>> Message from the Dean We are celebrating 53rd IAAS-Day in the month of August, 2009. In the past 52 years, IAAS has proved its academic excellence and professional competence in agriculture education. In fact, IAAS is the only leading institution for agricultural education in Nepal. I am very much delighted to see the leadership role of our graduates in various avenues of agriculture education, research and rural development within the country. Also, the record of success our graduates achieved abroad must be appreciated. Presently, we offer academic programs leading to Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (B. Sc. Ag.), Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (B.V. Sc. & A.H.), Master of Science in Agriculture (M. Sc. Ag.), Master of Science in Animal Science (M. Sc. Anim. Sci.), Master of Veterinary Science (M. V. Sc.), Master of Science in Aquaculture (M. Sc. Aqua.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.). The postgraduate programs are offered at the central campus, Rampur. The two branch campuses located at Lamjung and Paklihawa offer initial two years of B. Sc. Agriculture courses. The concept of agriculture education has changed remarkably in recent years. The growing needs of the farm communities and challenges posed by the global climate change combined with depleting natural resources demand non-traditional multi-disciplinary education system to prepare graduates for the future. Hence, our agriculture education system requires massive restructuring to integrate research and development components for more relevant technology generation and efficient delivery of specialized services to our clients. In this context, the proposed land grand model Agriculture and Forestry University where education, research and delivery of services operate efficiently in a coordinated fashion under the university umbrella can be the perfect model of agriculture education in the country. I do hope our dream of Agriculture and Forestry University will come to reality soon. On the auspicious occasion of 53rd IAAS-Day, I congratulate all the members of the IAAS family. Let us unite to achieve our goal of developing IAAS as a modern and prosperous academic institution. Lastly, I thank IAAS web-team for their marvelous work of updating and improving the IAAS website. I believe that the web content will be useful to our broader audience. Prof. Dr. Sundar Man Shrestha Dean