Romanian-American Foundation Fulbright Scholars unite with UGA Extension to envision a model for agricultural outreach in Romania.
Arriving on the Athens campus of the University of Georgia in August 2023, five Romanian scholars experienced the same anticipation, excitement and apprehension as many first-year students.
Chosen as Fulbright Romanian-American Foundation Scholars, each serves on the faculty at one of three Romanian universities, specializing in fields from economics and engineering to plant breeding and biotechnology. The five scholars comprised the first cohort of the Romanian Extension Education Development Program, an ambitious three-year pilot effort to facilitate planning and implementation of extension services in Romania.
The program seeks to create a sustainable outreach model for delivering education and advisory services to rural communities in Romania. The scholars’ ultimate goal is to increase the productivity and income of small and medium farms and agribusinesses through improved production practices, value-added production and increased market access.
The scholars — Daniel Chiciudean, Andreea Ona and Mihai Suteu from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Daniyar Memedemin from Ovidius University of Constanta, and Alina Zaharia from Bucharest University of Economic Studies — each applied individually for the Fulbright grant, submitting proposals based on their academic focus areas.
Over the course of four months, these scholars immersed themselves in the operations and culture of UGA Cooperative Extension under the guidance of program director Abigail Borron, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
They traveled the state, visiting UGA’s campuses in Athens, Griffin and Tifton; shadowing UGA Extension leaders, CAES faculty mentors and UGA Extension agents; and meeting with agricultural industry members and producers to learn how they work with and benefit from their relationships with UGA Extension. The scholars also met with university representatives from units including the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development and Archway Partnership, who discussed university-community partnerships focused on community and economic development.
Funded by a $781,000 grant from the Romanian-American Foundation (RAF) and administered by the nonprofit study abroad and intercultural exchange organization CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange), UGA was chosen from a competitive process among U.S. land-grant universities to administer the program.
“Romania is one of the very few European countries that does not have a working system for agricultural consultancy. Romania tried other models, like agricultural chambers, but they did not work. In 2018 we started to look to the model of extension services that exist in the U.S.,” said Roxana Vitan, president of the RAF. In Romania, county agricultural chambers were established in 2010 to provide agricultural advisory services and training, however many operated only on paper without providing services.