Component 1
Support to Agricultural Universities: would finance investments by participating AUs to improve the quality and relevance of agricultural education and research toward agricultural transformation. The component would competitively award significant additional resources to participating AUs and would finance goods, works, non-consulting services, training and consultants’ services.
Sub-component 1a – Institutional Development Plans (IDPs)
It would provide Institutional Development Grants to selected participating AUs. The subcomponent would target reform-ready AUs and support competitively selected and performance-based IDPs. The IDPs would seek to improve:
(a) learning outcomes and future employment for AU students; and (b) faculty teaching performance and research effectiveness. Through the IDPs, the AUs would identify and prioritize key challenges, propose interventions to respond to these challenges, and set timelines and indicators for measuring achievement of greater quality and relevance attributable to these interventions. The participating AUs, through the IDPs, would also seek to foster both technical and financial partnerships.
Sub-component 1b – Centre of Advanced Agricultural science & Technology (CAAST)
It would provide CAAST Grants to selected participating AUs for the establishment of Centers for Advance Agricultural Science and Technology. The subcomponent would support competitively selected CAAST proposals from reform-ready AUs to establish multidisciplinary centers for teaching, research and extension on critical and emerging agricultural topics. Multi-stakeholder consultations would inform the geographic locations and core themes for the proposed CAASTs, after which participating AUs would compete for CAAST funding. Approved AUs would be financed through a CAAST subproject grant directly to the participating AU
Subcomponent 1c – Innovation grants (IG)
It would provide Innovation Grants to selected participating AUs for the carrying out of Innovation Plans. The Innovation Plans would support technical assistance and consultant services, including those required to: (a) make AUs reform ready (i.e., attain accreditation); and (b) promote mentoring of non-accredited AUs by existing reform-ready AUs and other interstate and international academic partnerships.
Component 2
Investment in ICAR Leadership in Agricultural Higher Education– would finance the carrying out of institutional reforms within ICAR in order to enhance ICAR’s effectiveness in coordinating, guiding and managing agricultural higher education and its interactions with AUs and key stakeholders nationwide through interventions that increase the quality and relevance of agricultural higher education. As ICAR is responsible for national coordination and quality assurance of agricultural higher education, the component would leverage ICAR’s comparative advantage in assessing systemic challenges across the ICAR-AU System and incubating solutions..
The component would finance goods, training, consultant services and non-consulting services and incremental operating costs and would include: (a) assessing options in the administration and award of ICAR’s technical and financial assistance to AUs; (b) structuring dialogue with State governments to catalyze their participation in raising the quality and relevance of agricultural higher education; (c) providing assistance to participating AUs for the development of IDPs, CAASTs and Innovation Plans; (d) establishing partnerships with globally recognized agricultural higher education institutions; (e) developing digital information systems for agricultural data collection, analysis and dissemination; (f) improving curricula review processes and methods to consolidate and disseminate global best-practices in agricultural education; (g) improving the all-India entrance examination in agriculture, including an on-line national examination system; (h) adopting next-generation management systems covering information, procurement, contract and financial management areas; (i) coordinating an External Advisory Panel of renowned agricultural education experts; (j) assisting agricultural universities to strengthen their linkages with industry; and (k) promoting the establishment of centers for career development at agricultural universities.
Component 3
Project Management and Learning– would finance goods, works, non-consulting services, training and workshops, and consultants’ services for the Project (other than those financed under subprojects) and incremental operating costs.
The component would strengthen ICAR’s management capacity for project implementation, including: (a) the establishment/maintenance of a Project Implementation Unit, a Steering Committee, a Technical Committee and a Monitoring and Evaluation Cell to ensure compliance with the Project’s procurement, financial management, safeguards and reporting requirements, and the carrying out of the administration, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of IDP Grants, CAAST Grants and Innovation Grants and/or proposals therefor; (b) the provision of training to ICAR and participating AUs to achieve and sustain increased quality, relevance and effectiveness of agricultural higher education. The component would also finance the dissemination and communication of project interventions and outcomes.