With a view to increasing the quality of the output and address the challenges faced by farmers, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) asks Indian agricultural universities to implement global best practices in a phased manner, by making changes to the curriculum and regulatory frameworks.

“Private research investment for agriculture in developed countries is also quite high. For developing economies including India, there is not only a need to allocate more resources in research and education, but also to incorporate the best practices available globally to match the emerging and future needs of the agricultural sector,” the ICAR said in a policy paper.

There is a need for promoting entrepreneurship in the colleges, besides fostering collaborations at institutional, national, and international levels to enhance higher education in agriculture. The universities should also focus on industry-relevant research, technology commercialisation, and fostering entrepreneurship, the policy paper, prepared by ICAR- National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), said.

In the policy paper ‘Global Best Practices for Agricultural Universities in India’, the ICAR said that adopting global best practices can strengthen agricultural education, promote cutting-edge research, and establish robust industry linkages.

The policy paper looked into the best practices in agricultural institutions in the US, the UK, France, Russia, Australia and the Netherlands.

“Deterioration in the quality of education can be attributed to reasons such as lack of academic culture/rigour, faculty incompetence, rigid and outdated curriculum and lack of infrastructural facilities,” it pointed out.

In order to improve the quality of higher education, improvements are required in curriculum, teaching methodologies, teaching technologies, and assessment methods, in commensuration with the needs and expectations of the end users.

“These efforts will transform agriculture into a more sustainable and efficient sector, empower rural communities, increase farm incomes, and improve India’s overall food system resilience,” the ICAR said.

The global best practices cover a wide range of topics such as flexibility in the transfer of students, academic flexibility, internationalisation of education, funding and scholarships, diversity of learning, and interdisciplinary approaches.

It also wanted the agricultural universities to take a cue from innovative instructional methods, being followed by the best universities in the world. It asked the universities to introduce transparent ways to meet student requirements and web-based data management systems.

It expected the agricultural universities in the country to seriously look into these practices and come out with a definite strategy to implement them in a phased manner.

“They can roll out these changes uniformly across institutions by bringing changes in the curriculum and regulatory frameworks. Focus on these practices will upkeep the spirit of the National Education Policy 2020,” ICAR said.

“They need to focus on industry-relevant research and technology commercialisation, with student engagement in research generating valuable intellectual assets and revenue through technology transfer,” ICAR said in the paper.

It pointed out that entrepreneurship was fostered within universities, leading to the creation of numerous enterprises addressing core challenges in agriculture, animal health, and human health.

“Universities must also focus on resource sustainability by seeking philanthropic contributions to support student education, sponsored research, and infrastructure, reducing dependence on State funding,” it stated.

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Published on May 6, 2025