Established 1971 (formerly the College of Home Science) — B.Sc. (Hons) Community Science with M.Sc. and Ph.D. programmes across five departments spanning apparel and textiles, resource management, human development, food and nutrition, and extension education.
The initiation of the Home Science Programme at Pantnagar was recommended by Mrs. Alice M. Fisher (USAID) and Dr. Elda Robb (University of Tennessee, USA) in 1961. Thereafter, the U. P. Govt. gave the green signal in December 1963. Dr. Janice Smith (UIUC, USA) recommended a two-year Diploma and four-year undergraduate degree programme in Home Science in February 1966. The College of Home Science was thus established on 15 July 1971 with an undergraduate programme. From 1971 to 1985, a single programme of two-year diploma and four-year degree continued.
In 1985 it was discontinued and a diploma and three-year degree was started, for which the requirement was inter-science. Then in 1998, a four-year degree programme was started which was open to both intermediate science and intermediate arts with Home Science as one of the subjects. It included vocational courses involving Rural Awareness Work Experience and in-plant training.
In 2004, the four-year undergraduate degree programme was revised to include a 2+2 system with two years of professional training in different disciplines of Home Science — Apparel Designing, Interior Designing and Decoration, Nutrition and Dietetics, and Organization and Management of Early Childhood Programmes — which also included Rural Awareness Work Experience and In-plant Training. In 2017, B.Sc. (Hons) Community Science was started with three years of common course work and one year of specialization.
To motivate primary stakeholders for sustainable development of human resources with a strong emphasis on excellence in academics, research and extension to realize direct benefits of the growing domestic and global employment market, and to ensure adequate availability of competent professionals and paraprofessionals to occupy a relevant niche in the economy by enabling an interactive coupling between industry, government, economy, environment and society.
To fulfil the vision through development of need-based curriculum that would enable the graduates and paraprofessionals of Home Science to become active partners in the economic growth and development of the community — be it the family, local society, nation or world.
The education system of the College includes an Advisory System; a multidisciplinary approach (courses of Basic Sciences, Agriculture and Veterinary Science along with Home Science courses); practical training in life-supporting skills — Rural Awareness Work Experience and In-plant training; an “Earn While You Learn” scheme for the benefit of poor students; an internal-external examination system; well-established infrastructure facilities; and scholarships to meritorious students.
Thus, our education system facilitates self-actualization by channelizing and maximizing students’ potential; builds change agents for equity, social justice and dignity; explores under- and un-utilized resources for sustainable development; links with government, NGOs and industries; builds capacity for self-employment, entrepreneurship and community development; enhances women empowerment; and develops competencies among students to serve as professionals taking up Corporate Social Responsibility activities with the corporate world, providing unique in-depth rural exposure combined with an urban base for students’ skill development through its successful field outreach programme.
The academic activities of the College are delivered across the five departments below. Each maintains its own faculty, laboratories and research programmes.
Computer Facilities
The College has computer facilities in the students’ computer laboratory, ARIS Cell, College Library and all the Departments. Facilities also exist for Computer Aided Designing.
Day-care for Children with Facility of Child Testing, Guidance and Counselling
Day-care facility is available for children of women employees of the University. This has scientific observation facilities for parents and for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is attached to a testing laboratory for children and a guidance and counselling cell.
College Library
The College of Home Science has a library where around 8000 textbooks, 55 periodicals related to the Home Science discipline, newspapers and magazines are available to the students. The library is equipped with a computer and photocopier and has a reading room to help inculcate the habit of reading. It runs a rental book programme under which important textbooks are rented to students for the whole semester at a nominal rent.
Information Center
The Information Center of the College aims to portray a comprehensive picture of all the multifarious activities and achievements of the College. It has exhaustive exhibits and models.
Placement Cell
The College has a Placement Cell which assists students in getting suitable jobs and acts as a liaison between students and employers. For the personality development of students, there are bodies like:
Home Science Society
The Home Science Society aims at promoting professional competence among students and their over-all personality development. It organizes various activities such as debate competitions, cultural programmes, scientific and technical exhibitions/competitions, art and craft competitions, elocution contests and group activities.
Selected research projects and technologies developed at the College. The full research compendium is available in the Downloads section.
Developed protective clothing (apron and gloves) for mitigating occupational health hazard of workers engaged in agriculture and allied sector.
Hemp fiber (Cannabis sativa); Nettle fiber; Himalayan-nettle and cotton union fabric (woven and non-woven fabrics).
Jamun leaf extract was prepared and the finishing process optimized for a UV protective finish on cotton fabric. The finished fabric showed a very good UPF (36.7), indicating protection against UV rays, and was used to develop UV protective scarf masks for farm women.
The Aipan folk art uses geometric and stylized designs made on geru-painted floor with rice paste. Its symbols — lines, dots, triangles, circles, squares, swastika, lotus and their combinations — were adapted onto textile products through different surface enrichment techniques.
Herbal gulals of various shades were prepared using beetroot, tesu flower and marigold flower extracts. Colours were extracted from natural sources, filtered, concentrated and mixed with arrowroot starch powder in different proportions per the required shade.
Extraction and processing of Himalayan nettle fibre was carried out with minimal use of chemicals.
Programme and course details, faculty list, research compendium and College documents — all in PDF.
