IIT Kharagpur to recognise olympiad, sports medals beyond JEE for admissions: Report

After the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) Kanpur, Madras, Bombay, and others, now IIT Kharagpur is also planning to go beyond the JEE Advanced and admit students to its engineering and science programmes through Olympiad and sports, as per various media reports. Starting from the 2026 session, students will not be required to obtain a rank in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced for BTech and BS admissions, the reports suggested.

By introducing the olympiad and sports quota, the institute reportedly aims to widen its reach to the talent pool from diverse backgrounds. However, JEE Advanced qualification will remain the primary eligibility criterion.

IIT KGP senate has reportedly approved the alternate admission routes including the Sports Excellence Admission (SEA) and Science Olympiad Excellence Admissions (SCOPE). After studying the admission rules of other IITs offering these channels, the institute will form a committee including representatives from all departments to finalise the implementation. It may announce supernumerary seats in its engineering programmes.

In the current academic session, IIT Madras admitted three students under the science olympiad quota. Last year, the institute offered its engineering seats to five students through sports quota. The candidates are national athletes in tennis, volleyball, squash, and water polo. Under the SEA category, students are required to have at least one medal in a national or international competition in the last four years.

IITM is still the only institution to introduce a fine arts and culture quota for undergraduate admissions. Under the Fine Arts and Culture Excellence Admissions (FACE) scheme, nine students have secured BTech seats in the top engineering college.

IIT Kanpur announced BTech, BS admissions through Olympiad last year. Reserved seats in five departments including biological sciences and bioengineering, computer science and engineering, chemistry, economic sciences, and mathematics and statistics will be on offer.