SOA university opens new agricultural institute

Bhubaneswar: Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) university here on Saturday opened Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS) in the university campus, the first such college in the private sector in the eastern India.

This is the ninth institute under SOA university propagating professional courses with an intake capacity of 120 students.

The university vice-chancellor Prof R P Mohanty and advisor to the president of SOA university Prof D P Ray were present at the inaugural function which was graced by Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) vice-chancellor Prof Manoranjan Kar, was the chief guest.

Prof Kar said while 24,000 graduates in agriculture and other allied sciences were being churned out by various colleges in the country now; there would be a need for 40,000 graduates by 2020. There are 65 agricultural universities in the country at present, but the demand for agricultural science was on the rise, he added.

Congratulating the students, he said they had opted for a good branch of science which provided ample employment opportunities. But he urged the students to have the mindset to set up their own enterprise.

Prof Ray OUAT former vice-chancellor said though there were 300 private agriculture colleges in the country, there were none in the entire east and north-east. The new institute under SOA university is the first to be set up in the private sector in the region, he added.

Prof Mohanty urged the newly-admitted students to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship while pointing out that agriculture would be a challenging profession in the years to come. The new institute, he said, would stand for service, education and research.