The College of Forestry building comprises two four-storey structures.
There are 15 classrooms/lecture halls in the basements and ground floors of different blocks of the College, which are used for undergraduate teaching. In addition, almost all the departments have separate postgraduate class rooms for teaching and conducting seminars. The class rooms are well furnished and equipped with modern teaching gadgets like LCD projectors, glass beaded screens and white boards for conducting theory classes, seminars and thesis colloquium. Besides, each department has been provided with a portable public address system to facilitate teaching of large classes. .
The laboratories of the college are well equipped with latest sophisticated instruments forunder graduate practical work and post graduate research.
There is a conference hall with a capacity to accommodate 300 persons is used for conducting Seminars/ Symposia, Interclass debate and declamation contests etc. In addition, there is a Committee Room for conducting meetings and interactions with visitors and guests, faculty members, students and their representatives in connection with various academic and student related matters. The committee room is also equipped with modern audio-visual aids for making scientific presentations by faculty members and guest experts.
There are about 250 residential units at the main campus of the University, providing residential accommodation to various categories of employees (teaching and non-teaching). The faculty are, however, provided residence in designated quarters, i.e. Teachers’ Hostels, Type-III and Type-IV and Type-V quarters, which are about 120 in number.
The University Guest House has the capacity to accommodate about 52 guests. The guest house has 4 VIP suits, 20 ordinary suits, 2 class-III rooms and one dormitory. The Officers’ Hostel of the University has 24 suits and can accommodate 48 trainees/ guests. In addition, a Farmers’ Hostel with a capacity of 120 personsprovides accommodation for farmers who visit the main campus for training or any other official purpose.
The students are encouraged to participate in different sports, games and extra-curricular activities. The University has a playground for outdoor games, like cricket, football, hockey, volleyball, handball, baseball, softball, kabaddi, etc. The University Gymnasium has a seating capacity of 1000 spectators and facilities for all types of indoor games such as volleyball, basketball, badminton, table tennis, wrestling, boxing, judo, gymnastics, etc. The gymnasium can also be used for organizing various cultural and co-curricular activities.
The Student Centre of the ‘Students’ Welfare Organization became functional on January 28, 2009. It consists of one big multipurpose hall with Wi-Fi facility for academic and social activities. Apart from this, a well-furnished Cafeteria is run for the facility of the students and staff. A well-equipped Gym is also operational for students.
The University has a Health Centre at the main campus with staff strength of one Senior Medical Officer, one Medical Officer, two Pharmacists, one Laboratory Technician and one Staff Nurse. The health centre provides round the clock medical facilities to students, staff, campus dwellers and residents from nearby villages. The hospital has been equipped with sophisticated diagnostic instruments.
There is a small Shopping Centre that caters to the daily needs of the students and residents of the campus. The facilities available at the shopping centre are: three provision stores, a vegetable shop, a confectionary shop cum canteen, a barber shop, washer man/ dry cleaner shop, a Post/ Telegraph Office and two nationalized banks.
The College has one mini bus for providing transportation facilities to the students for attending practical classes at far-away farms/orchards, for attending Practical’s Field training and Rural Forestry Work Experience programmes at out-station and KVKs of the university for conducting class visits to farmers fields and industrial units. In addition, transport facilities, available with the University for the transport of staff and students from town to campus and vice-versa and with the Directorate of Extension Education for the transport of farmers and extension workers/scientists, are also requisitioned for conducting educational tours and field visits of students, as and when required.
Satyanand Stokes Library of the University specializes in Horticulture and Forestry information. Its whole collection has been computerized for electronic retrieval by creating in-house databases. It serves its users through computerized in-house databases and international databases available on CD-ROM. The library has been well connected to Internet and email facilities since January 1998. It is the first SAU Library in the country which was converted into a Wi-Fi Library in 2003-2004. The library has established Multimedia Centre in 2007. With the advancement of web technology and free connectivity in the library, the scientists/teachers and students have been given electronic access to 2000+ e-journals since July 23, 2008 through CERA: Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture. As such tracking of literature has become easier and the scientists have more time for research. In 2009-2010, all the Ph.D. theses w.e.f. 2000 onwards were digitized under ICAR Krishi Prabha Project. The facilities of Book Bank, Inter Library Loan, Lamination, Photocopy Computerized Information Services etc. are available for readers. The library has a collection of 62,000 documents. The working hours of the library are 10.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. The library is also offering a course “Library and Information Services” to M.Sc. and Ph.D. students.
The Computer and information Centre of the University provides information technology facilities for all the staff and students of the University. It also plays an important role in imparting computer education to undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Regular training programmes are also conducted on computer application for different categories of users. The University has connectivity to National Network under Agriculture Research Information System (ARIS) of the ICAR. All the departments and offices within the campus have connectivity through LAN for learning, resource sharing and exchange of information. The Centre is also accessible through Global Network Internet and E-mail.
Every department of the College of Forestry has a well-equipped postgraduate classroom with facilities of digital interactive boards, slide projectors, LCD projectors, visualizers, etc. for imparting knowledge with the help of modern IT equipment and in a teacher-taught participatory mode. The departments also maintain separate undergraduate and postgraduate laboratories for holding practical classes. Each laboratory is adequately equipped with equipment required for conducting the practical work as per the curriculum and also for conducting student research at postgraduate level.
ARIS Cell now called as Education Technology Cell was established in the College of Forestry in the year 2000 with the transfer of six computers received from ICAR through Librarian of the University. At present, the centre has 22 computers, one scanjet and one printer. Most of the students use this facility for searching literature using the internet facility for their academic research.
The L S Negi Auditorium was inaugurated by the then Hon’ble Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh on 15th October, 2012. An amount of Rs. 12 crores has been spent out of the ICAR as well as from State Govt. funds. The Auditorium has a sitting capacity of 1000 people. Besides, it has two classrooms and a museum hall in the basement. Presently, the Auditorium is used for students functions, conducting seminars/symposium/lectures of VIPs and for also arranging farewell parties at the University level.
