Bhubaneswar, Jan. 29: The Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) is set to receive Academic Excellence Award for 2015.

This is the varsity's third straight selection for the award. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hand over the award to the authorities later this year.

"It's great news for the varsity and the state, especially because we are getting it for the third time in a row. We will continue with our efforts to make it a centre of excellence by prioritising skill development of students and teachers. We will design a special training for them to meet this target," said varsity vice-chancellor Manoranjan Kar. He also said they were looking forward to more tie-ups with other western universities.

The varsity was selected for the award on the basis of its students' performance in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research fellowship examination. It secured first position among the country's 73 agriculture universities with 35 students qualifying for the council's junior research fellowship. In 2013, 14 students had secured the fellowship.

In a related development, Cuttack's National Rice Research Institute has developed a rice variety with over 10 per cent protein quotient - billed to be the highest in any variety. This was announced during the fourth interface meet of the institutes belonging to the council, OUAT and government departments.

The new variety has been developed by crossing Assam rice collection - a high protein and low yielding variety - with Naveen, a high yielding variety.