Indian Journal of Economics and Development

The results revealed that 96 per cent of the doctoral degree students selected the course by choice, which was 97.5 and 74 per cent in case of master and bachelor degree students, respectively. Majority of the students opted bachelor degree course to learn practical agriculture, while post-graduation has been opted for attaining a better job. The percentage of students who selected agricultural studies by their own decisions have increased with increase in the degree level, which was 36, 57, and 62 per cent at bachelor, master and doctoral degree levels, respectively. Apart from their own decisions, their fathers and siblings served as a source of motivation for a significant number of students at all the degree levels. Majority of the students, as well as their parents, wished to get employed in the service sector, and a considerable proportion of them wanted to go for higher education. Within the service sector, state government jobs were mostly preferred and private sector jobs were least preferred. Interestingly, a significant volume (26%) of the bachelor degree students wanted to take up farming as their profession. There was a significant positive relationship between career preferences and profile characteristics like family income, degree level and medium of instruction at the secondary level. Student respondents felt that family type, family background and income were the major constraints in selecting their career options.