as providing the youth with the skills required for them to find employment and to contribute to nation building. This has been demonstrated by the high enrolments of over 1000 students in the Faculty of Agriculture courses. The first graduation occurred on 7 October 2003 at which 90 graduation awards were presented.

The project is working with staff to develop curriculum and educational methodology and assessment, which will graduate professionals with the skills to contribute to the development of the agricultural sector in East Timor. Staff have embraced a challenging task to carry on their self-development and at the same time teach large classes.

Staff from the agricultural schools are requiring further training in areas such as Dairy Cattle management and are looking to the university to fulfil this need. Staff of the Don Bosco Agricultural College, Fuiloro have learnt skills from the university staff and Australian advisers. A high prevalence of Brucellosis was diagnosed in cattle at the College, and a control program implemented. This is of considerable benefit to the College as Brucellosis is a serious zoonotic disease. Staff and students also benefited from this collaboration as the Don Bosco animals were used for practical training (the university has few animals for teaching).

The rehabilitation of the laboratory at Hera is providing a basic facility which is being used by the Faculty of Agriculture to conduct student practicals in a range of subjects and providing a research facility for staff and for final year student projects. The Hera laboratory is also being used by the Education Faculty to conduct practical sessions for science students. The facility at Hera is the only working Agricultural laboratory in East Timor. The facility is increasingly being used by agencies outside the University such as USAID funded projects, AQIS, NGOs and Seeds of Life has recently commenced collaboration. The Portuguese Assistance Program to the University has commenced the use of the facility at Hera for practicums for their cohort of agricultural students.

(ii) Capacity building impacts

Government, the university, staff and students are all very positive that the project is making a significant contribution to building capacity by improving the knowledge and skills of teachers and researchers which is flowing on to improving the quality of graduates. Despite heavy teaching loads, staff have attended workshops and been to participate in their development. The output of improved unit outlines (15) and a solid start on writing teaching learning materials (3 completed and 10 in development).

The project has concentrated on improving the research capacity and supervision of student final year projects. Dr Bernadetha Mitakda, Senior Lecturer in Applied Statistics at Brawijaya University, Malang, East Java has conducted three workshops each of about a months duration. The first workshop was on Research Design, the second on Statistical Methods and the third was on the use of the program MINTAB to analyse data. This input by Dr Mitakda has provided the foundation that has enabled staff to conduct and supervise small research projects. The presence of Dr Robert Williams and the visiting project collaborators has further strengthened staff research capability. Each project collaborator visiting the Agricultural Faculty or supervising UNTAL staff when visiting Australian universities have assisted counterpart staff plan research and final year student projects.

There has been a close collaboration between staff of the Animal Science Department and the Livestock section of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAFF). This collaboration has involved staff from MAFF teaching in the Department, and sharing of resources and reference material.

Collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is also important. IOM provided livestock to help integrate former resistance fighters back into the community, and for this they required a training course. Five senior animal science students were recruited and trained as trainers to present 25 intensive workshops in all parts of Timor Leste. The community impact of this training was considerable (there were 507 trainees). As well, the students have now all graduated and obtained work, due in part to the skills and confidence they gained through presenting this course.

An MOU between the University and MAFF on research collaboration including the sharing of research facilities is being translated into the official language for signing by the Rector of the University and the Minister of Agriculture. This will provide an opportunity to build critical mass in agricultural research and strengthen the capacity of the two organisations to bid for research project funding from International agencies.

(iii) Scientific impacts

The Department of Agronomy (Ir Acacio da Costa Guterres and project collaborator Dr Robert Williams) with a grant from USAID has recently completed a project on "Maize quality preferences of East Timorese farmers" The results were presented to an ACIAR Seeds of Life technical review meeting where Ir. Acacio described the process to prepare and cook corn and differences between local varieties and the introduced corn like Arjuna. In response to the presentation the CIMMYT maize breeder requested by email next day that 3 populations of high quality flint maize be introduced into East Timor for variety testing.

World Vision East Timor has approached the University through the ACIAR project to conduct a food security program.

AQIS has provided equipment to the Hera laboratory and training of MAFF and University staff to monitor pests and diseases of plants and animals. Tania Paul (Project Officer CDU) and Glenn Bellis Entomologist AQIS are linking with Faculty of Agriculture and MAFF staff to develop early disease, pest and weed detection. Staff from the Department of Animal Sciences have gained skills and knowledge through their participation in survey work..

Introduction

The training program basis for the development of teaching, research and extension skills in University staff is based on the perceived needs of staff and internal and external stakeholders.
The educational development training program is intimately linked to the educational process of identifying the graduate attributes required by stakeholders, the development of skills in staff through workshops which develop appropriate curriculum and teaching methodology that will facilitate student learning. The research training is based on the process of the research cycle.

Educational Capacity Development

Curriculum development is an ongoing process. Three curriculum workshops have been conducted by the project in association with the University and staff of the Faculty during the life of this project The latest on 30 - 31 October 2004 recommended curriculum modification to encourage further development of student problem solving skills through implementation of a student centred approach to teaching. An important part of this process is to facilitate student understanding of East Timor Farming/"Agribusiness systems"; and the development of problem identification and problem solving skills by relating the teaching to the improvement of local farming systems. The material presented in the lecture room is a backdrop against which improvements to current practice can be considered and debated. This teaching practice will provide the environment that will enhance the development of cognitive ability of the students and the development of attitudes and values which will assist graduates to communicate with the rural community. The unit "Introduction to Agricultural Science" has been modified to include 75% farming systems analysis combined with involving students in describing the farming systems of East Timor. This unit syllabus will provide a valuable tool for change which will turn the unit from a teacher centred passive unit to a student centred unit that will encourage active student participation thereby enhancing their cognitive development. This unit is currently being developed.

Staff are not convinced that they need to develop a second year Comparative Dryland Agricultural systems (case studies) unit but they are in the process of developing a Farming Systems Research Methods unit which will be small group project focussed. This unit will be developed in July-August by a nominated staff working in association with Dr Fay Rola-Rubzen.

Units have been integrated in Agronomy and Animal Science to reduce the fragmentation of the curriculum, provide a more holistic approach and to reduce areas of overlap.

Outlines have been developed in 75% - 80% of units as a result of this program and more recently the University requirement to meet a Higher Education certification standards.

Study guides have been developed for 14 units in the 12 months made up of the agronomy department developing 3 soils units, animal science department 6 units and the socioeconomics department 4 units. A further 8 units are under development in the Faculty.

Research Capacity Development

The development of staff research capacity has taken them through the process of defining industry needs through consultation with stakeholders. Staff selected research topics by ascribing research priorities and considering available equipment and funding. The staff then wrote research proposals, designing and implementing the research, collecting and analysing data and will in the following six months reporting the results.

A workshop was conducted with stakeholders included the Faculty staff, Australian collaborators, NGOs, The National Coffee Cooperative, and a farmer organisation and aid agencies at Hera on the 30th and 31st of July 2004 to define the agricultural research priorities in the areas of agronomy, animal production and socioeconomics. Two small research projects were defined in each of the areas as follows:

Agronomy

Baseline data on soils in alley cropping along a slope transect
Identification of high yielding and suitable local varieties of corn

Animal Science

A study of the village poultry production system
A study of the meat production chain

Socioeconomics

Analysis of Farmers Behaviour and Adoption of Technology in Rice Farming System in Maliana and Manatuto
Prospects for Vanilla Agribusiness Development in Ermera and Manufahi

Progress

Proposals have been submitted and funded; the projects have been designed and implemented. Data collection and analysis is currently in process.

Workshops were conducted by Dr Richard Copland and Dr Fay Rola Rubzen to develop staff capacity in research design, writing proposals and experimental methods covering the following topics.

Designing Research and Preparing a Project Proposal for Funding Application
Sampling and Sampling Techniques
Designing a Questionnaire
Pretesting the questionnaire
Experimental Designs
Data Entry and Analysis Using SPSS

Acacio da Costa Guterres Head of the Agronomy Department in association with Robert Williams has conducted research on:

Evaluation of green manures crops in association with USAID The results of the research has been reported to national workshops and has created a great deal of interest among farmers
Local and introduced varieties of maize were evaluated against farmer quality requirements. The most important attribute required by farmers was resistance to weevil attack. A second part to the research was the evaluation of traditional and improved storage methods. This study was funded by OXFAM. This work has been reported and has created a great deal of interest.

To strengthen the teaching skills, particularly in socio-economics, and English comprehension

Dr Fay Rola-Rubzen was appointed to as project collaborator to work with Socioeconomic staff to develop teaching and research skills in socio-economics. Initially Dr Rola Rubzen conduced two needs surveys

Needs in improving teaching and learning and
Needs in improving research capacity
Fay has developed strong empathy with staff in the Department of Socio-economics and has worked with them to achieve the planned project outcomes in teaching and learning and in improving research capacity.

Gradate attribute surveys have been developed by Dr Rola Rubzen in association with faculty staff and project collaborators for employers, graduates, staff and students fro each of the Departments.
The developments in teaching and learning and research are reported under Item 1 and 2. above.

English training

Currently there are three levels of English language training running due to different levels of ability and the arrival of new staff some of whom the faculty want to be included in English language training. The training has assisted Flaviano Soares the Dean of Agriculture and the Acacio da Costa Guterres, Head of Agronomy, in developing sufficient language skills to be win John Allwright fellowships to continue English language training in Australia prior to entering Graduate study at the University of Queensland and Curtin University respectively. Mateus Taveres lecturer in animal science has won an Austudy scholarship to study at the University of Queensland. Gil da Conceicao Head of Department Socioeconomics and Alipio de Almeida lecturer, Animal Science.

To provide advice on the improvement of academic administration systems

Improvement of academic administration systems is currently the focus of the Ministry of Educational and the University. Administrative standards have been introduced by the Ministry for registration of University and other Higher Education institutions in Timor Leste.

Final Report received 30/06/2006