Address Punakha, Bhutan | Phone +975 2 376 252 | |
The College of Natural Resources (CNR) is a college offering courses on agriculture, natural resources management, animal husbandry, sustainable development, forestry, environmental science and climate studies. The college is located in Lobesa, Punakha District, Bhutan.
It was born as the Natural Resources Training Institute (NRTI) in 1992 under the Ministry of Agriculture. The NRTI joined the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) in 2003 as a founding member college, and was named thereafter as the College of Natural Resources. As NRTI, the institute awarded Diploma courses in the field of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Forestry for the mid-level extension workers of the Ministry of Agriculture. As a College of Natural Resources, CNR continues to offer Diploma courses as nested programmes in its Bachelor programmes. The college started to provide Bachelor programmes in the field of Agriculture, Animal Science, and Forestry since 2010. Since then, CNR has started to offer Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Development in 2012 and Bachelor programme in Environment and Climate Studies in 2015. Starting 2014, the college has also started to offer Master in Development Practices, which is a Global multidisciplinary programme. The college has also started to offer Master in Natural Resources Management by research in 2015.
All courses, except the national language Dzongkha, offered in the college are delivered in English. Recently the college has started to admit international students as well. Students from the region, mostly SAARC countries, take full time courses. Students from US and Europe also come on semester abroad programmes. The students on semester abroad programmes usually register for about 5 months. International students can also register for full time courses which last for about 3 to 4 years for Undergraduate programmes and 2 years for Master programmes.