Thiruvananthapuram: IISER-Thiruvananthapuram plans to shift partially from the transit facility to its permanent campus at Vithura in the new academic year, but the the labs may not be ready in time.
The tender for furnishing the labs of first and second year BSMS students was invited only on January 22. This is a re-tender, and the tender was first floated on December 21. These are teaching labs. On February 25, the institution floated a tender for providing and fixing fume hoods which are important for chemistry labs.
Research Labs
The bidding process for research labs, which are high-end labs used by PhD students and faculty for their research work, has not even begun. When asked about how faculty can divide their time between the two campuses, registrar M. Radhakrishnan said that not all faculty teach first-year students, and the institution will arrange buse services between the two campuses.
Comparison with other IISERs
It will take eight months to one year to set up labs, according to IISER Bhopal director Vinod Singh. The labs at IISER Pune were shifted over a year’s period, according to its director Krishna N. Ganesh. Both Mr Ganesh and IISER Mohali Director N Sathyamurthy say, unlike Thiruvanantha-puram, they had an advantage as the transit campuses were close to the respective permanent campuses.
However, Mr Singh says IISER Bhopal did not have any such advantage. “Our campus was 35 km away, located in a village. There was no public transport,” he said. The teaching labs at Bhopal were furnished four years ago.
Shift in August
It will take only three-four months to set up the teaching labs in IISER-Thiruvanan-thapuram once work is awarded, according to its director V. Ramakrishnan.
He says they don’t need to start from scratch as many of the labs are already functional on the CET campus, and these just need to be reassembled.
“You start with a stool, learn from the experience and then make a chair, then a table. After setting up the teaching labs, we will be able to eliminate problems while setting up a research lab,” Mr Ramakrishnan said. The partial shift to the permanent campus will happen in August.
