The Higher Education Review

Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture was founded in the year 2014 under the patronage of Sakthi Foundation, the charitable trust of Sakthi Group, a part of Kumaraguru institutions. A culmination of Arutchelvar Padma Bhushan Dr. N. Mahalingam's time-honoured dream, the institute envisions empowering its learners with the technology blended agricultural knowledge and inspiring students to strive for innovation in production, food security, safety, and quality through a high standard of education and research.

Located in Nachimuthupuram, Appakudal, Erode, Tamil Nadu, Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture is affiliated to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. Aspiring to be a hub and ecosystem that inspires and infuses fundamental academic concepts with hands-on learning opportunities, the curriculum and activities structured by Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture are a fusion of academics and IT, which inspires learners to grasp new aspects, utilize their potential, and polish their skills with every task.

Developing Young Minds with Quality Education
At KIA, there are exceptional opportunities for crossdisciplinary, extracurricular, and creative activities. Tradition and modernity coexist here and flourish. Inculcating values, emphasizing character, celebrating the environment, and treating people with respect are all values that are practiced at Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture. KIAs mission is to offer a high paradigm of education in the field of Agriculture, to render all possible services to the farming community to make agriculture viable, profitable and self-supportive, to motivate educated youth to take up Agriculture as a vocation, and to develop the institution as a model one in the state. Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture promises its learners an undergraduate program of B. Sc Honours in Agriculture which constitutes disciplines like agriculture, modern techniques of agriculture, Veterinary Science, Forestry, Fisheries, Horticulture, Home Science, and more.

Participation in activities and competitions enhances the thinking ability of the students

and develops a sense of taking initiative voluntarily. Through participation in competitions, students can develop their confidence and decision-making ability. The extraordinarily collaborative academic environment at KIA brings out the skills of students under the supervision of faculty coordinators. To add to it, the rural setting provides a distraction-free environment that encourages focus and interest in a variety of activities. Students are strongly encouraged to compete at the state and national levels.

Following COVID-19, Kumaraguru Institutions recognised the need for technological innovation and created Kumaraguru Online Education (KOED), an internal online blended learning platform. KOED was conceptualised by Project Germinate, a task force made up of senior faculty members, academicians, and student leaders. Project Germinate's goal was to improve the learnability of the students through cutting-edge technological intervention. With the help of Microsoft, Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture has developed collaborative learning environments in which instructors and students can easily collaborate in MS Teams and exchange resources. The new student ERP platform is known as Kumaraguru's Integrated Technology for Education (KITE) and will integrate students, instructors, parents, and other stakeholders into a single forum while combining all the modules and features that will improve learning and connections.

“Offering a high paradigm of agricultural education, KIAs mission is to render all possible services to the farming community to motivate educated youth to take up Agriculture as a vocation, and to develop the institution as a model one in the state”

Teachers play a vital role in bringing the best out of the students by providing the right guidance and polishing their skills of the students. The teaching method used by the teachers at KIA is a mix of traditional and technological based. Students are taught using cutting-edge technology such as PPTs and smart boards. A new pedagogy is intrinsically linked to teaching practice and course design, delivery, and evaluation procedures. To stay updated with the latest developments in the field of agriculture, Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture provides a Faculty Development Program for its employees. Faculty members are permitted to attend refresher

courses, summer school, winter school, and short courses regularly.

Preparing Learners for Future Challenges
The Placement Cell at KIA focuses on student growth in higher education at nationally and internationally recognized institutions, entrepreneurship, competitive tests, and student placement. The cell maintains a database of employers to facilitate student placements. Also, the placement cell contains faculty members as well as two final-year students to oversee the placement activities to carry out the aforementioned activities.

To promote students' competitive spirit, lectures and exposure visits to various agro-related enterprises are provided. The Placement Cell communicates often with graduates to obtain feedback for measuring employability, participation and performance in competitive tests, employment selection processes, startup initiatives, and so on. Placement Officers of the institute visit various Agro- Firms, Banking sectors, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO), and Non-Profitable Organizations (NGOs) to gather first-hand information on placement options for the students. So far, KIA graduates have been placed in banking industry, seed and sugar firms, farmer producer companies, public extension systems, international input corporations, advisory services, and major commercial farms.

“KIA is one of the leading institutions that envision empowering the youth with the high paradigm of agricultural education and strives to be an ideal educational institute in the state. Two of our students got admission at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi for pursuing Master's degree. The campus evinces the affluent heritage, excellent vision and exceptional commitment of the Sakthi Group of Companies and the zestful insight of the founder. The institute strives to unlatch to its students a wide window to the new world of Agriculture blended with technology”, speaks Dr. B. J. Pandian.

Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture aspires to open a wide window to the modern world of Agriculture coupled with technology for its students. The college focuses on developing new strategies to improve and sustain food production, making agriculture more viable and profitable. Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture is well-equipped to provide all of the required amenities to students while it envisions to be the best agricultural educational institute in the state.