29th Annual Report (2016-17)

13 Somak Raychaudhury Director (May 23, 2017) colleges and universities to introduce the community to these new opportunities. An excellent team at IUCAA is also building SUIT, a payload for ultraviolet imaging that will be one of themajor instruments aboard ISRO'sAditya-L1mission to study the Sun. IUCAA is committed to support the teaching of Astrophysics at Colleges and Universities in India. The past year saw several Universities taking the opportunity of the new choice-based system of courses, being encouraged by the UGC, to initiate introductory Astrophysics courses at the undergraduate level in Physics and Science departments of Universities. The teaching ofAstrophysics at the Masters level continues to flourish.We will continue to support the design and implementation of such tailor-made teaching activities in Astrophysics at any HE institution in India, and in the process help students get trained for the immense opportunities in Astrophysics opening up in the country. IUCAA has been at the forefront of fundamental research, and the development of teaching pedagogy, in almost all branches of Astrophysics, Cosmology and Theoretical Physics at the national and international level, for three decades. The world-leading research at IUCAA, and at Indian Universities through the network of IUCAAassociates, owes a great deal to the hard-working and talented staff (both core and contractual) working at our institution. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to every one of them, and to our mentors, our Governing Board with Dr. Srikumar Banerjee as Chair, and our Governing Council, with Dr. Ved Prakash (and now Dr. V S Chauhan) as Chair.We sincerely acknowledge the help, advice and support from the University Grants Commission and its officers and staff.