TNAU: 353 MSc, 136 PhD enrol for academic year 2023-24

NEW DELHI: The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), announced the successful completion of its masters and doctoral admissions for the academic year 2023-24. TNAU's 2023-24 batch has scholars from various states across India, including Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Puducherry, and Telangana.

The admissions process, which commenced on June 4, 2023, included 33 masters and 28 PhD programmes. The university conducted merit-based selections, through the state entrance exam and DBT Graduate Aptitude Test-Biotechnology (GAT-B) entrance exam for the biotechnology programme, leading to the selection of 353 MSc scholars and 136 doctoral scholars.

The event was conducted both online and offline and focussed on fostering academic brilliance and advancing research for its postgraduate and PhD scholars.

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The university uses a digital application-to-admission system. Through its academic management system, TNAU has digitised student details and registration.

TNAU has partnered with various international institutes, including Western Sydney University, Australia; Dalhousie University, Canada; University of Southern Queensland, Australia; CIMMYT, Mexico; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden; ICRISAT, Hyderabad; and National Institutes, among others.

According to the university the students have collaborated internationally with various universities for example, Nivethitha, a biotechnology student, and Dharani, an entomology student, are pursuing a dual-degree PhD programme at Western Sydney University in Australia.

Additionally, Bavish, studying meteorology, and Diyyala Reddy Prasanna, specialising in agribusiness management, are engaged in a cotutelle programme at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. TNAU's patent cell has filed 39 patents, with nine of them already granted and the cell processes and patents outputs from student research at no cost, fostering innovation, as per the university.

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The university stated, “ In the preceding academic year 2022-23, TNAU’s School of PG studies facilitating the 853 master's and PhD students through a diverse range of fellowships, encompassing programmes like CMR-JRF, DST-INSPIRE, ICSSR, ICAR JRF, NTS, CSIR, FMC, UGC MANF, NFST, along with various scholarships such as the ZYTEX Science Leaders Scholarship Program and FMC Science Leaders Scholarship Program. The cumulative value of these fellowships stood at an impressive Rs 55,000,000."

The dean of the school of postgraduate studies, N Senthil, emphasised focusing on research capacities, and the publication of work in high-impact journals as crucial elements for both academic and professional success.