THE UNIVERSITY of the Philippines-Los Baños conducted an internship conference on agriculture to develop and strengthen the skills of students and prepare them for actual work environment.

The event was organized through the Commission on Higher Education’s Strengthening Private-Public Partnership through Industry Practice in Agriculture or P4Agriculture project.

The conference aimed to gather feedback from stakeholders and learn from the best internship practices of the SUCs and international university partners.

It was attended by Dr. Glenn Gregorio, director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture.

In his welcome message, Chancellor Jose Camacho, Jr. emphasized the importance of internship programs in agriculture and food sciences.

“Internship allows the integration of academic knowledge with practical application and skills fostered in a professional environment. We can further strengthen industry and public partnerships by producing university graduates that are not only academically excellent but also capable and ready for the challenges and demand of work in the agriculture and food science industry,” Camacho said.

Gregorio, who also serves as chairman of the technical panel for agriculture of the Commission on Higher Education, highlighted the importance of harnessing the academe-government-industry interconnectivity in agriculture.

“Those in academe are the technology generators, the industry are the technology adapters, while the government are the technology users,” Gregorio said.

Speakers from local and international universities shared their best practices and the challenges in their internship processes.