First Indian agricultural university offers courses without qualification and age barrier

India’s first and only private open agriculture university, Arvind Agricultural (Open and Virtual) University was commenced in January 2013. Presently, it is offering courses to farmers without any age bar and specific qualification restriction. 

The syllabus and curriculum of the courses are completely different from other universities and are also innovative. Arvind Agricultural (Open and Virtual) University is conducting classes on out-demonstration farms near Nagpur and receiving a good response for same.

The university is all set to use high technology involving experts of several agro-produce across the world to share their experiences and also teach the farmers directly in the virtual classrooms.

The university will tie up with various other leading agricultural universities for transfer of knowledge and visiting fields.

One of the basic bottlenecks in agriculture is marketing, which will now be addressed by the university. The varsity has started marketing by exporting around 700 tons of mangoes from western Maharashtra in this summer. Now, they are planning to help the Vidarbha farmers by exporting vegetables from that region. The varsity is also growing vegetables as a pilot project in a field at Wadvihira in Katol, a rural region of Nagpur, for demonstration and even planning to export around 500 tons of vegetables.

Arvind University has also aimed a paradigm shift in farm education by offering tailor-made courses. For this, they have planed around 50 courses, which will consist of a daylong workshop as well as 4-year Ratna without any age bar or qualification.

Source: The Times of India