Small-town students lack awareness, not merit; institutions must help them with scholarships, admissions

By Sameer Saurav

Suppose a BSc student decides in March of her final year that she wants to do an MSc at an Indian Institute of Technology. By then she has already missed her chance. The entrance exam, IIT Joint Admission Test for Masters – IIT JAM – is held in February, and application closes in October. Now, she has to wait a whole year.

I teach undergraduate chemistry at a college affiliated to the Magadh University, Bodh Gaya. I studied at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata and later did my PhD at IIT Kanpur. If there is one thing I have learnt along the way, it is how much a science career depends on dates.

You have to know that an exam or a fellowship exists, and you have to know when the application for it closes. Being good at your subject is not enough if you find out about such opportunities weeks too late.

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Small-town students don’t hear about these

None of the schemes I describe below is a secret. They all have official websites and they all put out notices. But in real life, this kind of information spreads through people, not websites.

In a big city, a student hears about IIT JAM from seniors, friends, coaching-centre teachers who have been through it. In a small town there may be nobody who has taken that road before, and the nearest coaching centre may be hours away. Many students in Bihar also studied in Hindi at school; and most of these notices are written in difficult, official English.

The DST INSPIRE scholarship is a good example. You are eligible if you were in the top 1% of scorers in your Class 12 board exams. Simple enough. But the official FAQ answers explain the cut-off using a “board-wise quota” calculated from the number of valid applications from each board. A bright student from a state board can read that twice and still not be sure if they qualify and so, they never apply.

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So, if you are a science student, or the parent of one, here are four things to put on your calendar, starting with one whose form is open right now. The exact dates change a little each year, but the months stay more or less the same.

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship: Apply by November 30

India's three science academies – the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) – run a summer programme as part of which students spend two months working with a scientist at a research institute. They pay your train fare and give you a monthly amount to live on. Applications for 2027 are open now, and the last date is November 30, 2026.

However, there is a catch with the schedule. BSc students can apply only in their second year, and MSc students only in their first. You also need to maintain an average score of at least 65% in your core subjects, not counting languages, from Class 10 onwards.

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In the form, you have to write 150 to 250 words, in your own words, about what you want to learn. You also have to give the details of one of your present teachers, and the Academy asks that teacher for a recommendation letter. So, speak to your teacher before you fill it in, not on the last day.

JAM exam for an IIT MSc: Start preparing now

The IIT JAM is how you get into MSc and similar programmes at the IITs. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru also uses JAM scores for some of its programmes, including the integrated PhD, as do the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) and some other national institutes. Admission is via a common counselling process called CCMN.

For IIT JAM 2027, applications have closed and the exam is on February 14 .

If you are in your second year now, your turn comes next: the form usually opens in early September and closes in October. You can apply while you are in your final year of BSc and there is no age limit. Different programmes ask for different BSc subjects, so read the brochure carefully before you pick your paper. And please don't wait for your final-year results to start preparing. Start a year before.

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CSIR NET JRF, for a paid PhD

A lot of students think a PhD means five or six years with no money coming in. That is not true if you have a Junior Research Fellowship. If you clear the CSIR-UGC NET exam at the JRF level, you get Rs 37,000 a month for the first two years of your PhD. After a review, this goes up to Rs 42,000.

The exam is held twice a year, and you can take it while you are in the final year of your MSc. The form for the December 2026 exam can still be filled with a late fee until 9 November. If you miss it, keep an eye out for the next one early next year. For the fellowship, the upper age limit is 30 for the general category, with relaxation for reserved categories and women. The number of JRF seats is limited, so you do need to prepare seriously. But it is one of the main ways into a funded PhD in the sciences.

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DST INSPIRE Scholarship in your first year

This one comes from the Department of Science and Technology. It pays Rs 80,000 a year: Rs 5,000 every month, plus Rs 20,000 a year for a summer research project. It can run for up to five years, through BSc and MSc, provided you keep scoring at least 60% every year.

You can apply if you were in the top 1% of your Class 12 board, or had a rank within the top 10,000 in JEE Advanced or NEET, and you have joined a BSc, BS or integrated MSc in a natural science. The important thing, again, is timing. You apply in the same year you finish Class 12. Miss that, and you generally can't apply later.

One caution: fresh calls for this scholarship have not been announced for the last two cycles , so check the official portal regularly rather than assuming the dates of earlier years.

Where to apply:

• Summer Research Fellowship: www.ias.ac.in , www.insaindia.res.in or www.nasi.ac.in
• JAM: the official JAM website of the IIT conducting it that year
• CSIR-UGC NET: csirnet.nta.nic.in
• INSPIRE: www.online-inspire.gov.in

What teachers, colleges, universities can do

None of this needs a new scheme. It needs someone to carry the dates from the official notice to the classroom. A few simple arrangements would go a long way.

Teachers are the first link. Sharing these four deadlines on the class WhatsApp group at the start of the session would already help.

Students also need help with the practical side of a form: a scanned photo and signature, a mark sheet in the right format, a fee paid online. Many give up at exactly that step. And since the summer fellowship needs a recommendation from a teacher familiar with the student's work, it helps if teachers tell their second-year students early that they are willing to write one.

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Colleges can make this somebody's job. One teacher in each science department could be named as the person who keeps track of these opportunities, in the same way someone already looks after exams or NSS. That teacher could put up a one-page calendar on the notice board at the start of every session, in English and the regional language, and hold a short session for new students in their first week. A form-filling day a week before each deadline, in the college computer lab, would help students who don't have a laptop or steady internet at home .

Universities can do what a single college cannot. A university could put out one combined calendar of national exams and fellowships at the start of each session and send it to all its colleges, so that every student hears the same dates at the same time. It could keep a list of its own former students who are now doing an MSc or PhD at an IIT, IISER or central university, and invite them to talk to students, online or in person. Students listen most to someone from their own district. Universities could also invite nearby national institutes for outreach lectures and visits, which many of these institutes already offer.

None of these steps costs much. A one-page note in regional language from a teacher the students trust might do more than all the official notices put together.

The summer fellowship form closes on November 30. I would like more of my second-year students to have filled it in by then.

Sameer Saurav is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at A.N.S. College, Nabinagar, Aurangabad, Bihar. It is affiliated to MU Bodh Gaya.