Want to study BSc agriculture? Here are top 5 agriculture universities, their admission processes

NEW DELHI: BSc Agriculture is a four-year undergraduate programme that covers various subjects like biochemistry and biotechnology, crop science, agricultural economics and marketing, agricultural engineering, entomology, fisheries, forestry, horticulture and much more. The ministry of education (MoE) this year added a new category for agriculture and allied sector in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF 2023).

Admissions to agriculture courses have already begun and some of the institutes admit students through the Common University Entrance Test (CUET UG 2023) score. The National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts the second-largest entrance exam, CUET UG 2023, declared the results on July 15 at cuet.samarth.ac.in.

Based on the NTA scores secured by the candidates, colleges that offer agriculture-related courses will be publishing the merit list. Let’s take a look at the top 5 agricultural institutes and their admission process.

Indian Agricultural Research Institute

IARI has been ranked number 1 by the education ministry in the NIRF 2023 rankings. The Institute at present admits students to the postgraduate school. It offers MSc, MTech degree courses through an entrance exam conducted by the education division of ICAR and on the basis of merit.

Admission to the IARI PhD courses in 26 disciplines will, however, be based on the performance of candidates in the written entrance examination, which carries 80% weightage, academic score (10% weightage) and an interview round (10% weightage).

Indian Council of Agricultural Research

ICAR announced that this year admission to BA in agriculture and allied sciences, other than veterinary sciences at agricultural universities will be on the basis of CUET UG result 2023 for 20% of the university seats.

“During 2022-23, against the total of 4,285 seats, 3,846 candidates were recommended by ICAR for admission to accredited bachelor degree programmes in 61 accredited AUs under the ICARAU system,” the official website read.

Number of seats available for admission in different disciplines at accredited agricultural universities, including IARI, are done through CUET ICAR-UG 2023.

Punjab Agricultural University

Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana - Ranked 3 in the NIRF 2023, the university grants admission to its UG, PG programmes through entrance exam. The registration process for applying was closed on July 3. However, those who wish to study agriculture in this university without an entrance exam will be able to apply for four courses - MTech Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS), MCA, diploma course in hybrid seed production technology, diploma in agriculture. The application for admission for these courses will begin from July 21 to 28.

Banaras Hindu University

In number 4 rank under NIRF India rankings 2023 is BHU. The university offers admission to BSc Agriculture through CUET score 2023. The faculty of agriculture has various departments such as agricultural economy, agronomy, dairy science, extension agriculture, agricultural engineering, horticulture among others. The maximum seats offered for BSc Agriculture is,

• BSc (Hons) Agriculture - 154
• BSc (Hons) Agriculture - Rajiv Gandhi South Campus, Barkachha, Mirzapur - 50
• BTech in Food Technology - 30
• BTech in Dairy Technology - 30

Also Read | ‘Degree of no use’: Why Maharashtra’s BTech Agriculture Engineering students oppose MPSC syllabus change

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University

The TNAU ranked five in NIRF 2023 offers 14 UG programmes, of which BSc Agriculture and BSc Horticulture is offered in Tamil medium in addition to English. Currently, the general counselling is ongoing based on the ranks obtained by candidates.

Admission is based on the Class 12 marks secured by the applicants. The ranking procedure is done by calculating the aggregate marks and converting it to marks out 50.

The institute offers BSc (Hons) Agriculture, BSc (Hons) Horticulture, BSc (Hons) Forestry, BSc (Hons) Sericulture, BSc (Hons) Food, Nutrition and Dietetics and BTech Agricultural Engineering. Under the agricultural technology programmes, TNAU offers:

• BTech in Food Technology,
• BTech in Biotechnology,
• BTech in Energy and Environmental Engineering,
• BSc (Hons) Agri Business Management,
• BTech in Agricultural Information Technology,
• BTech in Bioinformatics.