IUCAA (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics) - NCRA (National Centre for Radio Astrophysics) Admission Test – INAT for admission in Ph D is conducted to select candidates for research scholarship (to join Ph.D. Programme) either at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, or National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCRA – TIFR), Pune.

INAT is usually held in December every year.

Eligibility:

One who expects to complete the M.Sc., Integrated M.Sc. or B.E./B.Tech./M.E./M.Tech degrees by August with 55% marks or more can apply for the program.

In addition, talented final-year B.Sc., 1st year M.Sc., 4th year Integrated M.Sc. and 2nd/3rd year B.E./B.Tech students may also apply to be Pre-Selected for a research scholarship towards a Ph.D. at IUCAA for Physics, or Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Students in any branch of the B.E., B.Tech., M.E. or M.Tech degrees, or in the Physics, Electronics, Astronomy or Applied Mathematics branches of the B.Sc. or M.Sc. degrees, are also eligible to apply.

Students who have already completed any of the above degrees are also eligible.

Selection Procedure:
We are looking for highly motivated students with a consistently good academic record. While we strongly encourage students from engineering backgrounds to apply for INAT, we emphasize that we are looking for students who are interested in carrying out doctoral research in Physics, or Astronomy and Astrophysics. We hence expect prospective candidates to have a good understanding of basic Physics.

Based on the applications and referee assessments, a subset of the candidates are short-listed and invited to take the written test. Candidates with 55% or more marks in the qualifying examination can also walk-in for the written test by producing a valid photo identification and a copy of their most recent marksheet. The final selection to the research scholarship is based on the results of the written test and two interviews. Note that, the selection through INAT is in addition to the selection through the Joint Entrance Screening Test (JEST).


Nature of the Written Test:
The test is of 2 hours duration.
The question paper has two parts, A and B.
Part A contains twenty objective-type questions on basic Mathematics, Physics and Electronics.
Part B contains another twenty objective-type questions from advanced Physics, Mathematics and Electronics/Engineering.
For each question, candidates have to identify and mark the correct answer from the given four answers.
For a correct answer, there the candidate is awarded +3 (plus three) marks, and for a wrong answer, there will be -1 (minus one) mark.
Based on the performance in the written test, a limited number of candidates are invited for two interviews, which is usually conducted on the same day of the written test and/or on the next day. The final selection is based on the scores in the written test and interviews.
Selected candidates are expected to join in August (except for pre-selected candidates), after satisfactory completion of their qualifying examination.