New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS): Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on Wednesday announced six new certificate courses in the field of animal welfare to sensitise and train people in the ethics of treating animals.

The first certificate course -- Management and Ethical Use of Laboratory Animals in Research -- will commence from November 1 and will comprise of a minimum of 85 contact hours. 

The titles of the rest of the five courses will be put on the university website in November.

The courses are the outcome of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed in July between JNU and the National Institute of Animal Welfare (NIAW).

According to the MoA, JNU has to conduct six certificate courses (duration four weeks) and one diploma course (duration five weeks) in the said field in the first year.

The collaboration was an exercise initiated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). 

"The courses will be conducted at JNU. We responded to the tender put up by NIAW and they recruited us to conduct these," JNU Professor Prasenjit Sen told IANS. 

However, he added: "We would love to have our own courses in the same category. Animals are close to humans and their welfare is the need of the day. These can be part of our social sciences component." 

The last date for application for the first course is October 24. The courses will be offered free of cost in the first year, except for a registration fee of Rs 1,000.