About the Department :

Department believes in and imparts ‘borderless education’ to the students by the way of ‘experiential learning’ process. It has a strong research focus with grass- root linkages. The research is supported by prime agencies such as Ministry of environment & Forests (MoEF, GoI), Department of Science & Technology (DST, GoI), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO-UoP), Department of Biotechnoology (DBT, GoI), University of Pune to name a few. Promotion of out of the box thinking has helped students reach higher echelons in their life as evident by Antarctic Expedition, Darwin Scholarship, Harvard Field Course at Borneo, Asian Geographic Photography prize etc. Besides, students have bagged research awards at National levels and themselves co-authored more than 15 peer-reviewed publications in National and International Journals of repute.

Department also offers Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and currently four students are pursuing their Ph.D. on topics ranging from Conservation of threatened species, Bioprospecting and Molecular diversity studies.
 

	Our Vision
	Ensuring biodiversity for sustainable future and ecosystem well being
	Our Mission
	Educate new age custodians of biodiversity
	Conduct field and laboratory research for biodiversity monitoring, conservation, and policy input
	Enhance awareness and help address societal challenges in biodiversity

M. Sc. Biodiversity - Monitoring and Utilization (Credit system) is a two year postgraduate course of University of Pune, comprising of four semesters and is a unique program conducted at Abasaheb Garware College, Pune; since 2003. It is the only course of its kind in Pune University, sanctioned under Innovative Programs Scheme of University Grants Commission (UGC). The curriculum gives holistic coverage to the extremely valuable field of Biodiversity. It bridges the gap between excellence in field and laboratory biology.

Biodiversity is the largest source of potential wealth for the country, which remains grossly under explored. One of the reasons for the under utilization is the dearth of trained manpower. The current generation of biologists is largely divided into field-oriented taxonomists and ecologists on the one hand and the lab oriented functional and molecular biologists on the other. This divide has become a limiting factor in the study of Biodiversity. The present program intends to bridge the gap by inculcating excellence in field and laboratory biology simultaneously. This capacity building exercise will help generating wealth through a prudent and sustainable use of the country’s bioresources.

Highlights of the course :
Exposure and hands-on experience to the diverse fields such as ;

• Plant, Animal & Microbial Diversity

• Wild Life and Conservation Biology

• Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

• Environmental Pollution & Environmental Impact Assessment, Laws, Policies

• Bioinformatics and Phylogenetics

• RS-GIS in Biodiversity Studies

• Quantitative Biology & Research Methodology

• Molecular Tools in Biology & Bioanalytical Chemistry

• Biodiversity Internship and Dissertation

Uniqueness :
Course involves innovative evaluation practices on and off the field.

Entrance Exam 2023

Entrance Exam Sample Questionnaire