IIT-Madras has become the first IIT in the country to introduce a "Fine Arts and Culture Excellence" quota in admissions to undergraduate programmes, according to Director V Kamakoti.

The Fine Arts and Culture Excellence (FACE) quota will be introduced from the 2025-26 academic session.

Its objective is to reward and encourage students who have achieved excellence in fine arts and culture, Kamakoti said.

IIT-Madras was also the first IIT to introduce a sports quota for undergraduate admissions from the 2024-25 academic session.

Kamakoti said two seats per programme will be allotted in all BTech and BS courses of IIT-Madras under this scheme. Of the two seats, one will be reserved for women and the other will be gender neutral.

"IIT-Madras will be offering seats in each of its undergraduate programmes through FACE admissions by creating two supernumerary seats per programme for 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 admission," he said.

Interested candidates are required to apply through the IIT-Madras/FACE admission portal for consideration for admission under the quota.

"The admission process through FACE would not be through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) portal but on a separate portal maintained by IIT-Madras where other IITs interested in offering seats through FACE may also participate. For the academic year 2025-2026, only IIT-Madras is offering seats through Fine Arts and Culture Excellence admission," Kamakoti said.

"A score will be assigned to each candidate based on their Fine Arts and Culture Excellence, as per the category. A separate FACE Rank List (FRL) will be prepared based on the total score obtained by the candidates based on their performance in various fine arts and culture events or awards or scholarships," he added.

According to the eligibility criteria, the candidate should have qualified JEE (Advanced) - 2025 and obtained a position in the Common Rank List (CRL) or category-wise rank list.

"The position in the rank list may be in any of the categories for which rank lists are prepared, ensuring that the benefits of reservations are not lost and the requisite academic requirement is not diluted. The candidate should have obtained the minimum required marks in Class 12 as per the eligibility criteria for IITs," Kamakoti said.

"Candidates should have received recognition in at least one of the select categories in recognition of their excellence in fine arts and cultural activities," he added.

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