IUCAA-NCRA Graduate School

The IUCAA-NCRA Graduate School (conducted jointly with the TIFR-National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune) is meant for the Ph.D. students of IUCAA and NCRA. Coursework is divided into two semesters spread over one year. Each semester is of roughly fifteen weeks’ duration split into two halves. Students are taught courses in astronomy and astrophysics.

The course structure can be found here.

* Please note that not all elective courses may be offered in a given academic year.

+  Project work will be undertaken in the last two months of the second semester.

Syllabus:

The courses are designed, emphasizing the aspects which are directly relevant to Astronomy and Astrophysics. It is assumed that unnecessary repetition of material which is already taught at M.Sc. is avoided. While selecting students for IUCAA/NCRA we usually ensure that the student is familiar with physics at the level of M.Sc. and there is no need for routine material to be repeated in the graduate course.

The syllabus provides enough avenues for topics which are of "local interest" to be included in the graduate school. This is necessary so that graduate students coming out of IUCAA/NCRA not only have a comprehensive grasp of Astronomy and Astrophysics but are also aware of the key research areas in which these two institutions are concentrating at present.

The detailed syllabus for each course can be found here.

Grading System:

Marks out of 100
< 41 1 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 - 100
C B Minus B B Plus A Minus A A Plus
  

Important Points for Coursework:


  1. A Research Scholar getting less than 41 % marks (grade C) fails the course.
  2. A Research Scholar getting more than two C grades (less than 41% marks) during the coursework will be disqualified from the programme.
  3. An overall performance of 65% or higher is required to meet the Graduate School's requirements.
  4. A Research Scholar must clear all core Graduate School courses before they submit their thesis proposal to the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
  5. A Research Scholar must complete at least 2 elective credits (usually one course) by the end of the second year.
 
 Important Points Post Coursework:

A Research Scholar must submit a progress report to their RAC every six months.

  1. The grades assigned by the RAC should be understood to have the following meanings:
    A- or higher: The student is performing well.
    B+: The student is performing below par, but the supervisor and RAC feel that the student can improve with some effort. This grade is then intended to be a warning signal to the student.
    B or lower: The student has not performed well despite an earlier B+ grade, and the supervisor and RAC are concerned that the Ph.D. may not be completed to their satisfaction.
    A grade of B or lower will trigger the sequential process listed in 2 below.
  2. A grade of B or lower in any evaluation must necessarily be based on both a presentation and a written report by the student to the RAC, regardless of whether the evaluation stage is mid-year, end-year or mid-semester. For subsequent evaluation, a grade of B or lower may be assigned only if the grade in the previous evaluation was B+ or lower, and should be accompanied with a detailed justification. If a student is awarded a grade of B or lower in a particular six-monthly evaluation, the next evaluation must take place three months later, i.e. mid-semester. This mid-semester evaluation must necessarily consist of both a presentation by the student to the RAC and a written report, regardless of the grade eventually assigned. If the grade in this mid-semester evaluation is again B or lower, then in the subsequent mid-year or end-year evaluation, as the case may be, the Chair, TPC shall attend the evaluation presentation as an observer. If the assigned grade is again B or lower, the next evaluation will again be three months later, i.e., mid-semester, with Chair, TPC and Dean, CAP both attending the presentation as observers.
  3. Starting from the evaluation at the time of submission of Thesis Proposal, if a student gets four consecutive B or lower grades in the evaluation, the RAC may decide to recommend the cancellation of Ph.D. registration and fellowship of the student to TPC. This is in compliance with Clause 11.4 of the JNU ordinance received on May 22, 2024 in effect retrospectively from the Academic Year 2022-23 onwards. This timeline will ensure that the underperforming student will not be dismissed abruptly but rather have a span of one year (i.e. Four quarterly evaluations) to demonstrate sustained improvement.
  4. The evaluation grade assigned by the RAC in each cycle will be conveyed along with the written feedback from the RAC to each student, regardless of the grade assigned, by the Dean CAP’s office.
  5. The above policy will be enforced from the August 2024 semester for all Ph.D. students enrolled at IUCAA
  1. Any Research Scholar getting less than 41 % marks (grade C) fails the course.
  2. Any Research Scholar can get only two Cs (less than 41 % marks) overall.
  3. If any Research Scholar gets three or more Cs overall, then he/she will be asked to leave the Graduate School.
  4. At the end of the Graduate School, the overall performance should be B+ (65%) or above.
  5. Any Research Scholar satisfactorily fulfils all the above norms is said to clear the Graduate School successfully.
  6. All Research Scholars must clear all core Graduate School courses before they submit their thesis to the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
  7. All Research Scholars must complete at least 2 elective credits (usually one course) by the end of the second year.
  8. All Indian Research Scholars should pass the CSIR/UGC NET JRF (or at least Lecturership (LS)) within two years of joining IUCAA.