It's been 9 years. IISER Kolkata has now achieved a substantial ammount and let's see what they are shall we?
Multiple admits to coveted international PhD positions in every batch even in Geological Sciences.
The foremost authority on Cosmology and Gravitational waves in India( for the pessimists out there, I was told so in the IACS Summer School and also at Astronomy Camp this year organised by IAPT)
Ranked 3rd in Chemical and Biological Science research in India. coming after IISc and IISER Pune in Biology and IISc and IACS in Chemistry.
Substantial international presence, with several international professors visiting the campus.
A permanent campus of 250 acres to behold. It is amazing, believe me, even though it is only 50%-60% complete. Though for the people who like to get drunk on weekends and smoke pot whenever they like in the bathrooms of 7 storied malls, I would suggest you stay away. The campus is situated to provide a quiet environment inter-twined with nature.
A nodal center for KVPY, INSPIRE and DST in Northern India. Host of VIJYOSHI.
Old faculty are amazing, the newer ones are just too damn awesome( I've talked to 3 of them in my KVPY SX Interview), I urge you to look through their profiles.
What you can expect in the future(Let's say in the coming 10-15 years?)
Full faculty( i.e 200 faculty members, possibly in 5-6 years)
Possibly equal to or even better than IISc or TIFR at postgraduate levels( because as undergrads the IISc UG and IISER K UG students really don't have a difference in PhD placements or quality of teaching and UG research)
To be in line with the best Institutions and Universities in Asia(Albeit Pune and Mohali are on the same track too! )
To have a complete campus(this should take around 3-4 years since the area is HUGE and even IISc a 400 acre institution, finished it's campus in 2006)
Possibly more awareness among students regarding the functional basis behind IISERs that would cause a downfall of questions comparing IISER and IIT.
Other aspects:
I have been to two other iisers for summer projects. The systems there are much smoother. The bureaucracy is terrible at iiser Kolkata. We have a mango orchard. We have a jungle, litchi trees. There is a tree right outside my window, and a koel songs every morning. None of the other iisers can give you that. We have fields. We have neighbouring institutes who defeat us left and right in volley ball and football. That's how we learn. I doubt NCL or ISB has any reputable sports team.
We value humans here. A faculty member stays awake the whole night just to help her student fill in his commonwealth application. A senior goes and stands silently to ensure that the 'introduction' session never gets too violent. The assistant registrar secretly suggests the sponsorship team to fake bills, because he knows of the various unaccounted expenses during a fest; because he trusts them.
And we learn things which are beyond class room education. What to do if a snake enters your room? How to design a stage on a bare piece of land? How to entertain an audience of the light goes out in the auditorium? How to address a crowd when there is no microphone? We learn how to handle people. In the other iisers, people don't even know the names of people of other batches.
The best part at iiser Kolkata is how freely the batches mix.
Hostel facility
Currently the majority of IISER Kolkata students reside in the NSCB (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose) and ICVS (Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar) halls. They together form one building, having six wings and a canteen. Wings A and B are allotted to girls and the rest are for boys. If you are joining IISER-K, you will most probably reside here, or in a similar hostel that is under construction. (Note: BS-MS freshers might be allotted a different hostel for their first year, or so I've heard.)
The hostel facilities are excellent. Fast Wi-Fi is available in every room. Students have access to washing machines, and few shops are present in the hostel itself (grocery, stationery and xerox, saloon/parlour, etc). The premises are kept reasonably clean. The canteen is managed by the students themselves, and the food quality is okay-ish (better than most messes). There is also a snack shop that stays open throughout the day.
There are volleyball and badminton courts in the courtyards between the various wings. Table tennis and carom boards are present in the common rooms. The hostel also has a gym, but presently it contains only some basic equipment. A football field is located nearby.
Personally, I feel the best feature of the hostel is its airiness. There is a strong breeze in the area on most summer evenings, and the open corridors and the lawns make excellent spots to hang out with friends.
Note: also i am giving industrial exposure 3 stars because as of now there is no such thing called placement here like engineering colleges, thus you have to build yourself on your own. yes you do have the liberty to do projects apart from your studies, either in the institute or any other institute for exposure.
Hope this helps. Good luck
(The following are the excerpts taken from Quora answers from my very own seniors, at least my views overlap completely with them and this is to give credits to them for writing such along answers on Quora. Do follow our community on Quora as there you'll find some nice pictures of our campus as well)
- Infrastructure
- Placements
- Academics
- Campus Life
- Industry Exposure
- Hostel