The College of Forestry was established as a department under College of Agriculture in 1987 at Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, the second oldest agriculture university of the country, following the recommendations of National Commission on Agriculture, 1976, under the direct support of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and later Indian Council of Forest Research and Education to look after education, research and extension in forestry science.
There is a competent faculty with over 20 years of experience here with the department and many alumni members are serving at national and international levels as faculty and subject experts and are willing to collaborate with their parent department at OUAT for high-end projects. The students have special fields to do P.G. and Ph.D. programmes in silviculture and agro-forestry, bio-technology and tree improvement and forest ecology and environment. Also utilisation of forest products which directly cater to the needs of the State as well as many international research projects can also be taken up through such an institution.
The candidates are selected through the entrance exam of Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology. There are 48 seats in each year for the B. Sc. (Forestry) course. The duration of the graduate program is 4 years.
The college also has P.G. programmes in Agro-forestry, Forest products, Environment management, Plant genetic improvement and Forest business management. Each course has 6 seats with 4 reserved for candidates from Orissa and 2 seats for students from other states and abroad.