"SWOT Analysis of Agricultural Colleges from Maharashtra"

Abstract

SWOT Analysis of agricultural colleges from Maharashtra state was studied for future improvement in agricultural education particularly in affiliated agricultural colleges. The study was conducted in the jurisdiction of all four agricultural universities in Maharashtra by selecting 27 affiliated and 13 constituent agricultural colleges. The respondents such as principals and teachers were selected for collection of data. Collected data were analyzed using frequency and percentage tools and results were drawn. It was observed that the respondents had identified as many as seven strengths of the constituent agricultural colleges. At overall level, 97.20 per cent of the respondents felt that ‘Qualified, experienced and permanent teaching staff.’ was the major strength, whereas 97.20 per cent of the respondents expressed that ‘Vacant teaching posts’ was the major weakness. Regarding opportunities, 93.00 per cent of the respondents stated that ‘Receipt generation avenues for college through development of farm projects on commercial basis’ was the major opportunity. As regards to threats, ‘Anxiety of unemployment for graduated students due to huge number of students graduating from agricultural colleges’ was the biggest threat as stated by 89.51 per cent of the respondents. Regarding affiliated colleges, it was noticed that, 98.98 per cent of the respondents felt that ‘More opportunities for the students in admissions for agricultural and allied branches.’ was the strength of affiliated agricultural colleges, while 95.28 per cent of the respondents expressed that ‘Unavailability of qualified and experienced teachers’ was the major weakness. As regards to opportunities, ‘Receipt generation avenues for college through development of farm projects on commercial basis’ was the opportunity felt by 91.91 per cent of the respondents. ‘Anxiety of unemployment for agricultural graduates due to large number of students graduating from colleges’ was the biggest threat as stated by 95.95 per cent of the respondents.