Name
Preferences of Agricultural Science Students in India Regarding Experiential Training on "Communication Skills" Improvement: A Case of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa
Date & Time
Tuesday, June 3, 2025, 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Description

The agriculture & allied sector employers in the modern world are not only interested in the academic achievement and hard knowledge of the college graduates, but they are also significantly looking for “soft skills” of the job aspirants. The fresh agricultural graduates are gaining course-based hard knowledge during their study at a college or university, but there is less focus on the “soft skills” development of the college students, particularly in India and other south Asian countries. The study attempted to explore the preferences of the students enrolled in Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University (Pusa, India) regarding future "communication skills" training programs as this is a top-notch agricultural university in India and has been declared as “An Institute of National Importance” by Government of India. 100 students were selected through stratified random sampling, and a 4-point continuum-based survey was used to assess their preferences regarding the future professional communication skills training sessions as conducted by the university’s placement cell. The weighted mean score was calculated to rank the students’ choices. The students indicated their preferences regarding content, venue and duration of the future trainings, training participants’ size, time of the trainings, various methods used during those trainings, trainer types etc. Students indicated their highest preference for the future experiential training on “Personal interview”(WMS=90.50) at the university campus(WMS=93.25) at the starting of the academic year(WMS=81.75). They mostly suggested training of 3 days(WMS=77.75) to a week(WMS=77.75) duration with a participant size of up to 20 students(WMS=90.75). Activity focused training(WMS=92.75) was mostly suggested driven by the HR experts(WMS=91.75) and industry resource persons along with a future time to time meeting(WMS=90.75) with the experts. The comprehensive findings of this study will be highly beneficial for the university administrators to sketch out the roadmap for future communication skills development experiential trainings for their students.

Location Name
British Columbia/Alberta/Yukon Ballroom
Full Address
The Westin Edmonton
10135 100 St NW
Edmonton AB T5J 0N7
Canada
Session Type
Poster Presentation
Presentation Topic(s)
Scholarship
Number
104
Authors

Samrat Sikdar, Mississippi State University
Satya Prakash, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University