The IISER Kolkata Alumni Association’s Short Summer Courses (SSC) programme fills gaps in traditional science education by bringing together Indian university students and early-career researchers from around the world. Starting this July 2025, SSC hopes to promote academic innovation and democratise scientific knowledge throughout India by offering engaging, state-of-the-art courses.
Traditional curricula in most Indian universities often lack the exposure to the latest developments in scientific research. As a result, many students remain confined within the rigid and often outdated coursework structures, never receiving the opportunity to engage with real-world scientific problems or the state-of-the-art techniques driving global innovation.
To address this crucial gap, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata Alumni Association has launched a unique initiative: Short Summer Courses (SSC), to be held in July this year (2025). This programme offers a platform for Indian early career researchers — currently conducting cutting-edge research in reputed laboratories around the world — to share their knowledge with young university students in India through intensive, short term courses.
This innovative programme, currently in its pilot phase, aims to bridge the long-standing gap between academic learning and scientific research that prevails across much of India’s higher education landscape.
Scope of the programme:
The courses offered in the SSC programme are mainly designed for Bachelors’ and Masters’ students in STEM disciplines. However, some courses might even be attractive for doctoral students working in a related field. Currently for the summer session in 2025, there are nine available courses across diverse scientific disciplines:
From research lab to clinical market: Building DeepTech in Health, Biotech and AI (in collaboration with Neurobit Inc.)
Physics inspired introduction to Lie groups and Lie algebras
Comparative cognition and behavior in companion animals: theory to application
It is worthwhile to mention that the first course, viz. “From research to clinical market”, is a unique one, owing to its goal of providing ample exposure to students on navigating from an academic research environment to the industrial-sectors that are driven by scientific research.
Further details on the courses can be found here.
A two-way street of growth:
By design, the SSC programme is bi-directionally beneficial, inducing growth for both the students as well as the course instructors. For students, it provides access to advanced knowledge and an opportunity to interact with young experts in the field, at a nominal cost. On the other hand, the course instructors benefit from gaining teaching experience (beneficial for obtaining a faculty position in academic institutions), clarifying their own concepts through teaching and also some monetary support.
Building the ecosystem:
India has the world’s largest youth population and an enormous research potential. By harnessing the expertise provided by early career researchers, and the enthusiasm of young students, programmes like the SSC can usher in a new era in Indian science. However, scaling the SSC programme and laying a solid foundation requires support from the Indian scientific community. Thus, it is an open call to students and teachers alike, to join us in building an educational system that democratises access to modern scientific knowledge and initiates a paradigm shift in the Indian academic framework.
For more information, write to ikaashortcourses@gmail.com