From the coming academic session (July/ August 2025) onward, IIT Madras will offer two supernumerary – or additional – seats in every undergraduate program to applicants who have “achieved excellence in fine arts and culture”. This will be the first time any IIT will offer admission on this basis.
IIT-M created two seats in each undergraduate course in the academic session that began this year for students who excelled in sports. These “sports excellence admissions” were also a first at an IIT – and IIT-M now has five students who were admitted under this category.
Why has IIT-M introduced these supernumerary quotas, and who qualifies for admission to such seats?
From the 2025-26 academic session onward, IIT-M will have two supernumerary seats in each undergraduate program reserved for those who excel in fine arts and culture.
One of these seats will be for a woman candidate; the other seat will be open to all genders.
According to Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, the objective is to bring aspects of creativity to the forefront. Students who excel in these fields can bring in new facets and concepts to what they learn. These students will also increase diversity on campus, he said.
The candidate needs to have both the general competence to qualify in the IIT entrance examination, as well as exceptional talent in the fine arts.
The candidate needs to have qualified in JEE (Advanced), and be in the common rank list, or in one of the category-wise rank lists (SC/ST/OBC/PWD). The candidate also needs to have obtained the minimum required marks in Class 12 as per the eligibility criteria for IITs.
Additionally, the candidate needs to have received recognition in at least one of nine laid-down categories. These include:
Candidates can apply on the portal https://jeeadv.iitm.ac.in/face, and an ‘excellence’ score will be assigned to each candidate.
For instance, candidates who have received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, the National Bal Shree Honour, the National Youth Award, or the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar will be given 100 points; artists who have been empanelled to perform in Indian festivals abroad, have an active B-grade or above certification from AIR/ DD during the past six years, have received the Ministry of Culture scholarship, or have been awarded in stage 4 of the National Youth Festival Competition, will receive 75 points; and those who have received the Cultural Talent Search Scholarship will get 50 points.
Based on this, a score and a rank list for these candidates will be generated, and seats will be allotted accordingly.
The opening of the application portal will be synchronised with the declaration of the JEE (Advanced) result. It is likely to open on June 2, 2025, and is likely to close on June 8.
Documents will be verified from June 9 to 12, and a list of eligible and ineligible candidates, along with their scores, is likely to be announced on June 13.
Round one of provisional seat allotments are likely by June 14. A candidate who is allotted a seat will have to pay the seat acceptance fee. If the candidate rejects the seat, they will be removed from the process.
In addition to being in the common rank list or category-wise rank list in JEE (Advanced), the candidate needed to have obtained at least one medal in national- or international-level competitions in the past four years.
Points were allotted to the candidate based on whether it was a national or international competition, and what medal they had won. Seats were allotted in accordance with the sports rank list thus prepared.
Prof Kamakoti said that the institute received around 120 applications under this category for the current academic session, and five students obtained admission. These students belong to different parts of the country, and play tennis, squash, swimming, and chess, he said.