The Indian Institute Technology (IIT), Madras will create two supernumerary seats in each undergraduate course for students who have excelled in national and international olympiads, Director V Kamakoti announced on Monday.
The seats will be offered from 2025-26 academic session and one of the seats will be exclusively for girls.
Olympiads are competitive examinations that assess and challenge students in various academic subjects and skills.
According to Kamakoti, called "Science Olympiad Excellence" (ScOpE), the admissions under the category will be outside the JEE (Advanced) Framework with the students to be admitted from the academic year 2025-2026.
"Similar to admissions through Sports Excellence Admissions and Fine Arts and Culture Excellence modes, ScOpE will also have two supernumerary seats per programme of which one seat will be exclusively for women students.
"The eligibility criteria such as the passing of Class 12 and age, among other criteria, remain exactly the same as that of JEE (Advanced) for the respective year. The candidate also should not have been admitted to an IIT in the previous years," he said.
The applications will be open for the first batch from June 3, 2025.
The allotment of seats under this scheme will be based on the ScOpE Rank List (SRL), which will be based on the performance and achievements of the candidates in five Olympiads (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Informatics, and Biology).
"The world's grandest puzzles aren't solved by memorizing textbooks, but by those who dare to dismantle them, piece by piece, and create new wonders for the future generations. With this vision, we will be offering admission to our coveted undergraduate programmes for candidates with demonstrated excellence in science Olympiads," Kamakoti said.
"To those who've proven their brilliance on the international stage of science Olympiads, we don't just offer admission; we offer a sanctuary where their insatiable curiosity will find its most fertile ground amongst the blissful IITM flora and fauna," he added.
The admission process through SCOPE would not be through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) portal but on a separate portal maintained by IIT Madras. PTI GJS HIG
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