An Analysis of the Push and Pull Factors Influencing the Aspirations of the Students of Agriculture

The state agricultural universities under ICAR are off ering wide varied agricultural education in India, a part from few central universities and conventional unive rsities. Several studies confirm that the students' a pirations differ widely. There are several push and pull factors gove rn the aspirations of the students. The present stu dy aimed to enumerate the push and pull factors governing the a spirations of the students of agriculture. The stud y was conducted among the students of all the constituent colleges of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU). The sample size was 156 student respondents selected by employing the p roportionate random sampling method. Data were colle cted using structured and standardized interview schedule. The study followed the ex-post facto research design. P ercentage analysis was done to get a meaningful interpretation of the r sults. Family prestige, sibling status, clearing fa mily debt and parents’ choice were the major push factors. Job saf ety and security, potential to generate income (thr ough selfemployment projects), higher salary and potential o f the jobs to elevate family economic level were the major pull factors.