BANGALORE: Officials of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) have inspected over 200 acres of land here for setting up a new campus. However, they have not taken a decision.

"We have seen a location but are not too sure whether it has sufficient water reserves to meet our requirement," IISc. Director P. Balaram said. A team of experts will submit a report in a few months.

Mr. Balaram said the IISc. will look at more locations. "We want to find a location that is not too far off, so that students and faculty can easily access the new campus."

For the past six months, the IISc. has been holding talks with the Government on land for the new campus. Its campus is spread over 443 acres and has 40 departments that offer postgraduate and doctoral courses.

On whether an undergraduate programme will be launched from the new campus, as suggested by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Mr. Balaram said the issue will be decided after the location has been finalised by the team. "The governing council will decide on the issue later," he adds.

Agreement

Mr. Balaram ruled out the possibility of setting up a campus in Mysore.

He said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that the IISc. and the University of Mysore will sign shortly is on exchange of knowledge and research. It will allow for short-term teaching programmes, joint degree and research programmes and exchange of students.

"We signed an MoU with Karolinska University, Stockholm, recently but no one has said we are moving to Mysore. So, why do people suddenly presume we are moving there," he asked. "Mysore is three hours from Bangalore. It will be very difficult for us to control a campus from here. We can only do collaborative work."

Sharing facilities

Mysore University Vice-Chancellor J. Shashidar Prasad said the MoU with IISc. could result in sharing of facilities. "We will probably have some common laboratories."

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