The University of Forestry for which an Act was promulgated in the Telangana Legislative Assembly and Council on Tuesday, will be the first of its kind in the whole country and the third in the world, a statement from the Forest department informed.
The only other two countries which have forest universities are Russia and China, which makes India the third.
The Forest College & Research Institute (FCRI) will be upgraded into a university by way of the legislation, in order to nurture it as a world class institution for Forestry Education, Research, Extension and Outreach.
Besides producing qualified forestry professionals for conservation and sustainable management of forest resources, the college has as its stated objectives, fostering research and developing appropriate methods to propagate plantation crops to meet the demand from industry and domestic needs, developing agro-forestry models suitable for different agro-ecological situations, networking and partnership with similar institutions, providing extension training to farmers, among others.
Once the process is completed for upgradation, it is proposed to start 18 additional programmes such as PhD courses, Diploma and Certificate courses in the streams of Urban Forestry, Nursery Management, Agro Forestry, Tribal Livelihood Enhancement, Forest Entrepreneurship, Climate Smart Forestry, and Forest Parks Management, the note informed.
Student strength would be increased to 726 from the existing 360, while the employees’ strength would be enhanced to 210 from the existing 118.
Chief Minister will be the Chancellor and retains the authority to appoint the Vice-Chancellor, the note informed.
