College review- [IISER], Pune

The college management is very approachable and helpful. We have an email-based network for direct referring of our grievances. The college lacks in only one thing and, that is, proper recognition amongst the masses. The reason might be because it's not a technical one and it's also young and only 13 years old.

The course curriculum is like other autonomous institutes of national importance. It has a semester system and relative grading(CGPA). The course has eight semesters of coursework and a 10 month MS thesis project which can be carried out anywhere in India or abroad. There is a mid sem examination of 30-35% weightage and an end sem 30-35% weightage each and rest quizzes and continuous assessment cover 30-40%. First three semesters of compulsory coursework and from 4th semester onwards.

Most of the students 60-70% go for PhDs abroad and in leading Indian Universities. Rest go for research-based jobs like in drug and R& D jobs. A bunch of Ph.D. students got an offer for Lakme and the highest annual CTC was 80 lakhs. Most of the students apply for internships in the 3-month summer break and from the second year, it's compulsory. They get recommendation letters from our faculty for applying to other universities in both India and abroad. A fraction of students also go to data science and work as a statistician in labs. People also get jobs in CSIR labs and DRDO as scientists and physicists. To be honest, placements are not in the IT sector and Software industry as we are not into engineering and CS.

There are huge festivities celebrated on our campus like Holi, Onam, Saraswati Puja, Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, and the list goes on. We have people from communities all across India. We also organize our huge annual college fest Karavaan, a three-day event where singers, food stalls, and guests from outside come and we also have performances by students, faculty, and various games and competition and DJ night. We also organize workshops like Robotics, Biotechnology, etc seminars by renowned faculties from prestigious institutions. We have an every-week Colloquium held on Fridays in our CV Raman Auditorium. We also have science fests and our institution's Quiz competition for outsiders called Mimamsa.

It is a bit on the higher side but nothing in comparison to the 2. 5 lakh per annum fees of NITs and IITs. Most of our fees are tuition fees for our faculty and infrastructure. Our total fees are 85000 per annum currently excluding mess which is 5000 per month, and it is on a pay and eat basis. Yes, we have a full breakup of fees like any other government institution. There are no additional fees charged. There is the exception of a fee to SC/ST/OBC and other reserved communities as per Government of India instructions. Besides, there are several scholarships to deserving students and also to BPL families, and to families having less than 5 lakh annual income. The mode of fee payment is both online and offline. In online we have credit/debit cards, net banking, and UPI through SBI I Collect. For offline we have Demand drafts etc bank modes and installments.

Yes, I get the prestigious scholarship KVPY providing 80000 annually. It has a written exam, and interview and very few get it out of 2-3 lakhs of applicants. There is also a scholarship to 7 toppers as per CGPA in each batch called IDEAS scholarship(full tuition fee exemption for a semester). Besides, there are several scholarships to deserving students and even to BPL families and families having less than 5 lakh annual income. The reserved category students also get a full tuition fee exemption. There is also another scheme called INSPIRE(60000+20000 annually) for top 1 percentile board candidates and for JEE advanced and NEET under 10000 rankers.

The gender ratio is 1:4. 5 and much better than 1:8 like in IITs. We have a lot of activities and workshops all year round and we have 30+ active clubs. We have a famous club named DISHA for social initiatives for impoverished people. We help and teach children and families of construction workers and slums of Laman Basti. We also teach others and give free food and coaching to students. We also have an active LGBTQA community called Satrangi, and we organize pride marches for enlightening commoners about such communities. We have substantial political meetings and silent protests as well. We have a vast diversity from people of North East, Jammu, Rajasthan, East, Marathis, Malayalis, and the list goes on. We also organize cultural activities and performances by our SPICMACAY club. We have fully funded labs having expensive equipment like the electron microscope, supercomputer, NMR, etc.

Yes, a hostel is compulsory in IISERs. No day scholars are allowed. The hostels are stunning fully furnished double-occupancy rooms. We are also provided with 2 table lamps, 2 fans, 2 tube lights, 2 study tables along with cupboards and lofts, 2 beds, a night lamp, 4 plug points for each occupant, also a small table like a bedside one. We have a nine-floor hostel with four lifts. Each floor has 40 rooms with a capacity of 80 people. There is a separate girl's hostel building. The Hostels are cleaned every day and are much better than IITs.

There is zero tolerance for ragging and sexual harassment. The seniors are our best friends and are kind and help us with our academic problems and other important decision-making issues. They help us in getting internships by referring us sources and faculty. They also help in all college events.

I had the option of engineering in NITs and other government-funded institutions. Still, since childhood, I always wanted to be something different apart from the rat race something which will come up from myself something research-oriented. Yes, I was in coaching and there I realized that people are not allowed to think independently. I was too much into Chemistry and Biology a little bit of Mathematics and as a result of which I made this difficult life-changing decision of joining IISER along with my parent's backup support. I wanted to enjoy science just the way it is and not much-applied stuff like Technology.

The faculty is excellent and wise and conceptually strong. We have a credit-based educational system like autonomous institutions. The teachers mostly did PhDs and post-Docs abroad and are excellent students and some are alumnus from IITs and IISc and MIT in the USA and reputed other universities. Their average age is in the range 35-45. WE have Professors and Assistant Professors and Associate Professors, Faculty and Research fellows, and independent researchers. Our institute is a centrally Government funded institution. We have all faculties permanent and an anonymous feedback system. We have tie-ups and partnerships with national and international institutions like Max Planck, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, etc. Chemistry and Biology Professors have industry contacts especially pharmaceutical, drug designing, etc. research-oriented jobs. We have a tie-up with Cipla. There is also an active student exchange program for internships.