A brand new campus for IISc's centenary year

Bangalore, Jan 10: Ahead of its centenary, the Indian Institute of Science, the country's premier research institute, is all set to gift itself a new campus. With its 440-acre campus getting overcrowded, IISc has begun scouting for a 500-acre land around Bangalore to set up its second campus.

"Today we face the problem of ageing infrastructure. We have the problem of campus overcrowding, limited scope for newer initiatives and there are very few places where we can put up new buildings. If we have to modernise, expand, maintain the greenery and retain the old charm of our campus, a second site would be essential," P Balaram, director of IISc, told the institute's court recently.

IISc's second campus will be a hub of several new initiatives - laboratories for emerging areas in aerospace engineering, biological sciences and nano-sciences. The institute is also planning a new JRD Tata library building.

Significantly, the new campus will primarily focus on undergraduate science courses that the institute plans to start soon. President APJ Abdul Kalam, as IISc visitor, had recommended in August that the institute must concentrate on undergraduate courses.

"Also, I've mooted an undergraduate science initiative there (at the new campus), but it is a contentious area: there are people for and against it. But a new initiative must be looked in a new light," Balaram told the court.

"Having a second campus for the IISc is a long-term requirement and it should happen. We are already in a crowded campus and do not have much freedom.

"Some part of the campus should not be touched as it will disturb the ecology," Balaram told The Times of India. "Ideally, IISc should have at least 1,000 acres because of the expansion pace in the past 30 years. I cannot predict the growth in the next decade, let alone another 100 years," the IISc don added.

Sources

>