Perception of Indian agricultural professionals towards creating a new department of agricultural education in agricultural universities of India

Agricultural Education is a hinge in the cycle of agri-science integration. The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the perception of Agricultural professionals working under various central and state agricultural universities of India, towards the creation of a new agricultural education department. Total 400 teachers and 200 researchers from various CAUs and SAUs were contacted through e-mail survey method for this research. Among the received responses 120 responses were taken into consideration through the purposive sampling method. Perception of the agri-professionals were studied under four sub-components i.e perception towards creating a department on Agricultural Education, perception towards the scope of Agricultural Education, perception regarding employment opportunity in the Department of Agricultural Education, perception regarding the course content for Agricultural Education with the help of total 21 relevant statements. Overall perception was calculated by considering the above mentioned all subcomponents. According to the findings of the study majority of agricultural professionals of India had medium perception towards agricultural education, which shows that teachers and researchers had a positive perception towards creating a new department of agricultural education. This entire new division will prepare students for employment in various agriculture and allied sectors.