What do students studying forest and landscape restoration in Africa and Asia actually need to learn, and where is that education falling short?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Restoration Education is Landscape Alliance<\/a>\u2019s initiative bringing together universities, educators, students and practitioners across Africa and Asia to build restoration capacity through higher education. Its mission is to move beyond knowledge transfer to shape how students understand themselves, others and the systems they\u2019ll work in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IFSA, a global student-led network for forestry students, and Landscape Alliance have collaborated for more than a decade on knowledge-sharing, professional development and youth engagement in forestry research. Their partnership renewal<\/a> in 2024 opened a new way of working together: the IFSA student consultancy programme, which brings undergraduate and master\u2019s students in as consultants, rather than interns or observers, on Restoration Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReal youth engagement happens when students are given structured targets and real trust, rather than just a seat at the table,\u201d says Nilo Wijaya, former president of IFSA. \u201cWhat I mean by structured targets is having clear deliverables agreed on from day one, then the freedom to decide how to get there. That combination gives young people real responsibility and real ownership, and it protects everyone from the vague, ever-expanding asks that often creep in when expectations were never set clearly in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n IFSA Consultants presenting the outcomes of the student training needs assessment during the Restoration Education curriculum design workshop, Bogor, Indonesia, December 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n The first task fell to the four consultants working in Asia: develop a student training needs assessment (TNA)<\/a> to identify the core competencies forest and landscape restoration (FLR) professionals in the region need, examine how universities were teaching restoration and recommend what should change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through a survey of 40 students and recent graduates across 10 Asian countries, along with focus groups and interviews, they found a consistent pattern: strong theoretical grounding but clear gaps in practical skills. Most respondents (75.8 per cent) said they lacked the geospatial mapping skills needed to track restoration and degradation. Nearly as many felt unprepared in project design (72.7 per cent) and international policy frameworks (72.7 per cent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings pointed to a need for restoration education in Asia to shift towards applied, experiential and interdisciplinary learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consultants took their findings to the Restoration Education curriculum design workshop in Bogor, Indonesia, in December 2025. They briefed university partners on the content, topics and teaching approaches the curriculum needed to reflect, then stayed to help design it, bringing student perspectives into every module.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a year of curriculum development, it was time to put the material into practice. The Restoration Education summer school, hosted by the University of the Philippines Los Ba\u00f1os, welcomed 25 local students from different environment-related disciplines. The eight-day programme equipped participants with knowledge, skills and perspectives to contribute to restoration initiatives across Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The IFSA consultants helped deliver every module. Ferizta Hardika, an IFSA consultant from Indonesia, co-facilitated the module \u201cPeople, Culture, and Identity for Landscape Restoration\u201d and led a mapping exercise that helped students understand the value of a sense of place when working with local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBeyond just delivering content, it felt like closing the loop, from doing the TNA to building the curriculum to finally stand in the room and see how students respond to it. It was a full-circle moment that made all the earlier work feel real and worthwhile,\u201d says Ferizta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the first consultancy assignment complete, Landscape Alliance welcomed new students from Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria to bring fresh perspectives on African students\u2019 training needs for careers in landscape restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Salvation, one of the new IFSA consultants, had her own reasons for joining: \u201cI had my own questions from studying forestry in Nigeria. I wanted to know if some of the challenges we face here, especially around university learning and the gap between what we are taught and what we need in the field, were also common in other African countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Building on the African Restoration Education curriculum launched in 2022, the African student TNA found a familiar gap between theoretical and practical training. Students had a solid foundation in the biophysical dimensions of FLR but wanted more professional and practical skills, including project management and stakeholder engagement, which are needed to design and implement viable restoration projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe TNA showed me how differently we, as students from different countries, think about landscape restoration, and yet we all share the same gaps when it comes to restoration education,\u201d says Theopista Abalo, an IFSA consultant from Uganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consultants continued this work at the International Forestry Students\u2019 Symposium (IFSS) in Nigeria in August 2026. During a Restoration Education workshop, 50 forestry students from around the world shared their views on the competencies missing from higher education, the institutional barriers behind these gaps and what could help address them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One conclusion came through clearly: students don\u2019t lack knowledge; they lack opportunities to apply it. Alongside more blended and experiential learning, the consultants called for mentorship initiatives that connect students with experienced restoration practitioners who can offer first-hand guidance on careers in restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consultants\u2019 work extended beyond curriculum design. They also helped strengthen the project\u2019s university network through the launch of the Restoration Education Community on Landscape Academy<\/a>, a resource repository for educator capacity development and a space for African and Asian educators to learn from one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Canakya, an IFSA consultant from Indonesia who co-moderated the online community, this meant working with an entirely new audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI got the chance to engage with professors, which was completely new for me,\u201d Canakya says. The experience also challenged her to rethink her approach: \u201cIt pushed me to rethink my approach and realize that the way we engage students may not work the same way as educators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Canakya and her fellow consultants later presented ideas to Landscape Alliance for strengthening engagement across the Restoration Education network. These included inviting summer school alumni into the community, creating a space for student-professor exchanges between universities and drawing on educators\u2019 networks to bring more lecturers into the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking back across two years, two continents and eight student consultants, what stands out is the curriculum, the summer school and the network of educators, as well as what the process showed about trust. Giving students clear responsibilities and the freedom to contribute their own ideas allowed them to shape work that would affect their own education and that of their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI hope this pilot project serves as a lasting foundation for student involvement,\u201d says Nilo. \u201cMy wish is for restoration education in Asia is to stay interdisciplinary, grounded, and continuously co-designed with students, opening up endless doors for students to shape the future they will live in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The collaboration between IFSA and Landscape Alliance shows what student involvement can contribute to restoration education. By bringing students into training needs assessments, curriculum design, teaching and educator networks, the initiative gives them a direct role in shaping how landscape restoration is taught and practised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Students from Asia and Africa are helping shape restoration education through training needs assessments, curriculum design, summer schools and educator networks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":560,"featured_media":164973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12057,12114,12052,12098],"tags":[12826,13937,13938,13939,13940,13941,13942,13943,13067,12858,13944,13945],"language":[2168],"location":[12245,12251],"tag-bahasa":[],"tag-espanol":[],"tag-francais":[],"type-espanol":[],"type-bahasa":[],"type-english":[2423],"type-francais":[],"coauthors":[13910],"class_list":["post-165108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bentang-alam","category-forests-news-id","category-pengelolaan-restorasi-hutan","category-tata-kelola","tag-africa","tag-asia","tag-forest-and-landscape-restoration","tag-forestry-students","tag-higher-education","tag-ifsa","tag-international-forestry-students-association-2","tag-landscape-academy","tag-landscape-alliance","tag-restoration-education","tag-student-engagement","tag-youth-engagement","language-english","location-africa","location-asia-pacific","type-english-event-coverage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA curriculum for students, shaped by students<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Investing in people: Advancing restoration education across Asia <\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"Ferizta](\"https:\/\/www.forestsnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0547-scaled.jpg\")
Photo by University of the Philippines Los Ba\u00f1os & Landscape Alliance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nFrom Asia to Africa: continuing Restoration Education\u2019s work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.forestsnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Course-banner3-1-copy-copy.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.forestsnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/workshop_photo_2_graded-1-3-scaled.jpg\")
How students connected educators worldwide<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Building the foundation for student engagement<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAcknowledgements<\/strong><\/mark><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
This article was developed through the Restoration Education initiative.<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Restoration Education<\/a> is funded by the International Model Forest Network (IMFN)<\/a>, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany (BMZ)<\/a>, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) <\/a>and the Higher Education Cooperation for Forest Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Livelihoods in Bangladesh and Vietnam (FORSU)<\/a>. The initiative is implemented by Landscape Alliance<\/a> and the Global Landscapes Forum<\/a>, in collaboration with higher education institutions and partner organizations across Asia and Africa, to embed landscape thinking in higher education and professional learning.<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The activities featured in this article were made possible through collaboration with the International Forestry Students\u2019 Association (IFSA) and other higher education institutions and organizations working on Restoration Education.<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n