M Tech program: Admission to the M Tech program is offered only for the July session.

Ph. D program: Admissions to the PhD program is typically done for the July session. However, a limited number of topic/field specific admissions may be made for the January session as well. 

The admission process starts with filing the online applications at the IISc admissions website. Candidates are shortlisted for interview based on either the scores in one of the national exams or qualification. The detailed eligibility criteria can be found here. The background of students admitted to CeNSE in the past have been mostly from ECE, Physics, Mechanical, Materials disciplines, although there are students pursuing PhD/ MTech at CeNSe whose undergraduate degrees are in areas as diverse as biotechnology or biomedical instrumentation. Shortlisted candidates have to appear for an interview at CeNSE for selection. The interview typically consists of two to three sections, namely math and analytical questions such as plotting functions, basic calculus, differential equations etc, questions related to courses taken during their UG and PG degrees, and questions probing their research aptitude. Admission is based primarily on the performance in the interview and the results are generally announced 2-3 weeks after the interview.

Post Admission M Tech

M Tech students typically spend most of their first year in taking courses. The course structure consists of a combination of core courses offered at CeNSE, and electives which the student may take from any department at IISc. Towards the end of the first semester, the students need to choose an M Tech thesis project which is an indispensible part of the successful completion of the M Tech program. Work related to the thesis starts during the 2nd semester and should result in a well documented report culminating in the award of the M Tech degree.

Post Admission Ph. D

The most important activity after joining the Ph. D program is the selection of your research advisor. At CeNSE we give absolute freedom to choose a research advisor based on the mutual interest of the student and the faculty member. In order to make a well thought out choice of research advisor, you are encouraged to talk to the faculty members whose work interest you and spend some time in their labs and attend the group meetings to get a good idea of what research in the group involves.

Students typically take between 4-8 courses depending on the prior preparation to gain a solid background in their topic of research. They should maintain a minimum CGPA of 7 throughout the course program. A major step towards the completion of a successful PhD is to pass the comprehensive exam which is held before completing two years in the PhD program. The comprehensive exam is evaluated by a committee of examiners from inside and outside the department. The committee evaluates if sufficient progress has been made towards the research goal. The exam also tests your grasp of the material discussed in your course work. After successfully passing the comprehensive exams, students focus on the research problem intensively leading to the successful defense of the PhD thesis typically within 5 years of joining the program.

Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) Scheme 

For details check https://pmrf.in