Department Overview

Rural development department was established in 1998 to improve the rural status and agricultural products by educating and training students to prepare them for careers in rural areas, government and academia. Our mission is to expand and transfer knowledge of rural development and planning to continually improve dimensions such as the socioeconomic, environmental, agricultural, cultural and physical context in the rural area. Our full-time faculty members are teaching and exploring different fields of rural development and emphasis on new advances in this field. For us, rural areas are the real laboratories for research. The rural development department provides a lab with a range of electronic equipments and an academic environment for discussion and presentation. Currently, the department offers programs in degree of Msc. The department consists of six full-time faculty and staffs supporting a body of 40 students. The main goals of graduate curriculum are to train students for professional careers, enabling them to manage research programs in the area of sustainable development, socioeconomic development, environmental governance, institutional and organizational analysis, agricultural extension and training, women studies, participatory rural appraisal, co-management and community-based natural resource management.

Research Activity

• Agricultural and Rural Development
• Qualitative and Participatory Research
• Environmental Economics and Policy
• Integrated Project Appraisal