Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research
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The Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) are a group of premier institutes being created by the Government of India to promote education and research in the sciences. Five IISER's have been currently planned across the country in the following locations -- Kolkata in West Bengal, Pune in Maharashtra, Mohali in Punjab, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala [1]. The financial outlay for each IISER is around Rs 500 crore for the first five years.
The IISERs at Kolkata and Pune have started functioning from the IIT Kharagpur and NCL campuses respectively. In future they will function from their own campuses.
The first batch of around 80 students for integrated MSc courses have already been admitted to these institutes. These students were selected through the highly competitive IIT-JEE exam. Furthermore, some students were selected from the IISc's KVPY and the Olympiad student list [2].
The proposal to set up the next IISER has already been cleared by union cabinet. It will be located in Mohali, Punjab. The foundation stone of IISER, Mohali was laid in September, 2006 by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. It is proposed to commence the academic session at IISER Mohali from the next academic year [1].
Apart from these three IISER's, ‘in-principle’ approval of the Planning Commission has been received for setting up the IISERs at Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram. There is no other proposal presently under consideration of the Government to set up more IISERs in the country [3].
Another sister research institution, the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) is being established in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Although NISER will be identical to the IISERs in all respects, with only a slightly higher initial outlay of rupees 750 crores. However, it will be administered by the Department of Atomic Energy instead of the Human Resource & Development ministry.
