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JEE Advanced is the gateway for entry into core engineering and some BS courses in IITs where primarily PCM students are eligible. However, many students are unaware that there are other Undergrad programs as well (including a B.Tech in Computer Science at IIIT Hyderabad) where even Commerce & Humanities students are eligible. And admission to these is through entrance exams other than JEE Advanced.

Program 1 : Integrated MA in Development Studies / English Studies

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) conducts Humanities and Social Sciences Entrance Examination (HSEE-IIT-Madras) usually in April and offers a 5-Year Intergrated M.A. in following two streams for students after Class XII. Non-science students are eligible.

a) Development Studies (23 seats) and

b) English Studies (23 seats)

The programme has been offered since 2006-07. 

The first two years of the curriculum are common to all students after which, they branch out into the two streams. Allocation of streams will be based on students' performance during the first three semesters as well as their preferences.

Development Studies : This stream addresses questions of "order and change" in a globalizing world and aims to explore available approaches to fostering development, understood broadly as the goal of providing people the freedom to make their lives better.

English Studies : The English Studies stream has been designed for students with sensitivity for literary and linguistic analyses.

Distinctive Features of the Program :

1) A very distinctive feature of the programme is the involvement of the Engineering, Sciences and Management faculties in offering innovative courses in collaboration with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

2) The programme imparts substantial knowledge of Indian economy, literature, philosophy, culture, society, and public policy. It provides opportunities for learning a foreign language. Currently German, French and Chinese are offered.

Program 2 : Bachelor of Design

IIT Mumbai conducts UCEED entrance exam (usually in the month of Jan) for admission to 4 year B.Design program in which non-science students are eligible.

Industrial Design Centre (IDC) of IIT Mumbai has been conducting M.Des and Ph.D programs. From 2015, it started a 4 year B.Des program. In addition to IDC of IIT Bombay, UCEED qualified candidates are eligible for admission to B.Des. programme at IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad and IIITDM Jabalpur (PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Deemeed to be university, under Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India ).

i) Candidates from the Science Stream with Physics, Chemistry and Maths as subjects are eligible to apply to all the four institutes.

ii) Candidates from any other stream (Science without Maths or Physics or Chemistry, Commerce, and Arts & Humanities) are eligible to apply to only IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad and IIITDM Jabalpur.

Program 3 : B.Tech in Computer Science & MS in Computing & Human Sciences (CHD)

IIIT Hyderabad conducts UGEE-IIITH entrance exam and offers this 5 year Dual Degree B.Tech in Computer Science & MS in Computing & Human Sciences (CHD) in which Humanities students with Maths elective are eligible.

This program aims to produce a new type of student - equally well trained in computer and social sciences - who can bridge the divide between technology and the human sciences.

The main objective of the course is to build social science and humanities graduates who are proficient in computer sciences, with cross-disciplinary research capabilities which compare with the best in the world. This will be achieved by training students in the rigorous methods and deep understanding of the human sciences, while at the same time equipping them with state-of-the-art computer science knowledge.

This is an update of the blog that was first published in Aug 2017

About the Author : Tarun is the Co-Founder at Opasis. He can be reached at tarun@opasis.com

Keywords : IIIT, IIT, JEE Advanced, UCEED, Computing & Human Sciences CHD, B.Design, IT & Social Science, Entrance Exam, Form dates