Wye College and the RCCs – with an Introduction by Dr Alan Rogers Particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s a significant number of graduates of Wye College, University of London, were employed by Rural Community Councils. Job opportunities were expanding, not least because of the Community Initiative in the Countryside scheme which had been introduced in 1973 and which in particular encouraged the creation of Countryside/Field Officer posts in the RCCs. And the 1970s was also a time when rural issues were centre stage politically and in other ways – concerns about rural deprivation, the environmental effects of modern