Extension Education

The significance of Extension Education as a discipline remained extremely crucial to the planners and decision-makers during the initial establishment of the Assam Agricultural University (AAU), Jorhat due to the scope of the subject to take education and research at the doorstep of farmers, and hence fulfils a significant mandate of the University. It was felt that this discipline is an integral part of the agricultural education system that could foster the growth of agricultural development in the state and in NE region. Hence, a separate department for the discipline was established under the College of Agriculture, AAU. A brief report on the information regarding the department has been prepared and presented as follows:

1. History of the Extension Education Department

# The discipline was introduced in College of Agriculture in 1961.

•# Elective in Extension Education was first offered in 1964.

•# Master’s programme started in 1980.

•# Doctoral programme under course credit system started in 1993.

2. Mission and goals of the Department

To bridge the agricultural technology gap at grass root level by linking farmers with the emerging globalised world, by means of education, training and awareness, so as to encourage them to participate in and reap the benefits of development, thus contributing towards the vision of the University.

 Goals:

# To educate students at the graduate, post-graduate and PhD levels, in a student- centred environment, in order to provide adept agricultural services to the society.

# To generate employable skilled human resource for agricultural extension and communication.

# To enhance and promote excellence in teaching and learning.

# To contribute to university governance by participation at the departmental, college and university levels.

#To conduct need-based research and dissemination of knowledge.

#To develop extension strategy and methodology for extension education, extension service and extension work.

In order to achieve the above mentioned goals, the department has charted out plans for all-rounded development of the department to realise the vision of the College of Agriculture and simultaneously fulfils the mandates of the University.

The Following are some of the important activities of the Department:

# Give quality education, knowledge and skill to the students

-#Prepare students for competitive exams like JRF, NET,ARS, etc.

# Promote student exchange programme - national and international.

Development of faculty:

#Human resource development through participation in trainings, workshops, seminars, symposiums.

Development of infrastructure:

# Develop departmental A-V laboratory infrastructure including equipment.
# Set-up technology equipped classrooms for post-graduate and PhD students.