JEE Advanced 2021 Information Brochure Out, Exam And Admission Rules Tweaked

JEE-Advanced 2021: Students who passed JEE Mains in 2020 but were unable to sit for both JEE-Advanced examinations last year owing to Covid-related difficulties would be able to register for the test directly.

While engineering students await notification of the dates for the next Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains rounds, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur released the JEE-Advanced 2021 information brochure this week. While a majority of the regulations haven't changed, the organising institute has adjusted several eligibility and admission rules in light of the pandemic.

For starters, students who passed the JEE Mains in 2020 but were unable to sit for both JEE-Advance examinations last year owing to Covid-related difficulties would be able to register for the JEE-Advanced 2021 exam immediately.

"This is a one-time measure valid only for JEE-Adv 2021. These candidates will be considered in addition to and not as part of the total number of candidates who would qualify from JEE-Mains 2021 for appearing in JEE-Adv 2021," states the information brochure.

To be eligible for JEE-Adv, an applicant had to score 75 per cent or above in their class 12 board examinations till now, but the criterion has been changed this year due to the fact that all school education boards in the country have cancelled class 12 exams this year.

"Candidates should have appeared and cleared their class 12 exams and should be among the top 2.5 lakh successful candidates, including all categories, in JEE-Mains 2021," highlights the brochure.

This year, another adjustment has been made to the female quota seats across all IITs. Unlike the previous three years, when IITs granted a consistent quota of supernumerary seats to female candidates, this quota will vary from institute to institute in 2021-22.

"The number of supernumerary seats in various programs will be decided by individual IITs, ensuring that every institute has at least 20% female enrolment in undergraduate programs."

In 2017, just 9.3 per cent of female students enrolled in IIT B Tech programmes. In 2018, the IIT admissions council decided to introduce supernumerary seats for female students, implying that new seats were created in addition to existing seats, with the addition of 800 (14%) seats across 23 IITs in 2018, 946 (17%) seats across IITs in 2019, and at least 20% of the undergraduate class by 2020.

"This specific change in admission rules has been introduced considering that several IITs have already managed to surpass the 20% quota. So this year, IITs that have managed to admit 20% or more female students in certain programs can reduce the intake for those particular courses, whereas in those where the criteria still have to be met, the intake quota of supernumerary seats can be increased by individual institutes," said a senior professor from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has yet to announce the dates for JEE-Mains, and there is no information in the information booklet about the timetable for JEE-Adv 2021.

"Exam dates will be announced soon," states the information brochure.