Synonymous to Science

The institute is mainly devoted to science and research, so anyone planning to join should be highly motivated to do science. With high standards in research and high class infrastructure it is on of the best places currently in India to pursue some serious science. However, students who wish to go for a job as soon as they finish their finish their graduation should look for other options.

IIT JEE 2009, AIR - 1098 (ST), I opted for this college because I could not get a seat in any of my preferred Engineering Streams in the IIT counselling. In addition I also had a bit of fascination towards research. Moreover, joining this college made a student eligible for INSPIRE fellowship under MHRD, Govt. of India and thus entitled to a yearly scholarship of Rs. 60,000.

The BS-MS Dual Degree program is a 5 year course. In the initial 2 year all the four subjects, namely - Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology are covered. And then in 3rd year onward a specialization subject or a combination of topics across different subjects could be opted by a student. Overall the course and syllabus is highly focused on conceptual understanding with emphasis on research work and lab exposure.

The final year of graduation, i.e. 5th year is completely devoted to project work and has no academic classes. However, the students themselves have to look for opportunities in their choice of lab, or R&D in companies.There are no visit by companies arranged by the institute.

The sole purpose of this particular course is to ignite interest for science among students so that they pursue higher education, i.e. opt for PhD, hence, not much emphasis is given on job placement etc. However, in past out of all the students who wished to join a job, a few were able to grab jobs in the R&D sector.

With time a lot of students clubs like - Sports, Drama, Dance, Photography, Science etc have come up with active participation from talented students.The most popular events being the IISER Premier League, an annual cricket tournament which sees active participation from not just students but also the faculty and administration and other staff member of the institute. Other events being - Karavaan (cultural fest), Badminton League, Science Day, Hindi Divas, and other sporting events organised all year round.

As it is a Government institute the fee structure for the 1st year is quite nominal with a semester (6 months) fees of Rs.25000 including the accommodation charges. For the next 3 years the fees is around Rs. 17000 per semester. Hence, looking at the infrastructure and facilities available this fees is very cost effective.

As mentioned earlier students joining the institute through the IIT-JEE stream are eligible for INSPIRE scholarship that provides a monthly stipend of Rs. 5000/month. Other students who join the institute through KVPY stream get scholarship of Rs.5000/month for initial 2 years and then Rs.8000/month for the next 3 years via KVPY. However, if someone wishes to take a loan towards fulfilling of the fees, he/she can easily be eligible for the same through any available of the banking services in India as IISER Pune is an institute under MHRD, Govt. of India.

Campus life in IISER is quite relaxed as their is not much load of academics on students. Students have sufficient time to indulge in various sports and extra co-curricular activities like dance, music, photography or even social work. In recent years the gender ratio has seen drastic improvements. And as the admission is based on a national level exam, the batches are quite diverse with students coming from J&K to Kerela.

For the whole of 5 years the hostel room needs to be shared between 2 students. The newly built hostel building for UG students is a 9 floor building based on modern architecture and facilities like lifts, fire safety alarm, security and reception at entrance. Each floor is equipped with washing machines, water purifiers and well designed bathrooms. The rooms too are adequately spacious for 2 persons and are provided with sufficiently huge cupboards, lamps and high speed LAN connection.

Well, to the disappointment alumni network has not developed yet. Since, the college is pretty new, set up in only 2006, the work for setting up a network to linking all the pass out seniors with the institute has not seen active participation. But I hope in coming years the network will be able to find a solid base and surely their network will prove out to be quite useful for the all the students.

The regular classes are limited to only 4-5 hours in the first 2 years and then around 15-16 hours per week in the next 2 years. Hence, there is sufficient time for students interested in science to join a research lab of their interest even during the semester. For others there is more than sufficient time to develop their hobbies like sports, music etc.

The faculty consists of renowned scientists in their respective field of research. Most of them are also good teachers. Regular visits by many other scientists from various universities for seminars and talks or for guest lectures are an additional feature.