With GATE Scores, Candidates Can Apply For PhD Fellowships At IITs, IISc

IIT Bombay has announced the result of GATE 2021 at its official website, gate.iitb.ac.in, on March 19. The exam is held primarily for admission to MTech programmes and selection for PSU jobs, but direct entry to PhD with the PMRF in top engineering colleges is also via the GATE.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has announced the result of the Graduate Aptitude Test For Engineering (GATE 2021) at its official website, gate.iitb.ac.in, on March 19. A total of 1,26,813 candidates have qualified the test this year. The exam is held primarily for admission to MTech programmes and selection for PSU jobs, but direct entry to PhD with the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowships (PMRF) in top engineering colleges is also via the GATE. The candidate should have completed or be in the final year of a Bachelors or Masters degree programme in science and technology at recognised institute or university in India with CGPA of 8 or above and should have attained a GATE score of 650 or above in the relevant subject in the previous three years. GATE 2021 was conducted in 27 subjects. However, if the candidate obtained their degree from a CFTI, a GATE score is not necessary. The candidate should have qualified GATE and completed or be pursuing MTech or MS by research at one of the PMRF-granting institutes and must have a minimum CGPA of 8 or above at the end of the first semester with a minimum of four courses. Institutes offering PMRF include all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, all Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and a section of the other centrally-funded technical institutions. In May 2020, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' had announced significant amendments in the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme. Two channels of entry to the PhD and fellowship programme were created -- direct and lateral. One requires the candidate to have qualified GATE, the other doesn’t. The eligibility criteria for the two paths into PhD with PMRF at the IITs, IISc, IISERs and other CFTIs are given below.