BS-MS Academics @ IISER Kolkata

Our 5 year BS-MS course aims to integrate the conventional bachelors and masters programs into a more holistic science education experience, bringing together conventional disciplines in the biological, chemical, mathematical, physical and earth sciences. The program focuses on the unified nature of science and aims to train some of the brightest young minds of our country, through some of the best practitioners of science in India. Our students are encouraged to take part in research activities, both in IISER and in other leading research laboratories, thus providing them asymbiotic relationship between conventional education and research.

The first two years involve a set of comprehensive mandatory courses in all areas of basic sciences, viz, Math, Physics, Chemistry, Earth Sciences and with a few courses from Humanities and English. These two years are devoted to creating a broad knowledge base in the basic sciences. The third and fourth years are devoted to developing a few specific areas in depth as they choose their major subject. They involve a choice of specialized courses from the within the broad areas introduced in the first two years. The final year at IISER Kolkata does not involve any coursework, so students focus entirely on their research project and the resulting Masters thesis. This model has resulted in a large number of publications involving undergraduate student authors.

Our International Collaborators

The following MoUs are in active operation:
(1) Institute Environmental Research of the Faculty of Chemistry, Germany
(2) Max Planck Gesellschaft (MPG), Germany
(3) Max Planck - Institute fur Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany
(4) Lund University, Sweden
(5) Institute of Molecular Science (IMS) - Indo-Japan Collaborative Research Projects in Molecular Science, Japan
(6) National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani, West Bengal, India
(7) Changshu Institute of Technology, China
(8) All IISERs and Ecoles Normales Superieures (ENS) in Cachan, Lyon, Paris and Renne, France

MoU between IISER Kolkata and the Bose Institute for scientific interaction at multiple levels is in the process of being operational. Initiatives are being taken to establish MoUs with University of Central Florida (UCF), Technische Universitat Dortmund and other reputed universities.

Apart from generous funding from DST, CSIR, DBT and Ministry of Earth Sciences, we receive funding from:
The Max Planck Society, Germany
Swedish International Collaborative Scheme
Alexander Von Humbholdt Foundation
Ernst Mach Research Grant
CIMMYT: The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Programme
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute - Berkeley
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
University of Hong-Kong
Geological Survey of China
DBT - Welcome Trust India Alliance
Defence Research and Development Organization
WWFIndia

Research Facilities Provided to our Students

In the current scenario, science has become a very competitive field. Raw intelligence is often not enough for carrying out cutting edge scientific work especially where experiments are involved. It has to be aided with the entire frontrunning technological supplements that are available. IISER Kolkata boasts this fact and has furnished all its labs with state-of-the-art equipments and facilities. These facilities are not only availaible for faculties and research scholars but also for interested undergraduate students. A small subset is listed below:

Why Recruit from IISER Kolkata

IISER Kolkata only has about 200 seats open to admission for the BS-MS programme every year. Students gaining admission through IITJEE and KVPY (Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana) already prove their mettle, given the stringent examination levels and highly competitive interview rounds. Half of the total seats available are taken by the students from the SCB channel (IISER Common Aptitude test), who are only eligible for this exam if they are in the top 1 percentile of their respective secondary boards. Taking only the admissions from SCB channel, the acceptance rate of IISER Kolkata is close to just 1%, compared to MIT at 8.3%, Harvard at 5.6%, Yale at 6.7%, and Caltech at 8.8% (2015-2016).

Students admitted to IISER Kolkata are at the top of their class, dedicated, hardworking and gifted. We shape our students with the help of one of the best set of faculty and research environments in the world. Our teaching labs are modeled on research labs. Students start developing the skill and experience in operating state-of-the-art equipment from the very first year of their undergraduate education.

Numerous courses starting from proficiency in Unix operating system, delving into the programming languages Python, Fortran, Java, Perl, and Matlab etc. as per their respective requirements. Students are encouraged to participate in eight to twelve weeks of summer internship in national/international industries/research labs outside IISER Kolkata every year. Students also gain experience by visiting various research labs as part of summer and winter schools in different institutes.

Alumni Reach

IISER Kolkata has a very short history, but even then, our alumni have placed themselves at positions of prestige all around the globe, both in academic and research institutions as well as in industries. They continue to excel, and spread the reputation of IISER Kolkata through their scientific genius, hard work and dedication. Listed below is a very small subset of where our students are now placed.