ELP

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROGRAMME (ELP)

Experiential learning is one of the components of student READY programme with business curriculum-related endeavour. It aims at developing a cadre of skilled professionals who can create their own enterprises. Therefore, the course design of experiential learning is aimed at competence development through knowledge in all aspects of enterprise management so that the agriculture graduates can have complete understanding of field problems, project development and execution of their enterprise.

Experiential Learning (EL) helps the student to develop competence and capability, capacity building, acquiring skills, expertise and confidence to start their own enterprise and turn into “Job Creators instead of Job Seekers”.It provides the students an excellent opportunity to develop analytical and entrepreneurial skills, knowledge through meaningful hands on experience and confidence in their ability to design and execute the project work. The programme has carefully calibrated activities which help the students to explore and discover their own potential.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the experiential learning programme are:

  1. To promote professional skills and knowledge through hands on
  2. To promote self-employment opportunities and entrepreneurship developmental skills in the field of agricultural and allied sciences through integration of basic knowledge and conceptual
  3. To build confidence and ability to work in project
  4. To generate trained and skilled manpower for self-employment and entrepreneurship
  5. To acquire enterprise management capabilities in commercialization of
  6. To earn through value addition technologies available locally through integration of integrated farming, food safety, agriculture market and good agriculture
  7. To explore wider opportunities in integration of different agricultural on-farm practices and devices for income
  8. To integrate education with entrepreneurship for employment generation, so that agriculture students may become job providers rather than job

PROGRAMME  OF WORK

The experiential learning programme will be offered for one semester (180 days or 24 weeks) during the final year with a weightage of 0+20 credit hours. The students will have adequate experience in planning and managing an enterprise in totality starting from procurement of raw material to processing, production, packaging and storage of products, organizing resources and utilities, sale of products, maintain accounts and analyze profits. Finally, students will present their work along with a report of their performance.

As the programme is enterprise oriented, students and faculty (Manager of the concerned unit) are expected to attend the activities of the enterprise even on institutional holidays with total commitment, and without any time limit or restriction of working hours for ELP. The student who joins the unit has to perform the duties or functions as suggested by the Manager of the enterprise.

  • A unit of E.L shall have 15 – 20 students
  • Unique I.D.s will be generated for each student, which is a mandate for ELP funding and other transactions
  • All ELPs must run continuously in revolving fund mode.
  •  Manager of ELP should maintain the records.
  •  If any unit is not running, the reasons for failure should be furnished
  •  Returns / Investment should be calculated
  • Skill development (Hands On Training) and Entrepreneurship Development are the objectives of ELP
  • Delegation of powers (Financial powers and administrative powers) and office orders should be as per the instructions issued by the University.

v Revolving fund will be given to each unit separately. Revolving Fund may be created to EL unit with the usual procedure followed in the University.

v Separate cash books have to be maintained at each EL unit by the Managers. Whenever Unit Manager transfers or retires, the cashbook and other registers pertaining to the unit should be handed over to the successor.

  • Paradigm shift is needed i.e., from “production oriented” to “Business mode”.
  • Day wise activity should be recorded for total period and Daily memorandum sheet has to be maintained
  • Ranking will be given to EL units both at college and University level.
  • The profit sharing should be in new ICAR pattern and it must be uploaded once in six months.
  • Domain Competence” for each college should be identified and developed.
  • Feedback of each student towards ELP should be obtained at the end of the course and documented.
  • All ELP units should be displayed in the University website.
  • Execution-Documentation-Submission is mandate for each ELP unit.
  • Each ELP unit should run on a single name throughout its existence. The name of EL units should not be changed.
  • All the enterprises of ELPs have to be registered.
  • Financial assistance from banks is permitted
  • Records have to be to be maintained for all the transactions of the enterprise.
  • For each E.L unit a group leader shall be identified
  • The data, information etc., as given in the programme has to be collected and analysed by the student.

CREDITS

Twenty credits are recommended for EL programme of 180 days duration. The students will have adequate experience in planning and managing an enterprise in totality starting from procurement of raw material to processing, production, packaging and storage of products, organizing resources and utilities, sale of products, maintain accounts and analyze profits. Finally, students will present their work along with a report of their performance.

Distribution of credits as per the EL Activity 
S.No. EL Activity No. of Credits
1 Developing a Business Plan/ Project Proposal 1
I Identification of the product to be manufactured
ii Market Survey
iii Analysis of the existing status of the identifiedproduct and targeted market and customer
iv Innovativeness and Creativity
v Preparation of the project proposal with supply chain of inputs, personnel plan, production plan, finance plan, etc. and its preparation
2 Plan for the Production 1
i Organization of resources
ii Organizing utility
iii Sequential grouping of activities
iv Packaging and storage
v Product pricing – physical inputs, man-hours, depreciation, etc.
vi Time management
3 Production 15
i Regularity in production
ii Adhering to production plan
iii Product quality assessment
iv Maintenance of production records
v Team work
4 Sales 2
i Sales strategy
ii Sales volumes
iii Assessment of sales performance
iv Profit generated including C/B ratio, paybackperiod, etc.
5 Documentation and Report Presentation & Evaluation 1
i Personnel Management
Ii Preparation of final report
iii Oral performance
Total 20
SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES UNDER EL PROGRAMME

The EL programme will continue for 180 days ( 24 weeks) without any break. Accordingly the number of days can be adjusted for different activities based on the academic calendar given by the university. The schedule of the work is as follows. The duration and activities of EL can be adjusted proportionately for 24 weeks.

 

S. No. EL Activity No.of Days
1. Orientation 3
2. Developing a Business Plan 10
3. Training in Advanced Skills 10
4. Plan for the Production 10
5. Production & Sales 135
6. Documentation and Reports 10
7. Presentation and Oral Examination 2
Total 180