- IIT Madras claims to be the first IIT in the country to introduce admissions for sportspersons in its undergraduate programmes.
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) will start the ‘Sports Excellence Admission’ (SEA) from this academic year 2024-2025. The institute, in a statement announced, will offer two supernumerary seats. Of these, one will be exclusively for female students, in each of its undergraduate programmes for Indians.
IIT Madras claims to be the first IIT in the country to introduce admissions for sportspersons in its undergraduate programmes. This program aims to further encourage deserving students to pursue higher education while continuing to excel in their sports.
The admission process through SEA will require a student to qualify JEE (Advanced). However, the admission will not be through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) portal but through a separate portal operated by IIT Madras, which was launched on June 11, 2024.
Welcoming sportspersons to apply through the SEA, Prof V Kamakoti, director, IIT Madras, said, “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.”
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.
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. The seat allotment will be done based on this list.
IIT Madras has added many sports-related electives and has state-of-the-art sports infrastructure besides research facilities. This includes 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.
