The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram (IISER TVM) has introduced a new five-year BS-MS flagship programme called Integrated and Interdisciplinary Sciences (i2Sc). The new programme at IISER Thiruvananthapuram seeks to impart unique education and training and aims to equip tomorrow's workforce with skills that meet the evolving needs, demands and challenges of the modern world.
Saying that the programme aligns with the National Education Policy 2020, the instutute in a statement said: “The major challenges that the world faces today, namely, climate change, food security, healthcare, and sustenance, among others, are too complex to be solved by biologists, chemists and physicists independently. Efforts to tackle them require integrated expertise and interdisciplinary knowledge in areas that span Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics.”
The i2Sc programme, as per the statement, includes five different streams, each based on a core discipline and associated thematic areas. At the end of the common Foundation Courses taught over the first two years, students will be able to opt for any one of the five streams to study advanced courses in the core discipline and specialize in the associated thematic areas, culminating in a year-long research project in the year five.
The five streams are i2 Biological Sciences, i2 Chemical Science, i2 Mathematical Sciences, i2 Physical Science and i2 Data Sciences.
Speaking about the unique course pedagogy and industry-oriented curriculum of the i2Sc programme, Professor JN Moorthy, Director, IISER TVM, said: “The unique curriculum of IISER TVM provides its students a veritable learning experience with an integrated course content and interdisciplinary research exposure. The programs being offered by the Institute take its students through rigorous training and prepares them for competing at the global level.”
“The Institute is also working on bringing futuristic developments into its curriculum by developing a new program on Earth, Environmental and Sustainability Science. This program aligns with the National Education Policy and envisages to produce a rich pool of competent and skilled graduates necessary for pursuing research in complex, arduous and challenging scientific problems of contemporary interest,” he added.
The newly-conceptualised BS-MS i2Sc programs in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics aim to train the students with a distinct flair of applied aspects of modern science cutting across the traditional borders between various subjects. Along with this, the i2 -Data Sciences program integrates the new and fast expanding field of data science with the methods and techniques of the basic sciences.
The curriculum includes courses in allied topics like Scientific Communication, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Entrepreneurship and Ethics to contextualise the learning experience. Included are opportunities to inculcate soft skills that are essential for the future success of the highly skilled graduates of the programme.
