IIIT Admissions 2020 - Problems Due To COVID-19

Summary Of Events

IIITH has decided to conduct the UGEE, SPEC, LEEE, and PGEE examinations on the 24 of June 2020, after the examination was postponed from its scheduled date on the 26th of April due to the pandemic. This has led to a large number of complaints from parents and students alike, as several places in the country are still under restricted access up to at least June 30th. The institute admissions office has in response decided to stick to the date but said that they would help the students in the zones to acquire an e-pass.

Modes Of Admissions And Original Dates

The UGEE, SPEC, PGEE, and the LEEE exams were supposed to be conducted on the 26th of April. However, because of the pandemic, they have been postponed to the 24th of June, a delay of almost two months. Initially, the interview process was to be completed in the first week of June but, as of right now, there are no fixed dates given to the students. If the exam is to be conducted on the 24th of June, it would be the first major engineering exam that would be conducted after the lockdown was announced in the country. 

The JEE Main – II and the JEE Advanced have been postponed to further dates because of the pandemic. JEE is one of the modes of admission for the single degree courses into IIIT, and since the JEE Main – I was conducted in January, the admission portal was opened on the 5th of June. However, there is no deadline for applying since Main – II hasn’t been conducted yet. Other colleges in India which use the JEE scores for admission use the JoSAA for the counselling – which is yet to open. JoSAA was supposed to start in June, after the release of the JEE Advanced Rank Lists. However, the delay of Main – II(postponed to 12-23 July) and subsequently JEE Advanced (postponed to 23 August) means that JoSAA would now happen after the completion of the JEE Advanced examination.

Other modes of admission include the Olympiads and the DASA quota. In contrast with the rest of the country, the DASA mode of admission has had no delays in the admission process and the first 2 rounds have been completed. The 3rd round of counselling is set to happen on the 25th of June. Engineering colleges like NITs and IIITs also have the DASA mode of admission; however, they have delayed their admission process and will commence only after the SAT subject tests which are to be held on the 29th of August.

The Olympiad/KVPY mode is relatively issue-free as the eligible candidates can apply online based on their Olympiad and KVPY scores. The last date for applying was the 15th of May. Just like the other interviews, the new dates have not been announced.

Parents’ And Students’ Complaints

There was a multitude of complaints when the college announced that the UGEE examination was to be conducted on the 24th of June. These complaints were because of the extended lockdown in places where the impact of the virus was extreme. Parents and candidates were worried because to reach the exam centre they had to travel in/out of containment zones. There were several mails written to the Admissions Office by these affected individuals and the Apex committee of IIITH.

Recently, the Tamil Nadu government announced that from the 19th of June, the state would be in a complete lockdown. This also led to further complaints which are currently under consideration. Further, students were not allowed to change their exam centres once the admit cards were released(15th June) though the option was available for a brief period as per an Apex representative. The IIITH Counselling Forum Group on Facebook saw multiple students asking the college to reconsider the date as the UGEE was an important examination and appearing for the examination could increase the chances of contracting the disease. 

Institute’s Response

An Apex Member shared an official response from the institute regarding the aforementioned concerns on the counselling forum. The institute was clear that they were not in a position to postpone the exam. The mail mentioned that the TCS iON would help in conducting the exams(responsible for conducting the exams by NTA and other major examinations). It claimed that the TCS staff were experienced in ensuring the maintenance of safety procedures. The mail also alluded to the fact the AIIMS PG exam was conducted successfully on the 11th of June which had more than 40,000 candidates.
The institute recognized that travel during the lockdown would be difficult and said they would help such candidates in acquiring e-pass so that they could reach the exam centre. 

On the 19th of June, the institute sent an official permission letter to the applicants so that they could obtain an e-pass for travel in and out of containment zones.