IIRS Dehradun, A Synopsis

For the higher studies in Remote Sensing & GIS, IIRS (ISRO) is the best institute in India. The personal preference would be Masters over the Diploma course since the Masters programme includes a 14 month project towards the end of the course, in which the researcher gets to work under the guidance of experienced scientists from ISRO. A drawback of the course would be that the syllabus is demanding and the exams are tightly scheduled.

My specialization was in Water Resources. All the faculties are of the rank of scientist in ISRO with most of them completing the PhD from IITs. The faculty : student ratio is approximately 1:1 in the case of project. Each student will have a single dedicated guide. However, the classroom program is not so. The term exams are tightly scheduled with mostly no in-between holidays for the exam days. The syllabus is demanding and 1st semester, which is the basics of remote sensing, image processing and GIS, is the hardest one to get through.

Mostly the institute provides government funded projects in which the students are awarded a scholarship amount of Rs.6000 per month. The funding agency can be any government body from ISRO, National Institute of Hydrology, DDMA, State Governments etc.

The institute has a newly formed placement cell. Placement cell prepares a placement brochure during the last semester of the course, which is published on the website for open access. The private companies that recruit through direct placement are few. However, most students after masters from IIRS prefer to opt for Phd in IITs or abroad.

The total tuition fee is Rs. 1,44,000, which has to be made through a one time payment. An additional payment of Rs. 20,000 has to be made as the Andhra University course registration fee. Each department topper is provided with a Golden Jubilee Scholarship of Rs. 8000 per month based on the CGPA of each semester exams. Apart from this, students can avail a Government funded project Scholarship fee of Rs. 6000 per month if they are enrolled to Gov project. Golden Jubilee Scholarship prevails if one is eligible for both. The combined mess fee and Room rent is around Rs. 4500 (varies each month)

There are no annual tech fest or arts fest. However each national as well as regional festivals are celebrated by the IIRS recreation committee. The Independence day and Republic day are celebrated with parade from CISF, chaired by Director of IIRS. Each year, IIRS academia meet is hosted which stages a quality number of research presentations, group discussions, debates, and nascent technology demonstrations. For most years, IIRS hosts the ISRS (Indian Society of Remote Sensing) National Seminar for Dehradun Chapter, a national conference attended by the best scientists in India in this field. The library is the best in the country for the discipline of Remote Sensing and its applications, with access to all the major journal publishers. However, it lacks good collections of books from other branches. The students community has a separate recreation committee which takes care of the various festival organizations, sports equipment and student level competitions. The mess committee is also run by the students elected each month.

Each student is allotted with single occupancy. All students enrolled for the course are admitted to the hostel. The mess and accommodation fee is around Rs.4500. Mess menu is decided by the mess committee, formed by elected students each month. Generally, 3 to 4 meals of week consists non-veg dishes, which can increase in the decision from the then mess committee. To my knowledge, no one usually opts for a PG outside since the labs hours are extended to 12AM. The facilities includes TT, Board Games, Volleyball Court, Badminton Courts, Swimming Pool and Recreation Areas.

IIRS Admission Procedure (Includes admission test and interview)