FCRI a new jewel in the State crown

Hyderabad: After Russia and China, it was Telangana which established a forest university. The first forest university in India has been established in Mulugu which was catering to the needs of forestry development and provide forestry education.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has established the Forest College and Research Institute (FCRI) in the State in 2016. Now the same college was upgraded to a university. The campus is already ready with state-of-the-art facilities, modern buildings and all the amenities required for forestry education.

The State government has given special attention to forestry in the context of international environmental changes and increased emphasis on biodiversity.

Priyanka Varghese, who has been effectively serving as Chief OSD (Harita Haram) since the beginning, continues as the Dean of Forest College. Under her supervision, the college has gained national recognition and is now going to become the first forest university in the country.

Priyanka Varghese said that the Chief Minister established the Forest College with a lot of foresight, and now it is a great thing that the government has upgraded it to a university. She said that along with increasing importance of forest education, the rural youth will get good opportunities.

Recently State Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council approved the bill to establish the Forest University - "University of Forests (UoF), Telangana Act, 2022" which is the first of its kind in the country. The official said that it is 3rd Forest University in the world after Russia and China. The establishment of University of Forestry (UOF) will produce trained forest professionals as per the requirements of the Forest Department, officials said.

After making the forestry college and research institute a university, it is decided to start additional PhD courses, diploma and certificate courses in Urban Forestry, Nursery Management, Agro Forestry, ibal Livelihood Enhancement, Forest Entrepreneurship, Climate Smart Forestry & Forest Parks Management. As a result, the number of students will increase by 360 to 726 in addition to the existing number of 366. The number of employees will increase by 92 to 210 from the existing number of 118. The Chief Minister will be the Chancellor of the University. The Chancellor appoints the Vice Chancellor.