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Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar

After independence, development of the rural sector was considered the primary concern of the Government of India. In 1949, with the appointment of the Radhakrishnan University Education Commission, imparting of agricultural education through the setting up of rural universities became the focal point. Later, in 1954 an Indo-American team led by Dr. K.R. Damle, the Vice-President of ICAR, was constituted that arrived at the idea of establishing a Rural University on the land-grant pattern of USA. As a consequence a contract between the Government of India, the Technical Cooperation Mission and some land-grant universities of USA, was signed to promote agricultural education in the country. The US universities included the universities of Tennessee, the Ohio State University, the Kansas State University, The University of Illinois, the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Missouri. The task of assisting Uttar Pradesh in establishing an agricultural university was assigned to the University of Illinois which signed a contract in 1959 to establish an agricultural University in the State. Dean, H.W. Hannah, of the University of Illinois prepared a blueprint for a Rural University to be set up at the Tarai State Farm in the district Nainital, UP. In the initial stage the University of Illinois also offered the services of its scientists and teachers. Thus, in 1960, the first agricultural university of India, UP Agricultural University, came into being by an Act of legislation, UP Act XI-V of 1958. The Act was later amended under UP Universities Re-enactment and Amendment Act 1972 and the University was rechristened as Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology keeping in view the contributions of Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant, the then Chief Minister of UP. The University was dedicated to the Nation by the first Prime Minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Nehru on 17 November 1960. The G.B. Pant University is a symbol of successful partnership between India and the United States. The establishment of this university brought about a revolution in agricultural education, research and extension. It paved the way for setting up of 31 other agricultural universities in the country.

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Subject: Agricultre × End date: 2024 × Start date: 2022 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AND ITS EFFECT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: A STUDY ON STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITIES IN UTTARAKHAND
    (G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar-263145, 2023-02) Saklani, Tanya; Kamesari, V L V
    Organizational climate is an ingrained quality of an organization and is a decisive factor in the effective realization of organizational goals. It also serves the purpose of organizational assessment and institutional improvement initiatives. Education sector is no different as there is greater emphasis on quality education and student achievement. A number of factors affect academic achievement, and a growing body of literature indicates that organizational climate affects student achievement. Despite this, there is a dearth of behavioural studies that examine the effect of organizational climate on student achievement in higher education. Past studies on organizational climate have mostly focussed on government departments. Moreover, multi-informant investigations have been very few. Therefore, a study entitled “Organizational Climate and its Effect on Student Achievement: A Study on SAUs in Uttarakhand” was undertaken with the following specific objectives: (i). To assess the organizational climate of State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) in Uttarakhand, (ii). To analyze the variation in perception of faculty members and students regarding organizational climate of State Agricultural Universities in Uttarakhand, (iii). To determine the extent to which organizational climate affects student achievement in State Agricultural Universities of Uttarakhand, (iv). To study the extent to which achievement motivation influences student achievement in State Agricultural Universities of Uttarakhand and (v). To find out the effect of socioeconomic status on student achievement in State Agricultural Universities of Uttarakhand. The study was conducted in both the SAUs in Uttarakhand i.e. Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar and Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar. From each university, two colleges were chosen using simple random sampling. Fifty per cent of the faculty members from each college were selected through simple random sampling. For the selection of students, an appropriate sample size was computed using Yamane’s formula. After eliminating first year students, 300 UG, PG and PhD degree students were selected using probability proportional to size method. Descriptive research design was used for the study and data was collected using pre-tested questionnaire, supplemented by personal interviews. It was found that most of the faculty members in both the SAUs were male, belonged to young age category and had short job experience. In GBPUAT, maximum number of the faculty members were Professors, while in VCSG UUHF, most of the faculty members were Assistant Professors. In case of students, most of them were female, belonged to young age category, had completed their previous education in English medium, belonged to upper-middle class urban households, had medium level of achievement motivation and student achievement level. Maximum number of students from GBPUAT had studied at public institutions, while in VCSG UUHF, more number of students had come from private institutions. The overall organizational climate in GBPUAT was Dependency-Achievement while that for VCSG UUHF was Affiliation-Achievement. This revealed that in GBPUAT, there is respect for people in power with key decisions being controlled by a few who have the last word on all matters. VCSG UUHF gives high value to maintaining friendly relations amongst the members and people are often rewarded on the basis of their closeness to the top persons. With respect to the faculty members, the organizational climate came out to be Achievement-Expert Influence in GBPUAT, while for VCSG UUHF it was Dependency-Expert Influence. As far as students were concerned, the organizational climate for GBPUAT was Dependency-Achievement while in case of VCSG UUHF, it was Affiliation-Control. Extension had lowest score out of all the six motives in both the universities. Correlation analysis between socio-economic status, achievement motivation, organizational climate and student achievement showed a positive and significant relationship for both the universities. All these three variables explained for 45.40 per cent variation in student achievement in GBPUAT. In VCSG UUHF, they accounted for 51.40 per cent of variation in student achievement. Path analysis for GBPUAT and VCSG UUHF revealed that organizational climate had a substantial and positive direct effect on achievement motivation while achievement motivation had a substantial positive and direct effect on student achievement. Therefore it is evident that organizational climate affects student achievement indirectly through achievement motivation, rather than having a direct effect on student achievement. It was concluded that achievement motivation mediates the effect of organizational climate on student achievement. A healthy climate contributes for the development of mental capacity and cognition of the students which, in turn, drives the students’ motivation towards accomplishment of their goals. This drive then urges the students to perform better and actually accomplish what is required of them academically. The study disproved direct effect of organizational climate on student achievement so there is a need for alternate theory building. The results from the study can be used for self evaluation of the institutions. Organizational climate in both the SAUs need improvement as they need to move from dysfunctional motives to functional ones.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Online Teaching During Covid-19: A Study of State Agricultural Universities of Uttarakhand
    (2023-05-09) Jalal, Priyanka; Amardeep
    The Coronavirus (COVID-19) had created an unimagined situation all over the world and on 11 March, 2020 WHO officially announced it as the pandemic. Across the world, most schools, colleges, and universities were closed to control the spread of the COVID-19 which created difficulties for students, families, and teachers to continuing the education. Therefore, online teaching learning was the only solution to overcome this situation. There is no doubt that the crisis has accelerated the adoption of technologies to deliver education and will help strengthen the country’s digital learning infrastructure in the long run. Digital education needs a balanced coordination between course content, educationists, technology and course-takers but the sudden shift to online teaching without any planning especially in developing countries like India where the backbone for online teaching- learning was not ready and the curriculum was not designed for such a format has resulted the many challenges and obstacles for students & teachers. Therefore, the study was undertaken with following objectives: to study the sociocommunication and psychological characteristics of respondents, to assess the instructional effectiveness, to study the attitude of students and teachers, to study the expected changes in educational practices in post-Covid era, to study the constraints and to find out the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and instructional effectiveness as perceived by students. The present study was conducted among two SAUs of Uttarakhand and one college from each university was selected randomly. The descriptive research design was used and sample was selected randomly by 25 percent of students (both UG &PG) and 50 percent of teachers from each college. Thus, the final sample comprised of 359 students and 55 teachers. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection and done by online and offline survey. Appropriate statistical tools such as frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, weighted mean, correlation co-efficient and garret ranking were used for the data analysis. The results of study revealed that majority of UG students (64.89%) were belonged to younger age group i.e. upto 21 years and PG students (67.91%) were between 21-24 years of age group. Majority of students (62.67%) were enrolled in undergraduate program and 33.33 were in post graduate degree program. About half of students (50.70%) had medium academic performance i.e. between 7.00-7.99 CGPA and moderate technological readiness. Most of students were belonged to rural hill and urban plain area and also had medium ICTs exposure. The learning style of UG and PG students was different as half of UG students (49.78%) were divergers and 44.03 percent of PG were convergers. Majority of total students had medium self-confidence and found the online instructions moderately effective. Majority of students were using smart phone and laptops for online classes and had favorable attitude towards online teaching. In addition, majority of teachers were male, belonged to young age category i.e. upto 44 years, had PhD qualification, were assistant professor, belonged to rural plain, had short teaching experience (upto 13 years) and only 43.64 percent of teachers had received training in ICT. Majority of teachers were having medium ICT exposure and were using smart phone and computer on daily basis. Regarding satisfaction of faculty with online teaching, 47.27 percent had low satisfaction and perceived less competent in e-teaching i.e. 45.45 percent. Moreover, maximum numbers of teachers (47.27%) evinced a positive and favorable attitude towards online teaching and they were having medium to high expectation for changes in educational practices in post COVID era. Furthermore, the major constraints reported by respondents were disrupted or slow speed of internet, connectivity problem, irregular classes over online platform, ineffective time management, large size of course content and class size, lack of satisfaction, health issues, unfamiliarity with new online platform, lack in support services, lack in students’perfomance evaluation as well as less interaction in online classes. The findings also highlighted that students’ academic performance and their technological readiness had significant relation with instructional effectiveness whereas students’ self-confidence and their attitude had highly significant relationship with instructional effectiveness of online teaching.