Identifying the Present and the Ideal Status of Required Leadership Competencies among Agricultural Students

Leadership competencies are effective factors for the success of agricultural managers. The experts in the field of management and leadership believe that these competencies are usually acquisitive and should be transferred to, or enhanced in students. The identification and development of student leadership competencies have often been neglected in Iran's higher agricultural education system. The purpose of this study was to identify the required leadership competencies in agricultural students from the perspective of university faculties and to determine the current and ideal status of leadership competencies in categories of knowledge, attitude and skill.  To provide a list of leadership competencies for agricultural students, the data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 14 faculty members who were expert in the field of leadership development. The population of the second part of the study consisted of 108 student members of agricultural science associations of Shiraz University. Out of them, 84 students were selected using simple random sampling and the data were collected through structured interviews. The research findings led to the explanation of three subcategories for knowledge competencies, nine basic concepts in the cognitive category, and finally four subcategories of skill competencies. Also, the research findings indicated that there is a significant difference between the means of current and ideal status of student leadership competencies in each of three categories of knowledge, attitude, and leadership skill. Finally, the overall rankings for each category of the leadership competencies were determined. According to the findings, agricultural students are currently facing shortcomings in terms of developing leadership competencies. Therefore, it is suggested that the training priorities of students in the field of development of leadership competencies should be considered more seriously in the future curriculum planning.