M.S. (Research) Programme

The Industrial Engineering and Operations Research group under the Department of Mechanical Engineering offers a M.S. (Research) degree. The M.S. (Research) programme is a special research-oriented Masters programme offered to students who are interested in exploring in-depth research problems in any area of IEOR. The emphasis is on conducting original research and writing a thesis of publishable quality. Interested students who have demonstrated excellence in their academic performance and research potential may convert to the Ph.D. programme.

The M.S.(R) programme comprises of 15 credits of the course work and 36 credits of the research work. The curriculum involves electives and a research project (M.S.(R) thesis). The larger research component gives the student an opportunity to conduct in-depth investigation on a topic of his/her interest. Upon completion of project work, a thesis is written that is evaluated by one internal and one external examiner. Upon satisfactory recommendations from the examiners, the thesis defense can be conducted before a committee. Through the research work, the student is expected to exhibit the ability to think independently and make significant contributions in the field of IEOR. Nominally the M.S.(R) programme is expected to take 4 semesters (excluding summer) for full time students and 6 semesters for part time students.

The emphasis is on conducting original research and writing a thesis of publishable quality. Students are provided laboratory and infrastructure facilities similar to that of Ph.D. scholars. Since the programme is a research programme, the candidates are typically expected to be superior in training and academic performance to students admitted to the M.Tech programme.

The main differences with the M.Tech programme are:

1. The M.S.(R) programme has 36-15 ratio of credits for research to credits of course work versus a 20-40 ratio in the M.Tech programme.
2. There are no fixed core courses. Instead each individual student is advised on courses to take based on their research interests and background.
3. Full-time students are expected to identify their thesis advisor by the end of their first semester, and begin research in the second semester.

More details can be found on the IIT Delhi Curriculum Information page.