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| SUFONAMA objectives |
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The overall objective of the SUFONAMA Course is to provide top-level and up-to-date education that makes the graduates qualified for coping with the huge challenges in contemporary forest and nature management in countries where the forest-nature paradigm has shifted in recent years. This is achieved through the first year of studies imparting to the students a broad knowledge of the new paradigm in forest and nature management and in the second year giving the opportunity to specialise in one of five well-defined fields in which a research-based thesis is written.
The specific objective of the SUFONAMA Consortium, through implementation of the SUFONAMA Course and modalities of work, is to become a Centre of Excellence in the field of holistic forest and nature management. The Consortium will thus work to: (i) realise synergy in forest and nature management teaching by closer co-ordination and collaboration between the top universities in Europe in the field of forest and nature management (ii) increase transparency, for students as well as faculty, and enable comparison between modules and programme specifications in forest and nature management teaching across universities and institutions in Europe (iii) increase the global visibility and accessibility of higher education in forest and nature management in Europe Contribution towards university excellence and European competitiveness The five institutions of the Consortium all have significant experience in research-based teaching on forest and nature management and have strong institutional support. The institutions have complementary focus fields in their research and thus advantages in different areas of teaching. SUFONAMA will thus provide students with a single entry-point access to the best of forest and nature research-based teaching. The Consortium will, therefore, increase European competitiveness in the area of forest and nature management by providing the best teaching for each field of specialisation, by increasing the transparency of forest and nature management teaching in Europe, and by establishing easy access. To further increase the quality of the teaching, the Consortium will continue collaboration with colleagues in non-European countries while using SUFONAMA to strengthen ties between institutions and individual scholars and practitioners. In particular, this will be done by attracting scholars to the Course, using our worldwide network of contacts with each institution bringing its own set of contacts. Research projects and publications will be accessible through this website (www.sufonama.net) and face-to-face scholar contact is further promoted through the 13 ERASMUS MUNDUS PROGRAMME
A distinctive and important feature of the Consortium is the emphasis on applied research and, through this, on teaching that is applicable in forest and nature management practice. During their studies, students are extensively exposed to reality/practice of the relevant countries both during course work, thesis work and the Joint Summer Module. In other words, students are not only taught theory of forest, environmental and social sciences. Students completing the SUFONAMA Course are thus prepared and able to contribute to sustainable forest and nature management under the new management paradigm. The SUFONAMA Course will appeal to both EU and third-country students. The professional standard of the Course will make it highly competitive with non-European institutions, also in the USA. Further advantages are that application and admission procedures are straightforward and transparent, and that study environments are attractive professionally and culturally: (i) choice among three countries for first year studies and among five countries for specialisation, (ii) the sojourn in each of two countries being long enough (one year) for the students to become exposed to the local language and culture. The Consortium will have the competence and potential to further European influence in the international debate on forest and nature management. This is an important aspect because the general European position on many issues related to forest and nature management tends to differ from that of, e.g. the USA: more emphasis on active forest and nature management to the benefit of users and less on preservation as an end in itself.
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