We just completed the third Advanced module for the MSc program, titled ‘Policy and Planning’. This course was taught entirely by Krishen Rana and focused on the development process for national and regional aquaculture policies.
Similar to the previous Advanced modules, this class entailed three days of lectures, with the remainder of the two weeks open for individual and group work on the assessments. We were also fortunate to have a guest lecture from Paul Haddon, the Head of the Aquaculture and Fish Health Policy Unit for the Scottish government, who spoke on the status of Scottish aquaculture, as well as the steps taken to build the current national policies.
The assessments consisted of several deliverables and presentations, both individual and group-based. The first was an in-depth situation analysis of the aquaculture industry and market in our home countries (I did mine on Canada), complemented with a 20-minute individual presentation. Then, we were placed in groups of four and tasked with creating a virtual country (either ‘developed’ or ‘developing’, based on our home countries- I was in the ‘developed country’ group) and developing a national aquaculture policy for it.
It was up to us to determine policy principles, objectives and strategies that would be appropriate for our new country, as well as design action plans and real-world initiatives that could be implemented to achieve these objectives. Using as examples the strategic frameworks from different countries all over the world, we built a complete national aquaculture policy from the ground up!
Overall, this course was well-taught and presented me with quite a bit of valuable experience! The next module is ‘Livelihoods and Sustainable Development’, which I am also looking forward to!!
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