Certificate Programme in Agri- Business Management

XLRI Jamshedpur & iKisan
invite applications for a
Certificate Programme in Agri- Business Management

XLRI Jamshedpur and iKisan Ltd jointly offer a six month “on-line self learning” Certificate Programme in Agri- Business Management. The online self learning course is a professional course offered to students who wish to supplement their basic agricultural knowledge with business skills and enhance their career opportunities.

XLRI, Jamshedpur
XLRI was founded in 1949 by Fr Quinn Enright, S.J. in the Steel City of Jamshedpur. Fr. Enright visualized XLRI to be a partner in the liberation and development journey of the independent India with a vision of "renewing the face of the earth". Over many years XLRI has developed its own identity. The hall mark of this identity is, not to walk on the beaten path but to strike new routes; not to benchmark but to be benchmarked, to be second to none but to be the first to respond to the needs of the people and the nation, by taking up the tasks which are bold but necessary which nobody has hitherto taken up.
With this aim, XLRI Jamshedpur has contributed its best to the professional growth and management of innumerable institutions that's serve the public especially organized industry, labour, service agencies engaged in rural development, education, health and other

Programmes offered by XLRI
XLRI offers programmes aimed at providing post graduate management level courses and management skill enhancement programmes.
Programmes are broadly classifies as follows:
• Full time Programmes
o Personnel Management & Industrial Relations (PM & IR)
o Business Management (BM)
o General Management Programme (GMP)
o Fellow Programme in Management (FPM)
• Part time programmes
o Executive Management Program for Defence Officers
o Executive Postgraduate Programme (Exec-PGP)
o Executive Fellow Programme in Management (Exec-FPM)
• Satellite based Programmes
• Management Development Programmes

Nagarjuna Group
One of the most recognized agricultural brands in India which is dedicated to providing customers with solutions in plant nutrition, irrigation, farm services and plant management.

The Nagarjuna Group always has the desire to play a proactive role in the development of society. It was always indebted to the society that not only accepted it but also provided an opportunity to grow and flourish.

The company is committed to the physical, academic and economic well-being of the community by actively pursuing the cause of education, social, culture, health and welfare.

ikisan
Ikisan is a comprehensive Agri Portal promoted by Nagarjuna Group to provide Information, Knowledge and Business requirements to various players in the Agri arena viz., Farmers, Trade channel partners and Agri Input / Output companies. Leveraging Information Technology and extensive field presence, Ikisan is positioned as an Information / Knowledge exchange.

XLRI-iKisan Joint Venture
XLRI and Ikisan with a common interest of developing skills for the agricultural sector have designed an unique “six month Certificate Programme in Agri Business Management” to prepare agricultural graduates and agri business field assistants for undertaking marketing and sales jobs in agri business industry.

Objective
To prepare Agricultural Graduates and Agribusiness Field Assistants for Marketing and Sales jobs in the Agri Business Industry

Target group
Students who completed or are in the final year of B Sc (Ag or Allied programmes) and other graduates with atleast 2 years experience as Agribusiness Field Assistants.
Pedagogy

The programme is designed on a self learning basis. The course content developed by XLRI and Ikisan would be available on www.Ikisan.com. The registered students can download the material from the site.

The students would however be free to interact with the faculty of XLRI through email or other means as suggested by the faculty of XLRI. The student can also avail of the “Online tests” available on the site for practice.

Admission
The programme would be open for registration twice during an academic year.

Selection criteria
To ensure intake of quality and serious students the following selection criteria would be used:
• School leaving exam > 60%
• GPA at the end of second year > 60% equivalent
• 1 reference letter
• A statement of purpose
• Experience certificate (in case of Agricultural field Assistants)

Design of the course

a. The programme would consist of nine (9) courses, each course requiring about sixty (60) hours of effort from the students.

b. An Independent project wherein a student works on an agribusiness topic. The study should involve field study and should reflect atleast sixty (60) hours effort.

Proposed course content

a. Managerial Skills :
(i) Management, (ii) Agri Input Marketing, (iii) Sales and Distribution Management for Agriculture, (iv) Rural retailing and (v) Agricultural Finance

b. Technical skills :
(vi) Agronomy and (vii) Pest Management and (viii) Contemporary Agriculture

c. Professional skills :
(ix) Computer applications

d. Project :

An independent project covering any topic on agribusiness.

Duration
Students would be encouraged to complete all the requirements (including the project) within a period of six months. However a student would be given a maximum time of 1 year (after registration) to complete all the requirements (ie, if a students registers for the first batch July - December 2009, he/ she has the option of completing the programme requirements with the intake of January- June 2010 batch).

Contact Programme

Each programme would have a contact programme at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. During the contact programme the students would have exposure to the functioning of fertilizer factories, rural visits and interaction with executives of agri input companies.
Exam Schedule
The schedule for exams would be announced at the time of admission.

Qualifying standards
A student completing all the requirements as detailed below will be eligible for the certificate:
a) Complete all the exams and the project within a period of a year.
b) Should not have got any failure grades.
c) Student who has obtained a failure grade has an option of taking the exam the next time the exam is conducted. Similarly a student who missed an exam can also appear for the exam offered for the next batch.
d) A student would not be allowed more than one option for repetition.
e) If a student gets a failure grade the second time also he/ she has to withdraw or re-register as a new student and complete all the requirements as any other student registering for that batch.

Certificate

A certificate would be issued to the successful students. The certificate would indicate the duration to differentiate students completing within 6 months and 1 year.
Fees

The fees for the programme would be Rs.45,000/- per student. This would include course material, guidance from faculty and certificate on successful completion of the programme.


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