Agricultural students in India have a wide range of choices in their career aspiration spectrum. Career aspiration is a way that an individual wishes to continue to design his/her future life and way of life. The present study is based on primary research covering 508 students from different universities of the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) of India, which comprise 199 Undergraduates, 194 Post-graduates and 115 students pursuing their Ph.D. An exploratory research design was employed for the study. The data were collected using a pre-tested and structured online questionnaire. The study found that most respondents were pursuing undergraduate degrees (39.17%), female (51.57%), OBC social category (39.76%), ambiverts (50.20%), rural background (41.73%), from nuclear families (80.91%), and had a destitute annual income (43.11%). The findings also revealed that the majority (43.90%) of the respondents preferred to secure a job in academics as a career aspiration, followed by the public sector (35.04%), agri-business (10.04%), private sector (9.84%) and farming (1.18%). It was also found that the level of education, social category, gender and personality type of the respondents were found to be positively significant and associated with career aspirations. The policy-makers in agriculture and allied education and government should formulate and implement suitable strategies to improve the competency of students and motivate/guide them to develop an appropriate career aspiration.

Keyword: Career Aspiration; Preference; Job, Occupation; Agriculture; Students.