On a broad restructuring by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), agricultural universities' credit and semester system will see a significant transformation to keep pace with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The reforms will be implemented through the Sixth Deans' Committee, established in 2021, which has been assigned the task of redesigning course structures, credit weights, and academic streams for all undergraduate courses in agriculture and allied sciences.​

Flexible Credit Framework

The ICAR credit system will incorporate NEP 2020's central principle of flexibility. Students shall be in a position to earn credits and transfer them from one institution or field of study to another through the Academic Bank of Credits. This implies that skills-based courseware, entrepreneurship courses, and internship courses will all have academic value. Credits will also be calibrated to enable experiential learning, internships, and innovation projects — the central areas for converting students from job seekers to job creators.

Multi-Exit and Re-Entry Options

Breaking with the classical fixed four-year framework, under the new regime, students will be able to enter and re-enter programs at several points. Students can earn a certificate after one year, a diploma after two, and a full degree after three or four years. The architecture is such that, in case students discontinue studies for personal or professional reasons, they can do so without loss of progress, capturing the spirit of NEP's focus on lifelong learning.​​

Outcome of the Reforms

The Sixth Deans' Committee visualizes graduates as technically competent, entrepreneurial, and world-class. Having uniform credit standards and flexible semesters, the new system is designed to enhance the Gross Enrolment Ratio in agricultural education while producing graduates more poised for agri-business, research, and innovation.

The Sixth Deans' Committee of the ICAR VI Deans' Committee has significantly transformed agricultural education in India to address the new needs of the agriculture industry and the guidelines of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. 

Key Area of Emphasis and Reforms Implemented:

1. Programme Structure and Length:

The committee had recommended a 4-year B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture programme with a point of exit after:

1st year: Certificate in Agriculture Sciences

2nd year: Diploma in Agriculture Sciences

4th year: B.Sc. (Hons.) in Agriculture Sciences

Multi-entry and exit-entry mechanism under NEP 2020 provides students with flexibility with depth of knowledge for students taking the whole degree.

2. Standardization of Curriculum Across Universities:

Same curriculum was adopted in all agricultural universities to ensure uniform academic standards and learning outcomes nationwide.

Courses were simplified to include major agriculture disciplines while removing antiquated material.

3. Skill Development and Experiential Learning:

The Student READY (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana) program has been further boosted to offer practical training.

Hands-on practice, internships, and rural agricultural work experience (RAWE) must be provided to students to make them more practical along with theoretical.

Greater focus on skill-based learning provides students with the means to achieve self-employment and entrepreneurial prospects.

4. Reforms and Credit System Evaluation:

Flexible learning Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) was suggested by the committee.

Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) system allows students to store and transfer credits from one institution to another.

50:50 internal-external evaluation proportion has been suggested for an even-evaluation plan.

5. Degree Standardization and Terminology

All the degrees now have a standardized nomenclature such as B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture, B.Sc. (Hons.) Horticulture, B.Tech. Agricultural Engineering, etc.

The intent is to keep it simple and uniform in higher education degrees all over the nation.

6. Infrastructure and Faculty Development:

VI Deans' Committee has a minimum infrastructure requirement for establishing new colleges of agriculture, which are as follows:

Modern laboratories Research farms Libraries and computer centers

Teacher upgradation schemes have been proposed to keep the teachers on par with newer teaching practices and newer technology in agriculture.

7. Research and Innovation Integration:

More emphasis on technology adoption in agriculture including: Precision agriculture, remote sensing, GIS. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based crop monitoring.

Facilitating research collaborations between Universities, ICAR Institutes, and Private Agri-Tech companies.

8. Way Forward and Long-term Impact:

VI Changes to Deans' Committee aim at:

Reform India's agriculture education.

9. Implementation and Current Status:

Most of the universities have followed the recommendations of the Sixth Deans' Committee.

The ICAR has made it mandatory for all accredited agricultural universities to follow.

SR University School of Agriculture has been able to implement the ICAR VIth Deans' Committee recommendations, harmonizing its agricultural education system with national standards. This standardizes the course, enhances skill development and experiential focus, and imparts industry-focused skills and practical exposure based on modern agricultural practice

This reform will go a long way in fueling the Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India) drive by making future generations of agri-innovators and policy-makers stronger.

Modified undergraduate courses according to National Education Policy (NEP) will be introduced in all agriculture universities of the country from the upcoming academic session 2024-2025, said a senior Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) official.

We are revising and modifying undergraduate curriculum as per the guidelines laid down in the NEP and already many of its aspects have been implemented in all the agriculture universities.

1x1 polls

New curriculum will be launched across agriculture universities across the country from the first academic session of 2024-25," Dr RC Agrawal, deputy director general (agricultural education), ICAR said on the sidelines of his meeting at the Indore regional ICAR centre.

ICAR also plans to launch new short term vocational courses across agriculture universities and has collaborated with foreign universities like Canada and Sydney according to NEP guidelines.

"WE are planning to frame guidelines for launching short term vocational courses in universities. These will include diploma courses which would be framed according to the new trend and requirement of the market. We already have plenty of vocational courses and some of these courses have seen good enquiries in universities at Gwalior and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh," said Agrawal.

There are 76 agricultural universities in the country comprising 65 state universities, 4 deemed universities, 3 central universities and 4 central universities having faculties of agriculture.

Agrawal further added that there has been a trend of increase in vocational and skill based courses in the recent past and they are in talks with central agencies for adding more value addition courses.

We have already begun the process of talking to Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) and National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) to increase the number of skill based and vocational courses. We have already begun the process of working on a number of proposals and we will finalize the best and most popular courses soon," Agrawal said.

According to NEP guidelines, ICAR has also launched e-learning portals through which nearly 100 courses were made digital and will be provided to every agriculture university of the country while live class lectures of more than 4,000 courses were uploaded on agri diksha portal.

Online applications can be submitted to NTA up to March 26. Courses include geography, statistics, chemistry, mathematics, psychology, political science, international relations, history, sociology, physics, English, economics, commerce, Hindi, BBA-LLB. Admission through CUET UG 2024 in hybrid or pen and paper test mode. Results on June 30.

Short-term course at MNNIT starts

MNNIT Allahabad GIS Cell has launched a national level two-week short-term course on InSAR for disaster preparedness and precursors. It is supported by ISRO Disaster Management Support (DMS) capacity building programme and it is in 3rd edition. Its course coordinator is Ramji Dwivedi. It has associate professors, scientists, and PhD students from various prestigious institutions.

India's agricultural economy powers the country's economy, with nearly half of India's workforce engaged in agriculture and contributing significantly to rural living and food security. 

In order to fulfill these needs, Indian agricultural education has to catch up and keep pace with the newer needs of the industry. The system has, over the years, fallen behind in trying to get modernized, with course being very detached from the needs of the new market.

As a result, there were no problem-solving and technology skills to deal with complex, cross-disciplinary problems among graduates. Additionally, undergraduate students, especially in the urban region, have never been prepared to pursue agriculture as a field of study because they perceived pursuing agriculture is time-wasting and non-remitting.

Although India needs around 10,00,000 agriculture and other farm graduates, only half the number is available for employment. "We are not strong and efficient enough in numbers to do farming," quoted a young veterinary science student Bharthiban from Tamil Nadu.

Aware of this, the Indian Government and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in association with the World Bank launched the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) during 2017. The mega initiative had two-fold objectives: to form and strengthen agricultural universities (AUs) within the country and equip students with industry skills, knowledge, and entrepreneurial spirit needed by an evolving industry. The concept was to update agricultural education to make it inspiring, stimulating and recent and, in the process, productive, income-driven and climate-resilient agriculture.

Sowing the Seeds of Change

Through the project, ICAR has brought India's 74 agricultural universities at par with the rest of the world with improved curriculum, creative pedagogy, electronic learning and future classrooms.

These institutions are more multidisciplinary in nature and dedicated to educating their students with the sets of skills required for confronting the demands of a changing industry.

Over 600 new courses have been developed that are within the umbrella of the markets, such as entrepreneurship, agri-business analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and precision agriculture. Ninety-seven disciplines have been refurbished to equip students with the skills to compete in an increasingly competitive contemporary world.

Sophisticated labs expose students to new technologies

The students are being educated in sophisticated laboratories, where they are being equipped with the use of GPS, drones and remote sensing. This is being carried out with the private sector to ensure that training gives students skills that are employable.

I also learned how to handle and pilot drones and utilize them for spraying pesticides and fertilizers."

She is now a professional drone instructor but one day hopes to be an entrepreneur. "I would love to have a business in the drone field," she states firmly of a promising future.

Virtual classrooms have even been set up by some colleges to offer online instruction as a supplement to regular in-class instruction in one of the better ways of teaching large groups of students at lower cost.

They are instructed by international and national experts online and get to see places they could not go to otherwise and acquire knowledge they would never have gotten wind of.

From her Assam village, 23-year-old student Kavita explains how studying online enhanced her abilities. "I can read satellite maps and operate drones at home.