Bhubaneswar, June 19: Students of the National Institute of Science Education and Research (Niser) have made it to some of the world's top-ranked universities.

The list includes prestigious institutes such as University of Oxford, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Texas A&M University, University of Michigan, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, University of British Columbia and Rice University among others.

While some of the Niser students have chosen to go overseas to pursue their higher studies, others have opted to continue research in institutes such as Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, National Centre for Biological Sciences and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

"It is a delight to share how well our students have fared and made it to globally renowned institutes for higher learning where they will be carrying out research," said V. Chandrasekhar, the director of Niser.

The institute has so far seen five batches consisting of 500 students pass out with flying colours. The first batch graduated in 2012.

In the previous years, students of the institute had made it to many other renowned varsities all over the world. They include Cornell University in New York, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University in California, Queens University in Ontario, University of Pittsburgh, University of Illinois, Berlin Mathematical School and University of Virginia.

"After completing the five year MSc programme in core and emerging branches of basic science, almost all students opt for research and aim to become scientists ," said Abhishek K, a Niser student.

The convocation for the graduating batch of 130 students was held on June 10, during which eminent researcher and chemical scientist Goverdhan Mehta awarded the degrees.

The new batch of 130 students will join on July 25 and classes for the academic session 2016-17 will begin from July 27. The results of the National Entrance Screening Test (NEST), which is a prerequisite for getting admission in Niser were announced on June 17 and admission counselling will be held in the first fortnight of July. Around 54,000 applications were received this year.