India

To start nuclear research in India, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, was inaugurated in December 1945. The Atomic Energy Act was passed in April 1948 and to exploit the nuclear energy for the nation, the Atomic Energy Commission was constituted in August 1948. The Atomic Energy Commission started the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954. All scientists and engineers engaged in the fields of reactor design and development, instrumentation, metallurgy and material science, etc. were transferred along with their respective programme from TIFR to AEET to become an integral part of the newly created AEET. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was created in August 1954. After the death of H. Bhabha, AEET was renamed as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in January 1967. No university in the country conducted any academic programme in nuclear engineering and science at the time the nuclear energy programme was started in India. In order to meet the manpower requirement for the atomic energy programme, AEET Training School (now called BARC Training School) was set up to train and recruit engineering and science graduates in to the DAE. Right from its inception in 1957, the Training School (TS) programme is of one year duration and continues to be the primary channel for recruiting engineers and scientists in DAE. However, though the TS continues to admit engineering graduates, the requirement for admission to the TS for science students is a post-graduate degree. Also, the TS programme is now called the Orientation Course for Engineering Graduates and Science Post Graduates (OCES) and has been expanded by opening the training schools at various locations for imparting specialized training in chosen areas of interest to DAE. The TS prepares the engineering and science student for the tasks of DAE but, till recently, it was not recognized with the award of any degree. The employees in DAE units used to register with universities for improving their qualification. A large number of engineers and scientists even got recognition as PhD graduates from different universities. In order to utilize fully its academic and technological strengths, in 2005, DAE established the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), a deemed to be university. The academic programmes of HBNI commenced from 2006. The focus of HBNI is on the post graduate and doctoral programmes. In particular the OCES programme of the BARC TS is now recognized for the award of Master of Technology (MTech) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degrees of HBNI. Apart from the nuclear education programme of DAE outlined above, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur also conducts MTech programme in nuclear engineering and technology. The status of university education in nuclear science and engineering in India otherwise remained the same till now as it was at the time the atomic energy programme was started. With the opening up of the Indian atomic energy programme to global cooperation and expectation of its large scale expansion, the Indian universities and academic institutions have only now started venturing in to the arena of nuclear education