Purdue News

May 10, 1991 PURDUE BOOSTS HUMAN CAPITAL IN POST COLD-WAR ERA West Lafayette, Ind. -- Purdue University faculty members are working with former Eastern bloc countries to build bridges not only to the West but also to the future. "The kind of human capital that we can help develop through their educational system will make a difference in whether these countries will thrive under a more capitalistic system," says D. Woods Thomas, Purdue dean of international programs. "Education is really the base from which reform will take shape. "The endeavors not only build international good will for Purdue but provide opportunities for our faculty and students to become more global." Some of the initiatives are new; others have been in place but are being pursued more actively. For example, Robert L. Thompson, dean of the School of Agriculture, has traveled to Central and Eastern Europe four times in the past two years to make contacts and help set up training programs. He says officials in Poland, Hungary and the Soviet Union are quick to admit that state-controlled economies stifled growth, hindering farmers and markets alike. "They acknowledge the failures of the past," Thompson says. "They openly admit that they've got to have help from the West." One example of post-Cold War cooperation involves Dr. Ronald L. Hullinger of the Purdue School of Veterinary Medicine, who may help lay the groundwork to make veterinary medicine the first private profession in Czechoslovakia. Late last year Hullinger was part of a 15-member U.S. team of education, business and government leaders who met in Czechoslovakia with that country's agricultural managers and university faculty to explore ways to transfer agriculture to private enterprise. One of the problems in developing a market-driven agricultural sector, Hullinger says, is that few Czechoslovakians can remember how privately run farms were managed before the communists took over in the late 1940s. And those who can, he says, are retirement age. "Also, since the '50s, land has taken on an artificial value because government so heavily subsidized agriculture," he says. "If someone wants to buy a chunk of land now, what price do you charge them?" Another global initiative involves the Purdue School of Agriculture and the University of Agricultural Sciences in Godollo (pronounced GUHD-uh-lo), Hungary. The initial thrust, says Professor Marion F. Baumgardner, is revision of the Hungarian University's agricultural curriculum; future efforts could include collaborative research in environmental sciences and agricultural production. Baumgardner says there are amazing similarities between Indiana and Hungary, and between West Lafayette and Godollo. "Indiana and Hungary are about the same size," says Baumgardner, chairman of Purdue's Agriculture Advisory Committee on International Programs. "We both grow a lot of corn. West Lafayette is on the Wabash River basin, which drains two-thirds of Indiana, and Godollo lies 20 miles east of the Danube, which drains two-thirds of Hungary. We can relate to many of the same things." Examples of other initiatives involve the Purdue schools of agriculture and science working variously with the Budapest University of Economic Sciences, Frumkin Institute of Electrochemistry of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, and the University of Kiev. Even with the help of institutions like Purdue, Thomas says, change will come slowly -- and painfully -- to these countries. "There are major structural changes that will have to be implemented by these societies to achieve privatization objectives and pluralistic forms of government," he says. "We have to be very analytical, innovative and patient in assisting in this process." Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page