Genesis

             The Agricultural College and Research Institute (AC & RI) Coimbatore, one of the oldest Institute in Agriculture Education in India was originally started in 1868 at Saidapet, Madras and later established at Coimbatore in 1906. The first batch of 8 students was admitted in Licentiate in Agriculture (L.Ag.) at AC&RI, Coimbatore in 1908. The present AC&RI building was opened by Sir Arthur Lawley in July 1909 depicts symbolically the lofty ideals of Agricultural Education built with the British Colonial architecture.

Agricultural College and Research Institute

            The Under Graduate Programme in B.Sc. (Agriculture) was initiated in 1920 under affiliation to Madras University. To add impetus to agricultural education, research and extension Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) was formed in June 1971 at Coimbatore and AC&RI become the foremost college affiliated to it. The AC&RI is situated in a serene atmosphere at the western end of Coimbatore on the way to Maruthamalai and has salubrious climate. It spreads over 535.0 ha and serves the cause of agricultural education in Tamil Nadu.

Undergraduate Programs

AC & RI, Coimbatore is offering five undergraduate programs of 8 semesters (4 years) duration in course credit system.

• B.Sc.(Agriculture)
• B.Tech.(Biotechnology)
  
• B.Tech.(Bioinformatics)
• B.S.(Agribusiness Management)
• B.Tech.(Agricultural Information Technology)

Education System

            The semester  type system of education was adopted from the academic year 1991-1992.

v     Each semester will have 105 working days.

v     The medium of instruction is English.

v     B.Sc. (Ag.) degree has 8 semesters.

v     Cafeteria system of education (Semi flexible course system)

v     PED, NESS & NCC Inclusion as part of learning process.

Admission to AC&RI

             The college admits on an average 100 students every year for the B.Sc. (Ag.) degree programme. The students after plus two are eligible for admission to the college and are selected through single window counseling system following the procedure laid down by Government of Tamil Nadu. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi is also sponsoring candidates at National level for 10% of seats in B.Sc(Ag). International students of various countries also admitted to this campus. The AC&RI, Coimbatore is responsible for admission of students to all the UG programme of TNAU and overall coordination of all undergraduate programs.

Teaching excellence

            The college has blossomed into a center of excellence and provides a very conducive environment for the learning – teaching process. It provides all the facilities for learning to enable the students to acquire knowledge, skill and ability to face the merging trends in agricultural sector. The excellence in teaching reflected by a good number of candidates bagging every year Junior Research Fellowships of ICAR, New Delhi, out of heavy competition at all India level.

            The high standards of the college is also reflected by the number of candidates who have been successful in the All India Civil Services Examinations like Indian Administrative Services, Indian Police Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Revenue Services , and Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board and are working in different States of country in ICAR system. Many students of this college were selected for employment, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral programmes in foreign countries.

Curriculum

             Falling in line with the policies of the University and ICAR, the curricula and syllabi are revised periodically by the Board of Studies for Agriculture. The Dean (Agriculture) is the Chairman and the Professor and Heads of different disciplines constitute the members of the Board of Studies for Agriculture. Revision of syllabus and introduction of new courses are done based on the emerging needs nationally and globally.

            The syllabi for all the courses are revised every four years. The syllabus revision is taken up one year before the four-year cycle and discussed at various levels and a syllabus Revision Workshop was conducted. Besides discussion with faculty members, the PG students and the current students are consulted and debated to get the feed back from the clientele and modified accordingly based on their suggestions.

Innovative introductions

             Apart from regular courses, following are some of the innovative introductions made currently to strengthen and to expose the students to real world situation. Experiential Learning as Hands of Training, Rural Agricultural Work Experience (RAWE), Commercial Agricultural Courses, Post Harvest Technology, Computer Applications, Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Biotechnology, Organic Farming, Farming System and Natural Resource Management, Bio-fertilizers, Bio-pesticides, Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Sericulture are incorporated in the curricula and given top priority for imparting good basic foundation in terms of acquiring knowledge and skill. The current system of education is very much fixed and to cater the needs and aspiration of the individual  student, a semi fixed system with limited flexibility for students to choose the course of his interest from a list of courses grouped under Cafeteria courses up to 20 credits is introduced from 2003- 2004 batch.

RAWE Programme

             Rural Agricultural Work Experience is a key component in the B.Sc. (Ag.) degree programme. RAWE plays a very important role especially to urban students who got admitted in large number to this degree programme in understanding the real world situation of agriculture practice. The students are given rigorous orientation and familiarization on various issues and problems they can expect in the farmer's field. Then the students are placed in different villages in groups of around seven and attached to well-known farmer of that village. This programme runs for one full semester where in all the teachers in different discipline are involved for improving learning capacity of the students in a typical village situation.

Commercial Agriculture

             Under this programme, the students are orientated for self-employment and also entrepreneurship in areas like;

v     Seed production and Mushroom production

v     Bio-pesticide and Bio-fertilizer production

v     Broiler chicken production

v     Nursery technology

v     Value added product production

Students are permitted to choose one of these courses depending on their interest. Techniques involved in the above areas are practiced and experienced by individual students, which help them to gain self-confidence to start their own enterprises when they pass out.

Experiential learning

            Under this programme the students are exposed to practical agriculture. Each student is allotted to piece of land (not less than 200m2) and trained to take up cultivation of wetland and Garden land crops. This helps them to understand the crop cultivation process from Seed to Seed. It also helps them to understand the real crop growing practice and problems encountered as they are doing the cultivation themselves.

Facilities

            The college provides the following infrastructure and extra curricular facilities in the campus to enhance the learning capabilities, living standards and future placement.

v                 Library

v                 Computer Centre

v                 Internet  facility (24*7 )

v                 Tissue culture laboratory

v                 Hardening ployhouse

v                 Crop Cafeteria & Nutrition Garden

v                 Physical Education, NCC & NSS

v                 Play grounds and Indoor games

v                 Swimming pool and Students Canteen

v                 Students' counseling

v                 Hostel for ladies and gents with computer and internet facilities.

Contact:

Dean (Agriculture)

Agricultural College & Research Institute

TNAU, Coimbatore – 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India.

                                    Phone  :          : 091-0422-6611210

                                    Fax/ Per.        : 091-0422-6611410

                                    E-mail             : deanagri@tnau.ac.in