LUDHIANA: The College of Animal Biotechnology, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana has been granted a prestigious postgraduate teaching program of M.Sc. (Biotechnology) with specialization in Animal Biotechnology by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. Dr. Yashpal Singh Malik, Dean, College of Animal Biotechnology, GADVASU and Program Coordinator elaborated that the program includes financial support to the tune of Rs. 1.80 Crore for the strengthening of teaching and research facilities in the College.
Dr Malik said that every year 10 students from various states of the country will enrol for the postgraduate (PG) program in the College of Animal Biotechnology and DBT will provide fellowships and contingencies for their research work that would help to further improve the standards of PG research in the country. He told that the program has been initially funded for five years commencing from 2020-21 academic session. The trained students under such programme will serve as a competitive human resource in the field of Animal Biotechnology for the country. Dr. Malik said that so far, the College of Animal Biotechnology has awarded 56 MSc/M.V. Sc. and 20 PhD degrees in the frontier areas of biotechnology and these students are suitably placed in various organizations.
Dr. RS Sethi, Professor and Head, Department of Animal Biotechnology said that the admission to this program will be made through the Graduate Aptitude Test–Biotechnology (GAT-B) conducted by the Regional Centre for Biotechnology on behalf of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. The eligible candidates will be given a GAT-B rank based on which they may apply to the various DBT-supported PG programmes in participating institutions. Dr. Sethi said that the objective is to enable a student to be equipped for start-ups or entrepreneurial launches and also become a new knowledge generator in the field of Biotechnology.
Dr. Inderjeet Singh, Vice Chancellor, GADVASU congratulated Dr Malik and his team for bringing a prestigious national level program to the institute and said that program will ensure quality teaching, training and nurturing excellence in Biotechnology education for generating meaningful R&D activities in the country.