ATLANTA -- Georgia isn't producing enough agriculture graduates to fill the research jobs available, harming the state's ability to grow its life-sciences industry, the dean of the University of Georgia ag school told lawmakers Tuesday.
His comments came during the first of four hearings by the House Study Committee on Bioeconomic Development. Scott Angle, dean of UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said there are seven jobs in the poultry industry and five in the horticultural industry for every agriculture graduate.
"The problem has been it is just plain too hard to get into the University of Georgia," he said.
After his presentation, he said he doesn't want to lower admissions standards. Instead, he wants to improve the quality of high schools in the rural parts of the state where kids still want to grow up to pursue agricultural careers.
To address the issue, Angle has stepped up acceptance of students transferring from other colleges around the state where admissions standards aren't as difficult. He also wants to offer undergraduate agriculture courses at UGA's Tifton experiment station, as is now being done at the Griffin station, to attract small-town students who aren't comfortable on a campus as big as the one in Athens.
Still, many are slipping away from the state.
"About two-thirds of the young adults who would like to study agriculture go out of state," he said, adding that Auburn University in Alabama has as many Georgians as Alabama students in its agriculture school.
Once they leave for their education, only half return to begin their careers, he said, creating a bind for Georgia employers.
One of those companies, Duluth-based animal-vaccine maker Merial Limited, moved its American headquarters to Georgia to be near UGA's veterinary and pharmacy schools, but Chief Science Officer Kevin Schultz said it would benefit from a medical school at UGA, too. The company works with Emory University's medical school, but with a research facility already in Athens and close ties to the university there, he said a UGA med school would help.
Like Angle, Schultz also said the state's high schools were a problem.
"Actually, we have a lot of difficulty recruiting high-level, senior management people," he said.
When pressed by panel member Dr. Russell Medford, president of AthroGenics Inc., Schultz explained that he has to pay extra to bring top managers to Georgia after they look at the state's standings in national education rankings.
"To have a reasonably good education, they have to send their children to private schools, that's the belief of people we recruit," said Schultz, who noted that his own children went to Georgia public schools.
Study committee chairwoman Rep. Charlice Byrd, R-Woodstock, said she had met Monday with state Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox about the role of basic education in economic development.
Other speakers before the panel offered a range of suggestions on how to stimulate the state's life-sciences industry, from a state-run venture-capital fund to demonstration factories. Committee members plan to sort through all of the recommendations for a report to the General Assembly by the time it convenes in January.
