IISC opens doors to undergrads

Updated on: Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Come August 1, walking down the corridors of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, will be a group of 17-year-olds. For the first time in its 101-year-old history, the institute has opened its doors to undergraduate students.

The admission process for the four-year Bachelor of Science programme is almost half way through, with the third round of counselling scheduled for June 23. The students who have got their ranks through IITJEE and Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) have been sent offers. The muchawaited four-year programme had received an overwhelming response with over 16,000 applications for 120 seats. Out of this, around half of them were from the CBSE.

"The programme is different from the standard BSc programmes available as you will usually find only three-year BSc plus two-year MSc for pure science subjects. The objective is to teach students in an atmosphere of research. Faculty will be academicians who are engaged in research. It is designed in such a way that it is interdisciplinary. The programme is offered in six major disciplines — physics, chemistry, maths, biology, materials and environmental science. It is also mandatory to study a minimum number of courses in engineering and humanities. Students, at the end of the course, will have a foundation in all the subjects ," says Chandan Das Gupta, dean, UG programme, IISc.

"Science education in India has many problems. There's a lot of interest but not enough opportunities. So we are trying to start a new trend. The bunch of young bright students will be stimulating for the others in the campus that is known for its research activities," he added.

Times of India

IISC opens doors to undergrads

More Education news