A post-graduate masters course in Agricultural Systems at the Asian Institute of Technology is described. The course Includes lectures in technical subjects such as Crop, Livestock and Fish Production as well as lectures on the analytical tools used in Farm Management Economics and Agricultural Systems Analysis. A major emphasis of the course is in the practical application of the systems approach to real farming situations both on-and off-campus. Students participate in the management of a small rain fed crop/livestock/fish farm, carry out a Farming Systems Research procedure in villages close to AIT as well as studying the off-farm factors affecting small scale farms through a series of structured assignments. Students learn to think and work independently during 612 months of thesis research which is carried out in the context of a real farming system.