Draft report of

11.4.2 Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA)
This Centre was established in 1988, as an autonomous centre of excellence to help initiate, nurture and grow teaching, research and development activities in Astronomy and Astrophysics in the University sector. Besides conducting a vigorous research program of its own, IUCAA was expected to function as a field station and resource centre in the fields of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and provide general guidance and help for Astronomy and Astrophysics activities in India and neighbouring countries.
A 2 m telescope and an observatory has been set-up at Girawali recently and opened for observations in May 2006. An intensive training program for researchers and students who wish to use the observatory is being planned in January 2007. The Observatory will generate new observational culture in universities/colleges and will give a boost to Astronomy.
The Instrumentation laboratory at the Centre has been used to design and fabricate next generation instruments and control systems for the observatory as well as providing technical support for its operation and maintenance. In addition, the Laboratory has helped universities to make small telescopes. The know-how for a fully automated 0.35 m. telescope, developed at IUCAA was passed on to groups from two universities, namely, Bangalore and Bhavnagar.
A virtual Observatory has been set up in collaboration between IUCAA and Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd. (PSPL), Pune, which will allow storage of vast quantities of astronomical data from various observatories. This project has been funded by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and PSPL.
Radio physics laboratory has been set up to create awareness among the science/ engineering students and teachers in the university about Radio Astronomy, and to develop and promote both technical and cooperative project skills using the medium of radio telescopes and laboratory experiments as vehicle. A 2.5 m. size MIT radio telescope was purchased, for which installation work is in progress.