ISRO offers to launch your career

A rigorous education and the prospect of making a contribution to the national space programme make the IIST a special place.

The IIST is the world’s first space university to offer undergraduate programmes.

Megha Garg (19) has made up her mind. She wants to join the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). “I will not go back on my decision. When we joined this Institute, we surely had made up our mind to join ISRO,” she says.

Kanav Setia, just 18 years old, breaks in: “From my school days, I have been fascinated by India’s space programme. Whatever I learn in this Institute, I can innovate in my job. Nowhere will you get an opportunity to join ISRO. We need not worry about getting a job.”

Prakhar Agarwal, another student, wants to design launch vehicles. “My interest is in aerospace. Nowhere else but here can you see technology in action when you study… It is not just money. We should be part of the development process. That is the beauty of working in ISRO,” he says.
Megha Garg, Kanav Setia, Prakhar Agarwal, Sudha Bendapudi and Abhinav Goel are students of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), established by the Department of Space in September 2007, close to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram. They belong to the very first batch of students after the IIST was founded. They are students of B.Tech. in Avionics or Aerospace.

The IIST is the world’s first space university to offer undergraduate programmes. In a few weeks, it will be a recognised as a deemed-to-be university. The IIST has four-year undergraduate B.Tech. programmes in Avionics and Aerospace. It also offers a five-year integrated M.Sc. in Applied Sciences. From this academic year (2008-09), it will offer M.Tech. programmes in some key, emerging areas. Students graduating from the IIST with more than 60 per cent marks will be absorbed in ISRO as engineers and scientists.G. Madhavan Nair, chairman, ISRO, and secretary, Department of Space, called the IIST “a unique set-up.” He said: “We want to build the IIST into a world-class institute that can produce high-quality manpower in space science and technology… Here, we want to train the students at a young age and expose them to space science and technology so that they can become leaders in this area tomorrow.”
Admission to the IIST is through IIT-JEE (Indian Institute of Technology - Joint Entrance Examination). The IIT-JEE prepares two lists for admission: the main list and the extended list. Candidates whose names figure in the extended list are eligible to join the IIST. Besides, students who belong to the main list but are keen on joining the IIST, can opt for a course in the IIST. More than 3,000 students have already registered for admission to 156 seats in B.Tech. in Avionics and Aerospace, and M.Sc. in Applied Sciences for the academic year beginning 2008-09. Counselling will be held soon for them. Classes for them will begin from August 10.
Dr. B.N. Suresh, Director, IIST, who retired recently as Director of VSSC, said “This is the only space university to offer undergraduate programmes. Our ambition is to make it a truly world-class institution, where you can have undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes and feed quality manpower for India’s space programmes. We want to seamlessly integrate research and technology into academics.”

The IIST does not charge any fees at all from its students. Hostel accommodation and food are totally free of cost. Besides, every student is given Rs. 3,000 a semester as book allowance. After passing their course with more than 60 per cent marks, the students should work in ISRO for five years and sign a bond to this effect. If they jump the bond, they will have to pay Rs.10 lakhs to the Department of Space. The student population of the IIST is cosmopolitan, belonging to 18 States.

Dr. Suresh said ISRO normally recruited 300 - 350 engineers and scientists every year. Forty per cent to 50 per cent of 350 engineers would be recruited from the IIST. The rest would come from “the open market.”

The courses’ syllabus gave a thrust to the two streams of science and technology in space. The syllabi were prepared after an ISRO team visited the International Space University at Strasbourg in France, and Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both in the U.S. A committee headed by Prof. R. Natarajan, former Director of IIT-Madras and former chairman, All-India Council for Technical Education, worked hard to frame the syllabi and curriculum. A young faculty, most of whom have Ph.Ds., teaches at the IIST.

What has excited the students is that they will do two experiments every semester in the VSSC or any ISRO centre, which will have real applications in space science and technology. They have already done projects relating to Chandrayaan-1 payload.

“Anything to do with Chandrayaan, India’s mission to the moon, excites students,” said Dr. Suresh. A student has already designed a rover that can be used in inter-planetary missions. Another has designed a remote-controlled aircraft.

What led the Department of Space to start the IIST was that ISRO was unable to get quality manpower for the past 10 years for its programmes. Dr. Suresh called the IIST “an investment for our ambitious future programmes.”

He said, “The idea is to get bright students into the IIST… Students who pass out of the IIST will not require separate training. They can be directly absorbed into any programme of ISRO.”
(Source : The Hindu)