The National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) gives the choice, to candidates selected for its Ph.D. Scholarship, to join selected institutions for course work, prior to joining an approved institution for research. The procedure to be followed by candidates selected for the NBHM Ph.D. scholarship who desire to enrol for the course work of the IMSc Ph.D. programme is outlined below.
- Candidates should write (by email or post) to the Director, IMSc, requesting permission to follow the IMSc Ph.D. course work, enclosing a copy (scanned version is acceptable) of the offer letter from NBHM. If sending email, please put "Request for NBHM coursework" in the subject line of your email. All such requests should be received by June 1 of the relevant year. (Postal Address: The Director, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, CIT Campus, Taramani, Chennai - 600113. email: director@imsc.res.in)
- On receipt of the acceptance letter from the Director, IMSc, they should communicate their decision to join IMSc, for course work, to the Member-Secretary, NBHM, enclosing a copy of the acceptance letter from IMSc. This will facilitate NBHM transferring their scholarship amount to IMSc, which will disburse the monthly scholarship amount to the candidates. A copy of this letter should also be sent to The Registrar, IMSc, for records. (Address: The Member-Secretary, NBHM, Anushakthi Bhavan, CSM Marg, Mumbai - 400 001.)
- Candidates who have been accepted at IMSc, are expected to report for duty by August 1 of the relevant year. The courses at IMSc commence in the first week of August.
- The course work at IMSc will be distributed over two semesters, August-November and January-April. Candidates are expected to follow these courses seriously and submit all assignments and take examinations, tests etc exactly as do the regular IMSc students. They will be evaluated and the results will be communicated, at the end of the academic year, to NBHM.
- At the end of the course work, these candidates are expected to seek admission to a doctoral programme in an approved institution/university on their own initiative. In exceptional cases, completely at the discretion of the Mathematics Faculty of IMSc, students who perform very well in the course work may be offered admission to the IMSc doctoral school and, in such cases, the completed course work will count towards the requirements for the fulfillment of the conditions of the award of the Ph.D. degree by the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) which awards all doctoral degrees to IMSc students.
- IMSc will provide NBHM candidates all its usual facilities on par with its own doctoral students. However, since accommodation is very limited, IMSc does not guarantee this. In case accommodation is not provided, or if the candidate does not need it, (s)he is entitled to receive HRA as per Government norms (currently 30% of the scholarship amount), in addition to the regular scholarship.