BSc degree for 3-year agri courses

Pune: Students completing three-year courses in horticulture, forestry, community science at agricultural universities in Maharashtra will now be offered a bachelor’s in science (BSc) from the next academic year.

So far, the certificates received by the students received honours degree which posed hurdles when applying for entrance tests or postgraduation professional courses as this degree was not considered nationwide.

With the renaming of degree students will be able to apply for various professional courses.These courses will now be treated at par with BSc agriculture and bachelor’s in technology (agricultural engineering).

The move was announced in a government notification issued by the state department of agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy development and fisheries on April 22 following the decision by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) that announced these degrees as professional courses.

Deputy secretary of the department, Balasaheb Raskar, said, “Since the students passing out of these courses did not have the nationally-recognised graduate degree, they were at a disadvantag with respect to participating in competitive examinations and also entrance tests conducted by ICAR. This resolution was passed in the 104th agricultural conference held in February this year.”

Ashwini Giri, who is pursuing her course in horticulture, said that, the honours degree was not considered while filling up forms for entrance exam as a criteria. "This was a long pending demand and many of our previous batches have in fact missed out on national opportunities. This will boost the admissions to these courses and the concentration towards the main agriculture degree will get diverted now.”


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