IIT Madras Opens its Doors to Nurturing Fine Arts

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has announced the launch of a Fine Arts and Culture Excellence (FACE) admission initiative starting from the 2025-26 academic year. This follows its earlier step of admitting sportspeople of repute, further diversifying its student pool by recognizing talent in fine arts and cultural pursuits. 

Under the FACE program, two supernumerary seats per undergraduate BTech and BS programs will be reserved. Out of these, one seat will be gender-neutral, while the other will be exclusively for female candidates. The initiative is open to both Indian nationals and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)/Person of Indian Origin (PIO) candidates who are treated on par with Indian nationals during the JEE (Advanced) 2025 registration.

IIT-Madras Director, V Kamakoti, expressed the institute’s vision, stating, *“IIT-Madras is embarking on a new journey to admit students to her much-coveted undergraduate programmes in recognition of their excellence in fine arts and culture.”* 

To be eligible for FACE admissions, candidates must: 

- Qualify in JEE (Advanced) 2025 with a rank in either the common rank list or a category-wise rank list. 

- Fulfill the standard IIT eligibility criteria, including minimum marks in Class XII. 

Unlike regular admissions conducted through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) portal, FACE admissions will occur via a separate portal managed by IIT-Madras. The announcement also hinted that other IITs considering similar programs might join the FACE initiative through the same portal. 

This initiative underscores IIT-Madras's commitment to fostering a holistic and inclusive learning environment by celebrating students' excellence beyond academics.