All about ICAR: Entrance Exam, Courses & List of Colleges

ICAR manages research and education in all aspects of agriculture, including animal culture, horticulture, and fisheries, across 11 ICAR institutes and 67 agricultural universities spread across the country. Find out how you can secure admission at ICAR institutes and the seats available for admission.

All About ICAR: Entrance Exam, Courses and List of Colleges

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was established in 1929, under the purview of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, as an independent body.

ICAR is one of the largest agricultural systems in the world, once known as the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research and the ICAR headquartered is in Delhi. The ICAR coordinates, guides and manages research and education in all aspects of agriculture, including animal culture, horticulture, and fisheries across the country by way of 101 ICAR institutes and 74 agricultural universities spread across the country. The National Testing Agency conducts the ICAR All India Entrance Exam for Admission (ICAR AIEEA) for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses.  

Also Read: Colleges accepting ICAR AIEEA UG 2025 score for admission

List of ICAR Courses and Seats

The undergraduate courses are offered by various State Agricultural Universities and private colleges or universities that offer Agriculture courses. The ICAR does not directly provide undergraduate courses, with the exception of deemed universities. The ICAR-AU System of India has 70 Agricultural Universities comprising 63 State Agricultural, Veterinary, Horticultural and Fisheries Universities (SAUs), four ICAR-DUs, viz. IARI, IVRI, NDRI and CIFE, three Central Agricultural Universities (CAU, Imphal, Dr. RP CAU, PUSA  and RLB CAU, Jhansi ), 4 Central Universities (CUs) having Faculty of Agriculture ( BHU, AMU, Viswa Bharati Viswa Bharti University and Nagaland University).

Also Read: List of ICARs- Courses, Admission & Fee

The ICAR conducts three types of entrance exams, including All India Entrance Examinations for Admission to undergraduate (AIEEA UG), All India Entrance Examinations for Admission to postgraduate (AIEEA PG) and All India Council Examination (AICE) for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) as well as Senior Research Fellowship (SRF). To qualify for PGs in the ICAR institutes, candidates must clear the JRF exam, the AICE SRF PGS is for PhD doctoral programmes.

ICAR CUET UG 2025 Counselling Schedule

Note: The counselling dates are based on the tentative dates as per the previous year, once, the counselling dates for the academic sessio 2025-26 is out on the official website, the information will be updated on this page.

Application fees for UG courses

• General: Rs 770
• General-EWS, OBC (NCL): Rs 750
• SC, ST, PwD and Third Gender: Rs 375

Application fees for PG courses

• General: Rs 1,120
• General-EWS, OBC (NCL): Rs 1,100
• SC, ST, PwD and Third Gender: Rs 550

ICAR Examination Pattern

The minimum qualification for UG courses (AIEEA UG) is passing class 12, and for PG course,s aspirants should possess a graduation degree in the required field. This exam tests an aspirant's ability in subjects such as biological sciences, zoology, mathematics, agriculture, chemistry and physics.

Also Read: ICAR Eligibility Criteria 2025

The exam will be conducted in two streams (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) or (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics) with 50 questions in each subject (125 questions) totalling 625 marks. The following table brings the ICAR AIEEA UG 2025 exam pattern.

ICAR AICE JRF/SRF 2025 Exam Pattern

The ICAR AICE JRF./SRF exam is a bit on the tougher side (as this exam is mostly for graduates and postgraduates), which is conducted for 800 marks (200 questions), 20 of which are from general knowledge and reasoning ability. Negative marking of one mark is applicable for wrong answers.  The following table brings the ICAR AICE JRF/SRF 2025 exam pattern.

The number of seats available for courses in ICAR colleges is around 3,000 for UG and over 3,000 seats for PG.

The fee structure varies from college to college and ,depending on its ranking and demand, ranges from Rs 15,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh.

List of ICAR Courses

Students can go through the list of courses offered at ICAR institutes in the table below:

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List of ICAR Colleges 

The top-ranked state agricultural colleges in India are

•  Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand
•  Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University - CCS HAU, Hisar
•  Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Telangana
•  PAU - Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
•  GADVASU - Guru Angad Dev Veterinary And Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab
•  Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
•  Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, Madhya Pradesh
•  Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
•  Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry - YSPU, Solan, Himachal Pradesh
•  Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Srinagar.

Deemed universities

• Indian Agricultural Research Institute - IARI, New Delhi
• National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, Haryana
• Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh
• Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai

If you seek a graduate or a post-graduate programme in agriculture or any of the related sciences, ICAR is your destination. 

Read More:

Colleges accepting ICAR UG exam scores for admissions 2025

Colleges accepting ICAR PG exam scores for admissions 2025