Odisha HRD

IISc Bangalore one step closer to having an undergraduate program; an innovative 4 yr BS is in the cards

September 6th, 2009

Update 3: Expressbuzz mentions that the unergraduate program under discussion will be at Bangalore. Following are some excerpts.

The Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc) much-anticipated Undergraduate (UG) programme is most likely to be held at the institute’s Bangalore campus, and not at its proposed campus at Chitradurga.

This is part of a series of changes that the Institute incorporated into the original plan to bring on board faculty members who had expressed reservations on the programme.

… The revised proposal fleshes out details of the UG programme, and expands on proposals mentioned in the earlier one. To allay faculty fears, the new proposal specifies that the UG programme will not compromise the institute’s postgraduate nature, by limiting admissions to around 100 per year. “In the next 5 years, the envisaged undergraduate student population of the IISc will never exceed a number (400-500) which is more than 20 per cent of the post graduate population,” says the proposal.

Thanks to Abi for the pointer.

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Update2: See http://nanopolitan.blogspot.com/2009/09/undergraduate-program-at-iisc.html for more links and past coverage on this.

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Update: There have been some earlier news that the undergraduate program will be in a new campus at Chitradurga which is 200 kms from Bangalore. Chitradurga is to the North West of Bangalore. (Mysore is to the south west.)

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Following are excerpts from a report in the Telegraph by Charu Sudan Kasturi.

… IISc is planning to introduce a unique four-year, research-based undergraduate programme, including interaction between the students and its researchers,

… The draft course prepared by the institute received the stamp of approval from the faculty at a meeting on September 2.

… The institute is hoping the undergraduate programme emerges a model for other institutions involved in higher education and research to follow. It will be titled a bachelors in science (BS) programme in a specialisation of the student’s choice — for instance in physics, chemistry or biology.

… IISc sources were tight-lipped about the selection process they plan to use to pick students for the course, but said it would be restricted to around 500 of the “brightest” students interested over the first five years.

… The undergraduate course structure drafted by the institute will in the first three years — over six semesters — aim at strengthening basic knowledge of classical scientific, mathematical and engineering subjects in students.

Students will have to study humanities — they can pick from courses in areas of history, philosophy, sociology and the management of science and technology.

After the first three semesters, students will have to pick a “stream” of their choice — a subject within the sciences and engineering that they wish to pursue in greater detail than other subjects.

While majoring in their chosen stream, students continue to study a certain minimum number of courses in other streams — to keep the course inter-disciplinary.

The final year of the course will largely be devoted to a research project each student must undertake.

Entry Filed under: IITs, IISc, IISERs, NISER, IIMs,Odisha, others and the center