IIT Madras begins admitting students under sports quota

Chennai: In a first, the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) will begin admitting students in undergraduate (UG) courses under the Sports quota from the 2024-2025 academic year. The first IIT in the country to recognise and reward talented students who have excelled in sports, the institute will accept applications for two seats in each department with one for female students.

The admission process through Sports Excellence Admission (SPA) will require a student to qualify JEE (Advanced) but would not be through Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) portal rather through a separate portal operated by IIT-M, which was launched on June 11.

“Sports not only teaches youth to maintain good health and disciplined life but also the mental maturity to handle success and failures, and how to transform failures to success with perseverance and hard work. Sports quota will ensure the presence of youth with these qualities in our campus who will be role models for other children,” IIT-M Director Prof V Kamakoti said.

Candidates who have secured a position in the Common Rank List (CRL) or category-wise rank list in the JEE (Advanced) 2024, and have won at least one medal in any national/international-level sports competition in the last four years are encouraged to apply, the institute said.

A separate ‘Sports Rank List’ (SRL) will be prepared based on the total score obtained by the candidates based on their performance in a specific list of sports and the seat allotment will be done based on this list.

IIT-M has added many sports-related electives and has state-of-the-art sports infrastructure besides research facilities, including the Center of Excellence in Sports Science and Analytics (CESSA), which delivers high quality Sports science and education courses. It is also developing sports coaching products targeted at students and coaches through various strategic collaborations.