IISERs will have their own aptitute test on July 18 2010

(Thanks to the Suryanarayanan’s comment number 147 in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/285).

The IISER admission site at http://www.iiser-admissions.in/ says that there will be three ways to get admission in the IISERs: (i) KVPY (ii) IIT JEE and (iii) Direct.

But by "Direct" they mean through an aptitude test that will be held on July 18 2010. They say: 

Direct Admission is open to applicants who have Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and/or Biology in their class 12 board examination. Aptitude Assessment consists of a written test. It will have multiple choice questions on Physics Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology based on CBSE syllabus up to class 12.


The NISER NEST exam will be on June 6th. Details at http://www.nestexam.in/index1.php

IISERs and NISER should have co-ordinated to have a single test. It does not make sense to have separate tests for admission into similar programs. Such lack of co-ordination and foresight is what encourages the government to interfere and issue diktats.

4 comments March 15th, 2010

Several 5 year integrated masters courses at BJB: ad in Samaja

2 comments June 8th, 2008

Four year BS instead of 3 yr BSc

Following is an excerpt from a report in ibnlive.com.

The three-year Bachelor of Science course could soon be phased out across the country and replaced by a four-year BS course based on the American model.

In the new course, students in the first year will study core science subjects.

From the second year they will specialise and choose their electives.

The Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institutes of Technology could be the first ones to introduce the four-year programme.


The proposal is the brainchild of the National Knowledge Commission, which is headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

 

May 13th, 2008

More news on the 1 lakh/year scholarship for science students

Following is an excerpt from an Economic Times report on this.

If you figure in the list of meritorious 1 lakh students, you will get Rs 1 lakh annually for pursuing university education in science stream and the amount may continue up to five years. The government is planning to institute scholarships to encourage education in science and technology. While modalities of selecting meritorious students are yet to be worked out, it is proposed that the future scientists would be caught young in the 12th class itself.

The financial assistance would be given to such students while pursuing BSc and MSc courses. “We have proposed to give adequate financial support to sufficient number of students to foster talent in scientific research. The government is considering to award 1 lakh scholarships of Rs 1 lakh each.

Meritorious students pursuing university education in science stream would be eligible for the award. The proposal is expected to be incorporated in the 11th Five-Year Plan, and expected to be announced in the forthcoming National Development Council (NDC) meeting,” a source in the government said.

It is understood that the proposed scholarship would be modelled on the line of INSPIRE programme mooted by the department of science & technology (DST).

INSPIRE stands for innovations in science pursuit for inspired research. The programme aims at reaching out to the young talent and help them to pursue their interest in science.

“It is also an intervention devised to redress low entry of students into science and technology streams,” a DST source said. After the programme would get a formal approval, the selection procedure for the meritorious students would be announced.

… It is expected that the budget allocation of scientific departments would be enhanced significantly in the 11th Plan. The plan allocation has been doubled from about Rs 12,000 crore in the 9th Plan to about Rs 25,000 crore in the 10 Plan and it is planned to increased it approximately four fold in the 11th Plan, official sources said.

 

10 comments October 26th, 2007

UGC Predoctoral and Postdoctoral fellowships in Sciences

The details are extracted from the following documents

* D.S. Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowships (18-22 thousands/month)
* Research Fellowship in Sciences for Meritorious Students (8 thousands/month)

Continue Reading 188 comments October 15th, 2007

Which option is better IISER, NIT or IIST and why?

Someone asked the above question in Yahoo Answers India! Following was my answer.

Which option is better IISER, NIT or IIST and why?

It depends on what you want. The goal of IISERs and NISER Bhubaneswar is to focus on science and produce good scientists. If you have a choice between these institutes, you are a pretty good student. Whatever you do seriously you will be successful. Be confident of that. Heck, even graduates of private colleges in backwater towns get jobs.

So now, IISERs were made because India was falling behind in Science. In the past India had great scientists some of whom went on to get Nobel prizes. But with the IIT brand name and corresponding hype (I am an ex-IITian) every one, who can, now goes to IIT and most study engineering. Science departments, although exist in IITs, have a second class status. That has resulted in India falling behind in Science.

So the government’s aim in establishing IISERs and NISER Bhubaneswar was to create as good institutes as IITs but focused on Science.

One must realize that basic research in science later leads to developments in Engineering and Technology. So unless good talent also goes to science, the pipeline will become empty.

So, if you want to study science, you should go to IISERs or NISER. If your goal is to get a degree, and a job or to go for MBA (in IIMs) after that, then NITs are better for you.

248 comments June 21st, 2007

More on Ravenshaw University

Samaja reports more news on Ravenshaw University. Following are some points mentioned in their article:

  • Ravenshaw has advertised for registration in its Ph.D/D.Litt/D.Sc program.
  • They will semester system in the Bachelors and Masters level with half monthly examinations with four internal evaluations a year.
  • Application form and admission brochure are now available in their website and May 30 is the deadline for application.
  • Ravenshaw will not wait for the +3 results to come out and will finish admission based on the entrance exams by June.
  • They are trying to have five year integrated M.Sc programs and if this program is established this year then they will admit students to this program from the students who have qualified for +3. The students do not have to apply separately.
  • The state has released 10.5 crores to the university.
  • A UGC team of experts led by Prof. S. Ramegowda (former Chairman, AICTE and former Vice-Chancellor, Karnataka University) will visit on June 12th.

Besides the above news from the Samaj article, I heard that the VC of Ravenshaw has met some Ravenshaw alumni who are in academia in Orissa and has sought their advice. This is a very good move on the VC’s part as there are some really top-notch academicians in Orissa with Ravenshaw ties.

3 comments May 26th, 2007

NISER will share its entrance exam with UM-DAE

Fiver year integrated M.Sc programs are being started at UM-DAE, a new autonomous center for excellence in Basic Sciences jointly set up by University of Mumbai in collaboration with Dept. of Atomic Energy. It will be taught by faculty from nearby institutes such as IIT Bombay, BARC, Univ. of Mumbai and TIFR. The entrance exam for this program is the same one as for NISER, Bhubaneswar. So in a sense, NISER now has head-to-head competition in terms of students. Unless NISER moves quickly and uses its funding advantage to build a nice campus and hire top-notch faculty it may lose out.

5 comments May 4th, 2007

NISER has a new webpage; admission ad appears in papers etc.

NISER now has a new and more professional looking web page. Its ad for admission appears in Samaja. Its website also has the application form and information brochure.

3 comments April 26th, 2007

Ravenshaw will start five year integrated M.Sc program from July 2007

Ravenshaw vice chanceelor Devdas Chhotray has acted very fast on the news regarding the 1 lakh/yr scholarships for integrated M.Sc students. He has announced that Ravenshaw will start five year integrated M.Sc program from July 2007. This is reported in Sambada.

13 comments April 19th, 2007

Atomic Energy Commission approved the establishment of NISER at Bhubaneswar

An earlier NISER web page said that “the Atomic Energy Commission, in its 182nd meeting held on 16.03.2007 approved the proposal for establishment of NISER at Bhubaneswar.” It is still in the process of receiving approval from the cabinet.

2 comments April 16th, 2007

NISER Steering committee

Its now listed at http://www.iopb.res.in/niser/steering.php

It consists of the following people:

Continue Reading April 16th, 2007

Eyecatching scholarships from Dept. of Sc. and Tech. for 5 yr integrated MSc students

Indian Express reports (thanks to Debendra Mohapatra for the tip on this) that the Department of Science and Technology of India has decided to offer 10,000 scholarships annually of Rs 1 lakh/year for students joining 5 year integrated M.Sc programs. The scheme was announced by the DST secretary T. Ramasami on April 10th at IISER Pune. It has not yet appeared in the Dept. of Sc. and Tech. website.

At present only few places in India offer such 5 yr M.Sc programs. Some of the places I know of are IISER Pune and Kolkata, NISER Bhubaneswar, IITs, BITs Pilani, Indian School of Mines, University of Mysore, University of Hyderabad, BESU, CUSAT, Pondicherry University, Sastra University, University of Pune, St. Xaviers Calcutta and some NITs.

It has been reported [1,2:ugc,3:kerela] that the UGC has also jumped into the fray in supporting universities and institutions that will have 5 yr integrated M.Sc programs.

This information has been passed on to key people in the Orissa government and they have promised to look into starting such programs in some of the universities and autonomous colleges in Orissa.

2 comments April 14th, 2007


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