MODERNIZING POLISH AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS TEACHING AND RESEARCH: AN EVALUATION OF ACADEMIC COOPERATION

Twenty-five years ago in response to the collapse of communism in Poland, an academic consortium was formed around two Polish Universities of Life Sciences (formerly Universities of Agriculture) for a Tempus project. The consortium has expanded from a project to revise curricula in agricultural economics within a market economy to much wider educational and research interests. The consortium’s main achievement has been in the organisation and accreditation of MBA programmes which has subsequently been augmented by a network for other educational and research programmes in a number of countries (AGRIMBA). This article explores the social net benefits of this example of investment in human capital relying on the concepts laid down by the Nobel Prize winners Theodore Schulz and Gary Becker.