Unveiling multiple pathways into tertiary forestry education: a mixed-method study

Forestry education is a pillar of the forestry profession, but its recruitment has seen declines across countries. Understanding the recruitment base and motivations to study forestry is crucial to reversing this negative trend. Research on recruitment into forestry education is scarce. We aimed to fill part of this void by analyzing the population of foresters with tertiary education and their motivations for studying forestry, using Norway as a case study. We employed a mixed-method approach combining interviews with 6 individuals with a survey with 422 respondents, all having tertiary forestry education. The main factors to choose forestry education were interests in renewable resources, the environment and outdoor recreation, and family owning forests. Most foresters were male with a rural origin; many had been socialized into forestry from childhood and youth. We compared pathways into forestry by subgroups and found the urban–rural dimension to be a stronger indicator for early socialization than gender. Through Principal Component Analysis, we identified three pathways into forestry: Socialization, Interests and Acquaintance. As the main recruitment pool is shrinking with fewer people living on farms and in rural areas, the sector and the educational institutions should aim to attract a more diverse group into forestry education.