Construction work on the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) under the Department of Atomic Energy at Bhubaneswar is expected to resume within two months.
NISER-Bhubaneswar is being developed on 300 acres of land at Jatni, close to the site of IIT-Orissa, about 20 km from the city at an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore. At present, the institute is operating out of the campus of the city-based Institute of Physics.
“Construction work on NISER-Bhubaneswar is expected to take off within two months and the entire campus is scheduled to be functional within four years. Once the NISER-Bhubaneswar campus is fully operational, it would have an intake of about 2,000 students which may later scale up to 4,000”, Abhaya Kumar Nayak, registrar, NISER-Bhubaneswar told Business Standard. NISER-Bhubaneswar which is currently operating out of the campus of the Institute of Physics has an intake of around 100 students. The institute is presently offering a five-year integrated MSc programme , an MSc cum Phd programme and individual Phd programmes in four basic sciences- physics chemistry, biology and mathematics.
New courses on computer sciences, earth and planetary sciences as well as engineering sciences are proposed to be introduced after the full-fledged campus of NISER-Bhubaneswar becomes operational.
NISER-Bhubaneswar would be a Centre of Excellence for teaching and research in four basic areas of science. Apart from separate academic blocks for different areas of science education and research, the NISER-Bhubaneswar campus will have planned academic and residential townships with all modern amenities and recreational facilities.
In the beginning, NISER would be affiliated to Homi Bhabha National Institute, a deemed university within the Department of Atomic Energy, for the award of degrees. At a later stage it will seek UGC approval to get the status of a deemed university for awarding degrees on its own.
NISER will utilise its privileged position to foster, nurture and encourage teaching and research in all academic institutions. It will have an in-built cell for organising seminars, workshops, symposia and conferences to enable wide interaction among the students and academicians.
