Under its 'Star College' scheme, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has launched a new programme for all the states and union territories in the country under which it will provide undergraduate (UG) education in life sciences to offer young scholars and faculty at UG level an opportunity to excel their career in life sciences and biotechnology.

The programme emphasizes holistic improvement of science education at UG level with special emphasis on practical training. The initiative provides support for improving knowledge and skills of teachers in basic life sciences and specialised techniques; access to specialized infrastructure to students; assurance of consumables, reagents and chemicals for students; substantial hands-on experience in designing and conducting practical biotechnologies and critical thinking; and access to knowledge banks with strong support of books and journals including e-journal facilities.

The programme does not envisage initiating new UG courses in biotechnology but improving practical training in existing life science and allied courses like botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, microbiology, biochemistry, biotechnology, bioinformatics, mathematics, electronics, computer science, etc.

For the colleges to become eligible for this programme, the colleges should be among the top three life science undergraduate programs in the city based on cut off percentage for admission to undergraduate courses in life sciences; result of undergraduate course – pass percentage, percentage of 1st division candidates; and number of faculty with Ph.D.  Private colleges are not eligible for this programme.

The proposals should highlight additional practicals proposed to be introduced in existing courses by all participating departments, student projects (interdisciplinary/interdepartmental), visits to be undertaken by students to national laboratories and industries and faculty improvement programmes, etc. The last date for submission of proposals is 30th June, 2014, but for the remote areas the last date for submission of proposals is 15th July, 2014.

The DBT launched the 'Star College Scheme' for improving critical thinking and 'hands on' experimental work in the cutting edge-technologies needed for modern biological studies at undergraduate (college) level in life sciences.

Major objectives of the scheme are to strengthen the academic and physical infrastructure for achieving excellence in teaching and training; to enhance the quality of the learning and teaching process to stimulate original thinking through ‘hands–on’ exposure to experimental work and participation in summer schools; to promote networking and strengthen ties with neighbouring institutions and other laboratories; to conduct specialised training programmes for faculty improvement for optimising technical capabilities; to increase capabilities of core instrumentation resources by procuring new equipment and upgrading of existing facilities; to provide access and exposure to students to research laboratories and industries in the country; to help in devising standard curricula and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s)/kits for practicals; and to provide better library facility to students and teachers.

The colleges that successfully implement the strategy will be considered as life science 'Star Colleges'.