AbstractsLaw & Legal Studies

Beginning in 1978, the learning paradigm of the Faculty of Agriculture at the (now) University of Western Sydney - Hawkesbury was progressivly altered from the classical didactic approach to, by 1985, a student self-directed, experiential learning environment. This entailed shifting from a faculty-perceived narrow agricultural production perspective to one of a multi-discplinary rural development focus. The focus of this systems inquiry is that of a marketer examining a well-established faculty task (function), with the objective of determining how well that task is being performed, and what (if any) remedial action is indicated. The inquiry indicates that there has been a failure to maximise potential in the faculty subsystem that is responsible for communication with concerned publics. The failure is general, in that it was not confined just to communication with employers of faculty outputs. All publics were involved; the faculty's separate messages were not being sensibly delivered to employers, prospective students, undergraduates, academic peers, and government. Analysis of the issues led to the development of a marketing (information) strategy that recognises the need to re-order the faculty's information-formulation and delivery subsystem. A series of proposals is advanced for consideration and debate by the Action Research Team as to which of these several actions should be considered as desirable and feasible for implementation. The estimated costs of implementation of the plan are presented on an item by item basis. Master of Science (Hons)