AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION PORTAL
INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
Strengthening and Development of Higher Agricultural Education in India
EDUCATION PLANNING & HOME SCIENCE (EP&HS)
Educational planning strives to develop, co-ordinate, implement and monitors plans and policies including reforms in higher agricultural education in the country leading to quality human resource development and aims for maintaining and upgrading quality and relevance of higher agricultural education through partnership with 75 Agricultural Universities comprising of State Agricultural Universities (64), ICAR Deemed-to-be-Universities (4), Central Agricultural Universities (3) and Central Universities with Agriculture Faculties (4). The Indian Council of Agricultural Research provides financial supports for establishment of infrastructure facilities including Faculties and Students Amenities viz. Student Hostels, Examination Halls, Educational Museums, Sports and Recreational Facilities, Placement Cells, and Modernization of Educational Farms and Library Facilities
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (HRD)
The Human Resource developed by ICAR has played a pivotal role in transforming
Agricultural Scenario in the country and achieving self-sufficiency in food grain
production. In this endeavor, ICAR has contributed significantly through
strengthening and development of higher Agricultural Education. There is an urgent
need to develop quality human resource to face the multifaceted and complex
challenges of the Indian Agriculture arising due to changing climate, threat to
sustainability, inefficient use of agro-inputs and depleting quality of the natural
resources and rising competitiveness under the globalization pressure. Renewed
thrust to higher agricultural education has necessitated enhanced support of the
ICAR to the AU system by providing funds for development and strengthening in
critical areas. It is essential to put in motion new initiatives especially, attracting
talent for matching agricultural education consistent with global technology
development and stakeholder expectations. The support being proposed through
continuance of this scheme will, to a large extent, remove the constraints, attract
talent, and enable the agricultural education system to churn out graduates capable
of meeting new challenges facing Indian agriculture. The approach is multipronged,
addressing the issues of competence enhancement, attracting talented youth to
agriculture education, curriculum and delivery mechanism, improving quality of post
graduate research, addressing the needs of different stakeholders by making
agricultural education relevant, responsive and promoting entrepreneurship skills to
enable graduates to take up their own enterprises as job providers rather than job-
seekers and improving the overall infrastructure in terms of student and faculty
amenities pertaining to teaching and learning..
EDUCATION QUALITY ASSURANCE & REFORMS (EQA&R)
National Agricultural Education Accreditation Board (NAEAB): Accreditation is done to ensure the quality of higher agricultural education in Agricultural Universities and its constituent colleges. The University/ institution/programme are critically evaluated by a group of experts as per approved guidelines of the Council. The National Agricultural Education Accreditation Board (NAEAB) undertakes the accreditation programme (i) to assist people, prospective students, educational institutions, professional societies, Government and other concerned agencies in identifying institutions and programmes which meet the minimum norms and standards as prescribed by the Council, (ii) to provide guidance for the improvement of existing agricultural education institutions/ programmes, and (iii) to develop new institutions/ programmes. Accreditation of Agricultural Universities is a continuous process, and since the constitution of the Board in 1996, 43 agricultural universities have been accredited. In order to infuse better accountability and intense monitoring for educational quality improvement in agricultural universities, The Government of India has taken a decision to link accreditation of agricultural universities by NAEAB with the Grant-in- Aid from ICAR, New Delhi.
Academic Management System
An online system which enables automation and streamlining of all the academic activities of a university has been developed at ICAR-IASRI. The system has been designed in a modular approach with in-built work flows. It allows all ICAR Deemed Universities to follow the best standards and builds a repository of the academic records and e-learning resources. Presently the system is operational at IARI New Delhi, CIFE Mumbai, IVRI Izatnagar, NDRI Karnal and CAU Imphal. It has been decided that under Eakikrit Krishishiksha Takniki Ayaam (EKTA) initiative of Education Division, ICAR that this system will be extended to all the Central Universities by March 2018.