Agricultural and environmental higher education has changed greatly over the past four decades. This article provides a personal review of the factors influencing this change. Economics, social attitudes and developments in technology and in theories of learning have all affected both what and how students need to learn. This is illustrated with examples from distance learning, where the need to provide students with a clearly structured educational experience is paramount. The paper also examines the implications of changing conceptions of environment, of the role of agriculture and a more constructivist epistemology for education and environmental action.