The Agriculture National Graduate Institutional Name Exchange (AG-NGINE) is a national consortium of U.S. institutions offering degrees in agriculture, natural resources and related sciences, managed by the University of Florida (UF), through an online database accessible to Member Institutions. Participating institutions agree to exchange student lists with all Member Institutions to advance AG-NGINE’s sole purpose: promoting graduate education.

AG-NGINE is modeled after the highly successful Engineering National Graduate Institutional Name Exchange (ENGINE), founded in 2015 by Mike Nazareth, Director of Graduate Recruiting and Undergraduate Research for the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida.

Purpose

The purpose of AG-NGINE is to enhance graduate student recruitment and placement by land-grant institutions and non-land-grant agriculture and renewable resources universities (NARRU) through facilitated exchange of prospective student information across institutions. Many institutions and graduate programs have the goal of increasing their pool of high-achieving students, domestic students (U.S. citizens and permanent residents), and those historically underrepresented in our disciplines.

Participating institutions annually encourage undergraduate junior/senior students and master’s students who are interested in pursuing doctoral degrees to self-enter data into the AG-NGINE database using provided templates and in compliance with the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).  Once compiled, participating institutions are subsequently able to download and search student data to use in graduate program recruiting.

Current Status

AG-NGINE is currently in its second year, 2024. In its first year, 25 colleges of agriculture and related sciences across the country participated.

For the second year, 81 colleges of agriculture and related sciences were invited, from all 1862 and 1890 land-grant institutions and other Academic Programs Section member institutions. Other institutions will be invited in subsequent years to expand participation to all land-grant and NARRU institutions.

The pilot phase is being funded by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Academic Programs Committee on Organization and Policy (ACOP) and Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy (ESCOP). An advisory committee made up of representatives from ACOP and ESCOP is tasked with oversight of the pilot and development of a sustainable plan for long-term operations and funding.  

For questions regarding AG-NGINE, contact ag-ngine@ifas.ufl.edu.