Integration of research and education is central to the creation of SAUs in India. The challenges faced by the agricultural research system in incorporating the sustainability perspective will also be applicable to agricultural universities in general. In addition, SAUs face the additional challenge of incorporating the sustainability perspective into their education programs. These programs have evolved around the prevailing green revolution paradigm of high-yielding varieties, input-intensive management and relative certainty in defining the production systems. The typical organization of any SAU points to their basis being in this paradigm: they are organized into disciplinary divisions and focus on the major economic crops in the area of their operation.
The empirical base of agricultural education served the green revolution era well. But, the strengths of the system for that era may well turn out to be weaknesses if the sustainability is to be designed in to agricultural systems. The sustainability paradigm requires a transition to process- knowledge -based agricultural education with emphasis on problem identification and solving skills. For example, the conventional education in agricultural statistics and experimental design (which forms the very foundation of agricultural education and research) needs to be entirely overhauled, if sustainability becomes the goal. Rather than looking for a single solution that will serve in all locations, sustainable agriculture demands site- specific precision agriculture that allows different solutions under different conditions. In general, good training in basic sciences provides problem-solving skills that can instill confidence and better handling of practical situations. In the past, the SAUs have not placed much emphasis on basic science skills and will have to build their strengths in this area.
In addition to the changes required in the knowledge base of agricultural education, sustainability requires serious didactical reorientation (Wals, 2000). The defining metaphor of education should change from tending a garden to leading an expedition. The traditional view, also reinforced by the objectives of the Model Act for Agricultural Universities, is that a university produces graduates with a set of skills that can be used in the marketplace. The teacher is like a gardener who tends to the flowers (students); s/he prunes and shapes them into marketable products. In a commodity/productivity based agriculture, with relatively stable markets, the gardener metaphor was a valid one. But in the sustainability perspective, the teacher and student are both explorers. The skill sets required are a solid grounding in basic science and disciplinary skills, communication and information management skills, and self learning skills that provide the capabilities to understand and adapt to change. The teacher is the leader of an expedition and a partner in the learning process focusing on building the self- learning and problem-solving abilities of students. The inherent difficulties in identifying relevant systems and defining and measuring their sustainability only reinforce the need to more to a metaphor in which teachers consider themselves to be learners as well. Significant changes in attitude of both teachers and learners will be required.
Developing capacity for self learning will require access to self learning facilities (both for students and faculty) to enable people to learn to understand and adopt to change. These facilities include well- equipped libraries and laboratories and access to worldwide learning resources through information technologies. Specific training and formal evaluations in self-learning are required. Thus the challenges facing agricultural education range from conceptual and thematic to institutional and individual. Major changes will be required in the structure, systems, and skills of NARS before the sustainability perspective can be effectively incorporated into agricultural research and education.