Origins |
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SLE was founded in 1962 as the "Centre for Agricultural Development" (Seminar für Landwirtschaftliche Entwicklung). Focusing on tropical and subtropical agriculture, the Seminar was part of the Faculty for International Agricultural Development at the Technical University Berlin. In the course of reorganizing the three Berlin universities after reunification, SLE became affiliated to the Agricultural-Horticultural Faculty of the Humboldt University in October 1992. Rural development remained the focus of SLE interdisciplinary training. In addition to agricultural topics, political and social issues now came to the fore, and methodical and planning skills gained in significance. SLE was consequently renamed “Centre for Rural Development“ (Seminar für Ländliche Entwicklung) in 1994. Today SLE offers courses that take up current trends in international cooperation and impart knowledge and experience from research and practice. Hence the rural areas serve as a reference framework that, used as an example, can illustrate development challenges, strategies and instruments of support. |