Abstract
Fisheries education in India has undergone a sea-change in the last three decades. At the same time , the sector has seen unprecedented growth in terms of resources, production, productivity , employment and exports . The present study looked at the restructuring of undergraduate course curriculum in Fisheries Science contemplated by Deans’ Committees (DCs) constituted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The recommendations of the 3rd (1995), 4th (2006), 5th (2017) and 6th (2024) Deans’ Committees (DCs) were systematically analysed with reference to the prescribed courses and credit hours. The analysis involved compilation and tabulation of discipline-wise and semester-wise course structures, followed by a comparative assessment across the four Committees to identify similarities, changes and emerging trends in curriculum design and credit allocation. There were 60 core courses during 3rd DC with 130 credits, which were restructured/ abridged/ repealed to 47 courses with same credits during 4th DC. This phase (3rd to 4th DC) witnessed a significant increase in credits in the ‘aquaculture’ discipline from 13.1 to 24.6% with the concurrent increase in the number of courses from 7 to 12. Similarly, ‘aquatic environment’ also received more importance. The 5th DC could be considered as a milestone as it streamlined disciplines (departments) and the courses within them. It increased and renamed number of departments from five (viz ., Basic sciences and humanities, Fisheries resources and management, Aquaculture, Aquatic environment, and Harvest and post-harvest technology) in 4th DC to seven (viz., Fisheries extension, economics and statistics, Fisheries resources and management, Aquaculture, Aquatic environment management, Aquatic animal health management, Fish processing technology, and Fisheries engineering) in 5th DC with concomitant increase in core credits (from 130 to 140) and number of courses (from 47 to 59). The most recent 6th DC further restructured/ added several courses to address and prepare the graduates for future challenges. Further, the addition of compulsory non-credit courses (i.e., MOOCs/ SWAYAM), multidisciplinary courses, value-added / ability/ skill enhancement courses were introduced to assist the students for self-employment or to make them industry-ready as well as to implement recommendations of NEP 2020 in agri-education. This paper will also provide insight into selected indicators of growth in the fisheries sector juxtaposed to recommendations of Deans’ Committees over the last three decades.