Curricula and Syllabi for Master's Degree Programs in Agricultural Statistics, Bio-Statistics and Computer Application

Abstract

The discipline of Statistical Sciences has seen significant developments during the last sixty years. There have been continual efforts to enrich and refine the training and teaching of statistical sciences to cater to the changing needs of physical, social, agricultural, animal, biological and medical sciences and also to keep the curricula competitive and acceptable at the international level. A number of State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) and Deemed Universities (DUs) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have introduced M.Sc. programme in statistical sciences. The revision of curricula and syllabi has been undertaken by the SAUs and DUs from time to time on need basis. In order to meet the future requirements of teaching, the ICAR constituted a Broad Subject Matter Committee (BSMC) on Statistical Sciences with Dr. P. K. Malhotra,Head, Division of Computer Applications, IASRI, New Delhi as the Coordinator. The members of the committee were Dr. S. D. Sharma, Director , IASRI, New Delhi; Dr. G. Nageswara Rao, Head, Dept. of Statistics, ANGRAU, Hyderabad; Dr. S.P. Dhall, Asso. Prof., Agril. Statistics, Dept. of Basic Sciences, DYSPUHF, Solan; Dr.V.K. Gupta, Head, Division of Design of Experiments, IASRI, New Delhi and Dr Mahesh Kumar, Senior Scientist, Division of Computer Applications, IASRI, New Delhi. The area covered for restructuring were Agricultural Statistics, Bio- Statistics and Computer Application. BSMC obtained information from all the SAUs and DUs on the courses being offered, their syllabi, admission policy, etc. Draft syllabi were prepared keeping in view the recommendations of the 3rd Deans' Committee on Agricultural Education in India and the sample syllabi from some of the leading universities offering the Statistical Science programs. The draft of new syllabi for the PG courses was sent to the concerned SAUs and DUs for comments. The feedback received was duly taken into consideration and draft syllabi were modified. The modified draft was discussed in a meeting cum workshop of Subject Matter Specialists held on 4th October, 1999 at IASRI, New Delhi and finalized.