IIT Madras launches UDYOG finishing school for biotech graduates: how it works and who can apply

There are three stages.

1. Online learning for three months. The first stage is delivered through the institute's Centre for Outreach and Digital Education, known as CODE. It has lectures from industry experts and demonstration videos of industrial practices.
2. Hands-on training for four weeks. Students who complete the online stage are considered for selection to an intensive programme at the IIT Madras Biofoundry. They work on laboratory processes and biomanufacturing workflows, with pilot-scale exposure, which means seeing how a process behaves at a size between a bench experiment and a factory.
3. Industry engagement. Shortlisted candidates can meet industry partners and go for interviews for longer internships.

The programme's components, as described in the institute's announcement, are online courses, laboratory training, pilot-scale exposure and internship opportunities.

Who can apply

UDYOG is open to students in the pre-final and final year of a BTech, MTech or MSc degree in biotechnology and allied disciplines. They do not have to come from IIT Madras: students from any college or institute in India are eligible. Entry to the second stage depends on completing the first, and shortlisted candidates can pursue longer internships with the companies they meet. Biomanufacturing means making medicines, enzymes, food ingredients and other products with living cells, and a biofoundry is a facility where such systems can be designed, built and tested quickly with automated equipment. A finishing school is a short programme taken towards the end of a degree to teach the job skills that the degree itself may not cover.

The early-bird registration closes on 15 December 2026. Applicants submit an expression of interest through the CODE portal of IIT Madras, at code.iitm.ac.in/iitm-ticel-biofoundry-finishing-school. The announcement does not yet list fees, the number of seats or the partner companies, and applicants should check the portal for them.

Biomanufacturing is the production of medicines, enzymes, food ingredients and other products using living cells or biological systems, and a biofoundry is a facility where such systems can be designed, built and tested quickly with automated equipment. A finishing school is a short programme taken after or toward the end of a degree to teach job skills that the degree itself does not cover.

Speaking at the launch, Kamakoti described UDYOG as "yet another effort taken by IIT Madras" to make science and engineering students relevant to the world they will work in. He said every discipline of science and engineering must engage with new technologies with care, and he stressed the link between academia and industry.

For a student in the final year now, the sums are simple. The online stage runs for three months from 18 January, so it would end around mid-April, with the four-week lab stage to follow for those selected. That fits the period between graduation exams and the start of jobs or further study, which is the window a finishing school is designed for.

The faculty, students, researchers and industry representatives who attended the launch on campus will now watch for how many applicants come forward, and which companies sign up to take interns.