Established in 1980 under the erstwhile Rajendra Agricultural University at Pusa, SGIDT shifted to Patna in 1986 and finally moved to its own campus at Jagdeo Path in western part of the city in 1990.
This Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-accredited institution is now a constituent unit of the newly-established Bihar Animal Sciences University. It is engaged in teaching, research and extension activities in different branches of dairy technology, including dairy engineering, dairy microbiology, dairy chemistry, dairy cattle and nutrition, animal physiology and reproduction and dairy economics.
The institute offers a four-year bachelor degree course in dairy technology. It also runs two-year M Tech courses in dairy technology, dairy chemistry and dairy microbiology. It has adopted the curricula as per the recommendations of the Deans’ committee constituted by the ICAR.
Admission to the BTech course is made on the basis of an entrance test conducted by the Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (BCECEB). For taking this test a candidate should have passed intermediate (Class XII) examination with physics, chemistry and mathematics (PCM) or physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology (PCMB) combination.
There are 40 seats in this course. The institute also provides short term training to dairy farmers, dairy entrepreneurs and dairy technicians as and when required.
SGIDT dean Veer Singh Rathore said the institution provides a safe and cozy environment to the students for pursuing their education. There are more than 10 full-time faculty members besides host of guest faculty. There are two spacious hostels, one each for boys and girls on the campus.
Its campus is spread over about 9000 square metres. It consists of different academic and administrative blocks to meet the requirements of students. There are three air-conditioned classrooms with a seating capacity of 175, more than half a dozen well-equipped laboratories, including a central fine instrumentation lab.
Rathore added an auditorium is being constructed on the campus. In addition, an experimental milk plant with 10,000 litres capacity per day is also being set up.
Students are encouraged to participate in cultural and literary activities in the institute and also sent for participation in youth festivals, agri-unifest, etc, organised outside the state. There are indoor and outdoor sports facilities in the college and sports events are also organized regularly, he said.
The students are sent to different dairy plants within and outside the state for in-plant training in the seventh semester. Under the “Student Ready Programme” they are attached to the dairy cooperative societies of different milk unions for five weeks during their semester breaks of second and fourth semester to have experiences of milk procurement and processing, so that they make themselves future ready for entrepreneurship in dairy business.
SGIDT has a dedicated placement cell for facilitating training and campus placement of the students. Students are provided jobs in reputed dairy plants like that of Amul, Verka, ICT, several other public and private dairy plants, and food industries in the country. The Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation (COMFED) visits the campus regularly to select students. The average monthly salary offered to the selected candidates is Rs 36,000 per month, added Rathore.
