Индийский институт науки в Бангалоре: кампус и инфраструктура

Public university for scientific research and higher education in Bangalore

The IISc campus is located in the north of Bangalore, about 6 kilometres from Bangalore City Railway Station and Kempegowda Bus Station, on the way to Yeshwantpur. The institute is about 35 kilometres from Kempegowda International Airport. A number of other research institutes, Raman Research Institute, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Wood Research Institute and Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), are close to IISc. Most of these institutes are connected to IISc by a regular shuttle bus service. The campus houses more than 40 departments marked by routes such as the Gulmohar Marga, the Mahogany Marga, the Badami Marga, the Tala Marga, the Ashoka Marga, the Nilgiri Marg, the Silver Oak Marg, the Amra Marga and the Arjuna Marga. The institute is fully residential and is spread over 400 acres of land in the heart of Bangalore city. The campus features six canteens (cafeterias), a gymkhana (gymnasium and sports complex), a football ground and a cricket ground, five dining messes (halls), one multi cuisine restaurant, nine men's and five women's hostels (dormitories), an air strip, a library, two shopping centers and residences of the faculty members and other staff, besides other amenities. The IISc campus harbours both exotic and indigenous plant species with about 110 species of woody plants. The roads on the campus are named after the dominant avenue tree species. The architecture of the main building, which today houses the administration and the Faculty Hall, is classical in style, fronted by a grey, handsome tower. In front of it stands the work of Gilbert Bayes, a monument erected in the memory of J. N. Tata. At its feet is an inscription that serves to remind future generations of the generosity of Jamsetji Tata and the persistence with which he worked for the welfare of India. The building, as one of the prominent landmarks of Bangalore, was designed by C. F. Stevens and Company of Bombay in 1912–13. The buildings for the metallurgy and aerospace departments were designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1940.

A second campus is in Challakere, on lot of land. Infrastructure developed here includes the Talent Development Centre, Skill Development Centre funded by HAL under CSR Act, Solar Power Research Center and a Climate Observatory. The Centre for Sustainable Technologies has commenced its activities here under the project "C BELT" i. e., the Centre for Bio energy and Low Carbon Technologies. Janardhana Swamy, then Member of Parliament from the Chitradurga Lok Sabha as well as a notable alumnus of IISc and Amalan Biswas, then DC of Chitradurga District played significant roles in setting up the IISc's new campus at Challakere. They were instrumental in identifying all the required 1500 acres of land for the new campus, getting the existing building leased from the Sheep Farm, obtaining the various needed approvals from the government, and having the initial funds released from the State.

Research students constitute more than 60 % of the students on the campus. PhD degrees offered in 40 different disciplines. Research programs leading to doctoral degrees are the main thrust in many departments. The annual intake of research students is approximately 575 with several candidates sponsored from educational institutions and industries (through External Registration Program). The Integrated PhD program is designed to offer opportunities to 3 year BSc graduates for pursuing advanced research in areas of biological, chemical, mathematical, and physical Sciences, leading to the PhD degree. In 2024, IISc launched new short courses on Computational Structural Reliability.

The two year M. Tech. program is available in almost all engineering departments. Most MTech programs have a set of hard core courses specified as an essential requirement whereas students can take rest of the credits from many courses available in their parent or other departments and also do a dissertation work on the topic of their choice. Master's degrees offered by the institute are classified into two categories: degrees by coursework (M. Tech., M. Mgt., and M. Des.) and degrees by research (M. Tech. research). The Department of Management Studies offers a Master of Management program exclusively for engineering graduates. The Center for Product Design and Manufacturing offers the Master of Design (M. Des.) course. Started in 1996, the M. Des. program is a two year, full time postgraduate program. In keeping with India's recent National Education Policy (NEP 2020), IISc has launched the Master of Technology (Online) degree program, a fully online program, for practicing engineers and scientists from academic year 2022–2023. The degree program is for professionals who are sponsored by organisations, who already have a BE/BTech/Equivalent degree and wish to upskill or re skill themselves in streams like Data Science and Business Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Electronics and Communication Engineering. The institute has recently announced MSc program in life sciences and chemical sciences starting from academic year of 2022–23. These 2 years master's degree programs consist of foundational and flexible coursework and hands on laboratory training. The design is aimed to develop experimental skills in advanced techniques for research, leading to an independent thesis research project. Students enrolled in the M Sc programs can personalize their coursework and research projects.

An undergraduate program in science for students after Class XII was conceived during the Centenary Celebrations in 2009. The first batch of students was admitted in 2011. The program offers a four year Bachelor of Science (Research) and a five year integrated Master of Science course in six disciplines: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Material Science, Mathematics, and Physics. The course aims at exposing the students to the inter disciplinary nature in which scientific research is done in many upcoming fields. A new undergraduate program B. Tech. in Mathematics and Computing seeks to enter a niche area with the aim of producing future leaders who will be at the forefront of research, development, and innovation in futuristic disciplines and next generation technologies that require deep use of mathematics, computer science, and data science. Admission to the undergraduate programs is through one of five channels: JEE Main, JEE Advanced, NEET, IISER Aptitude Test and KVPY (now phased out).

Apart from the main library, the institute also has independent departmental libraries. The library moved into the present premises in January 1965, built out of grants provided by University Grants Commission (UGC), in commemoration of the golden jubilee celebrations of the institute in 1959. In 1995, the library was renamed as "J. R. D. Tata Memorial Library". The National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) has recognised this library as Regional Center for Mathematics for the south region and continued to award a special grant towards subscription of Journals in Mathematics. The annual budget of the library is over Rs. 100 million (almost US$2,500,000) of which subscription towards periodicals alone is about Rs. 90 million. The library currently receives over 1,734 periodical titles, of which 1381 are subscribed, while the remaining titles are received as gratis or on an exchange basis. About 600 titles are accessible through the library subscription. In addition, over 10,000 journals are accessible online, thanks to INDEST subscription. The total holdings of the library exceed 411,000 documents.

The Computer Centre, established in 1970 as a central computing facility, became Supercomputer Education and Research Centre (SERC) in 1990 to provide computing facility to the faculty and students of the institute. SERC was created and fully funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India to commemorate the platinum jubilee of the institute. It houses India's first petascale supercomputer Cray XC40, the erstwhile fastest supercomputer in India. Apart from functioning as a central computing facility of IISc, the SERC is engaged in education and research programs in areas relating to supercomputer development and application. The centre is also involved in several sponsored research projects in collaboration with several high profile government and private agencies.

The Indian Institute of Science collaborates with various government organisations like the Indian Ordnance Factories, DRDO, the ISRO, Bharat Electronics Limited, Aeronautical Development Agency, National Aerospace Laboratories, CSIR, Department of IT (Government of India), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, etc. IISc also works in collaboration with private industry and research labs. A few organisations have been incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) on campus, including Morphing Machines and SandI, while Gamma Porite is currently under incubation. IISc actively promotes and supports ventures by the faculty, the students and alumni. Strand Life Sciences and Ittiam are some success stories of this initiative. In March 2016, a science start up, incubated at the IISc, built the world's first food grade DNA/RNA stain. This might cut the time taken to diagnose conditions such as HIV to a day, from 45 days at present.

IISc has a parent alumni association (AA) in Bangalore and several branches elsewhere including USA (IISCAANA). Of recent parent association is involved in several disputes. One of the reasons appears to be efforts by some to allow Non IISc degree holders to become a part of the AA. Similar situation is created in IISCAANA
by allowing several non IISc members to be active in the team. IIScAANA allows those who did not complete degree to become members by adding a clause
'completed at least one semester of course work in IISc' for membership eligibility.

The oldest and currently active music club of IISc is Rhythmica. Rhythmica came into existence in 2002. More than 20 years after its birth, Rhythmica is now over 40 shows old (as on 2023). Rhythmica has been able to deliver an unparalleled width of music. Ranging from Indian classical (both Hindustani and Carnatic) to Western; from Rock to Jazz to Blues; from western country music to Indian folk; from Vedic tunes to home brewed self composed scores; from the early 20th century classics to the chartbusters of the currently running year. Rhythmica performs three signature shows every year: the founders day show in March/April, a performance in Sangam (the freshers orientation of IISc) in August, and the Diwali show in October/ November. Since 2022, Rhythmica has also been an opening act for Pravega's Pronites (the annual cultural fest of IISc). Their show videos are posted on their Youtube channel, with an active Instagram and Facebook page as well. Rhythmica members are students of IISc (Undergraduate, Masters and PhD) as well as professors.

On 28 December 2005, two terrorists started firing indiscriminately inside the IISc campus. Munish Chander Puri, a professor from IIT Delhi, died in the attack. Four others were injured.

Two former directors, C. V. Raman and C. N. R. Rao, have been awarded India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna. Four former directors, Sir A. G. Bourne, Sir Martin O. Forster, C. V. Raman and J. C. Ghosh, have been knighted. Among the IISc alumni, there are three Rhodes Scholars, several Fellows of the Royal Society, and thousands of members of Indian and foreign Academy of Sciences. Hundreds of IISc faculty members have also received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology awarded to Indians who have made outstanding contributions under 45 years of age. In spite of these achievements, no alumnus or serving faculty member of IISc has won either a Nobel Prize or a Fields Medal, although C. V. Raman did win a Nobel Prize before becoming the institute's first Indian director.