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DBT to assist undergraduate life-sciences colleges to upgrade them to 'Star Colleges'
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Ramesh Shankar, Mumbai
July 23 , 2015
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The department of biotechnology (DBT), under its ‘Star College’ scheme,
has invited applications from colleges of all the states and union
territories of India offering undergraduate education in life sciences
to offer young scholars and faculty at undergraduate level an
opportunity to excel their career in life sciences and biotechnology.
The
programme emphasises holistic improvement of science education at
undergraduate level with special emphasis on practical training. The
initiative provides support for improving knowledge and skills of
teachers in basic life sciences and specialized techniques; access to
specialized infrastructure to students; assurance of consumables,
reagents and chemicals for students; substantial hands-on experience in
designing and conducting practical biotechnologies and critical
thinking; and access to knowledge banks with strong support of books and
journals including e-journal facilities.
The programme does not
envisage initiating new undergraduate courses in biotechnology but
improving practical training in existing life science and allied courses
like botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, microbiology, biochemistry,
biotechnology, bioinformatics, mathematics, electronics, computer
science etc.
Proposals should clearly highlight additional
practicals proposed to be introduced in existing courses by all
participating departments, student projects
(interdisciplinary/interdepartmental), visits to be undertaken by
students to national laboratories and industries and faculty improvement
programmes, etc.
The colleges can also apply for addition of
departments provided they have completed the first term of three years
under Star College scheme. For the colleges to become eligible for this
programme, the colleges should be among the top three life science
undergraduate programmes in the city based on cut off percentage for
admission to undergraduate courses in life sciences; result of
undergraduate course – pass percentage, percentage of first division
candidates; and number of faculty with Ph.D. Private colleges are not
eligible for this programme.
The last date for submission of
proposals is August 5, 2015. However, the last date for submission of
proposals from remote areas is August 15, 2015.
The DBT launched
the 'Star College Scheme' for improving critical thinking and 'hands on'
experimental work in the cutting edge-technologies needed for modern
biological studies at undergraduate (college) level in life sciences.
Major
objectives of the scheme are to strengthen the academic and physical
infrastructure for achieving excellence in teaching and training; to
enhance the quality of the learning and teaching process to stimulate
original thinking through ‘hands–on’ exposure to experimental work and
participation in summer schools; to promote networking and strengthen
ties with neighboring institutions and other laboratories; and to
conduct specialized training programmes for faculty improvement for
optimizing technical capabilities.
Other objectives of the
programme are to increase capabilities of core instrumentation resources
by procuring new equipment and upgrading of existing facilities; to
provide access and exposure to students to research laboratories and
industries in the country; to help in devising standard curricula and
standard operating procedures (SOPs)/kits for practicals; and to provide
better library facility to students and teachers.
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