CHENNAI: In a first, the IIT-Madras has introduced a ‘Fine Arts and Culture Excellence’ (FACE) admission quota for undergraduate programmes for the academic year 2025 -26. IIT Madras is the first IIT in the country to introduce such a quota, said Director V Kamakoti. A year ago, the institute had also introduced a sports quota in admissions.
The objective of FACE admission is to reward and encourage students who have achieved excellence in fine arts and culture. Two seats per programme will be allotted in all BTech and BS programmes under this quota, of which one seat will be female-only while the other will be gender-neutral, the director said.
The institute will devise two supernumerary seats for the programme. Indian Nationals and Overseas Citizens Of India / Persons of Indian Origin (OCI/PIO) candidates, who have chosen to be treated at par with Indian nationals at the time of JEE (Advanced) 2025 registration will be eligible for FACE admissions.
Candidates must qualify under JEE (Advanced) 2025, having obtained a rank on the common rank list or category-wise rank list, and meet the standard IIT eligibility criteria, including minimum marks in Class 12 to be eligible. They must showcase achievements in specific fine arts and cultural events recognised by the Government of India, such as the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (under Arts and Culture), National Youth Award (under Arts and Culture), or Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, he added.
Certifications from the All India Radio, Doordarshan or scholarships under the Ministry of Culture are also considered. In case a candidate rejects the seat, the person will be removed from the FACE allotment process permanently.
The admission for FACE will not be done through the usual Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) portal but through a seprate portal, https://jeeadv.iitm.ac.in/face by IIT Madras, where other IITs interested in offering seats through FACE may also participate. However, for the academic year 2025-26, only IIT Madras is offering seats through FACE quota.