The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune and Kolkata will commence Master of Science (MSc) programmes from this new academic year. With this, Pune and Kolkata will join Bhopal in offering MSc courses at IISERs.
Operating under the Ministry of Education, IISERs Pune and Kolkata are among the oldest of the seven IISERs — Berhampur, Bhopal, Mohali, Kolkata, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram and Tirupati — established to strengthen science research at undergraduate levels in the country. The main courses offered here are a five-year BS-MS course for students after Class XII, and PhD programmes.
Both IISERs Pune and Kolkata will offer MSc in chemistry and mathematics, in addition to geology which will be offered at Pune.
“In the academic year 2022, three departments — chemistry, earth and climate science, and mathematics – will offer MSc programmes. The total student intake at IISER, Pune will range between 50 and 70 students for this year,” Girish Ratnaparkhi, dean of Academics at IISER, Pune told The Indian Express.
While MSc courses are offered at many colleges and universities, Ratnaparkhi said that the course at IISER, Pune will lay emphasis on research. The two-year course will include short semester credit projects, summer training and also a major research project in the second year.
” There are about 140 faculty members distributed in the departments of biology, chemistry, data science, earth and climate sciences, humanities and social sciences, mathematics, science education, and physics in IISER, Pune. Students will have access to research programmes in these diverse disciplines,” he said.
The remaining departments at the Pune institute are also planning MSc courses, either in 2023 or 2024 academic sessions, Ratnaparkhi added.
Like a large number of students who complete the BS-MS programme and enrol in PhD programmes either in India or abroad, MSc graduates too will have similar opportunities, IISER officials said. The MSc graduates will be eligible to apply to PhD programmes across all IISERs, Ratnaparkhi said.
The Centre of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI) at IISER, Kolkata, is offering an MS Program by Research. The programme, led by CESSI, will specialise in research on space weather. It is open for students who have studied physics and engineering.
Source: IndianExpress
