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Admission to PhD Programmes for July 2021 Session

Types/Categories of PhD Students (Studentship)


Only Regular and Full Time category students are eligible for assistantship. For receiving assistantship in PhD programmes in all disciplines, candidates must qualify a national level examination like GATE, CEED, UGC/CSIR NET-JRF.


Regular and Full Time:
  • The candidates under Regular and Full Time Category are those who seek admission to pursue PhD with financial assistantship from the Institute or from external funding agency.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on full time basis.
  • They receive Financial Assistantship/ Scholarship from IIT Guwahati or Fellowship from CSIR/UGC or any other recognized funding agency.
  • The Financial Assistantship/ Scholarship from the Institute or the Fellowship from External funding agency is granted to them as per its governing rules and subject to satisfactory academic progress and satisfactory performance in assigned teaching assistant duty.
  • In order to avail assistantship/ scholarship from the Institute or the fellowship from the respective external funding agency, these candidates must have the following requirements unless they are exempted from these.
    • The candidates with four-year Bachelor’s degree (BE/BTech/ BDes or equivalent) as qualifying degree must have valid and qualifying GATE score (CEED score in case of Department of Design)
    • The candidates with MSc degree as qualifying degree must have valid and qualifying GATE score or valid CSIR-NET(JRF)/ INSPIRE/ NBHM-PhD qualification, etc.
    • The candidates having MA in Humanities and Social Sciences subjects or equivalent must have valid UGC-NET qualification.
  • The requirement of valid GATE/ CEED/ NET/ INSPIRE, etc. is exempted for the candidates with qualifying degree as Bachelor’s (BTech/BDes) degree or Masters’ (MA/MSc) degree from an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) with minimum CPI of 8.0 in a 10-point scale.

Sponsored and Full Time:
  • The candidates under Sponsored and Full Time Category are sponsored (with a study leave of minimum three years) by a recognized R&D organization, academic institution, government organization or industry for doing PhD at IIT Guwahati.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on full time basis.
  • The candidate under this category must be a regular employee of his/her organization with at least 1 (one) year of experience at the time of applying and be engaged in professional work in the discipline in which admission is sought.
  • They should submit Sponsorship Letter in prescribed format (See: Sponsorship Letter Format DOC, PDF) from the employer along with the application. The application without Sponsorship Letter will NOT be considered.
  • The final admission to the candidates under this category is based on the performance in the written test and/ or interview conducted by the concerned academic department/ center, academic credentials of the candidates, etc.
  • The Institute does NOT give any financial assistantship/ fellowship to the students under this category.

Employed and Part Time:
  • The candidates under Employed and Part Time Category are professionally employed persons (including regular employees of IIT Guwahati), who can attend classes and do research work at the Institute while employed. These candidates should be able to attend regular classes as per the schedule of the Institute during the course work.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on part time basis.
  • The candidate under this category must be a regular employee of his/her organization with at least 1 (one) year of experience at the time of applying and be engaged in professional work in the discipline in which admission is sought.
  • They should submit No Objection Certificate in prescribed format (See: NOC Format DOC, PDF) from the employer along with the application. The application without No Objection Certificate will NOT be considered.
  • The final admission to the candidates under this category is based on the performance in the written test and / or interview conducted by the concerned academic department/ center, academic credentials of the candidates, etc.
  • The Institute does NOT give any scholarship/ fellowship to the students under this category.

Self-Financed and Full Time:
  • The candidates under Self-Financed and Full Time Category pursue the PhD programme at IIT Guwahati without getting financial assistantship from IIT Guwahati or any other funding agency.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on full time basis.
  • The students under this category must be able to attend classes regularly as per the schedule of the Institute during the course work and do research work by reporting every day to the supervisor/ department.
  • The final admission to the candidates under this category is based on the performance in the written test and / or interview conducted by the concerned academic department/ center, academic credentials of the candidates, etc.

Self-Financed and Part Time:
  • The candidates under Self-Financed and Part Time Category pursue the PhD programme at IIT Guwahati without getting financial assistantship from IIT Guwahati or any other funding agency.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on part time basis.
  • The students under this category must be able to attend classes regularly as per the schedule of the Institute during the course work and do research work by reporting frequently to the supervisor/ department.
  • The final admission to the candidates under this category is based on the performance in the written test and / or interview conducted by the concerned academic department/ center, academic credentials of the candidates, etc.

Project Staff and Full Time:
  • The candidates under Project Staff and Full Time Category are those presently working on sponsored R&D projects in IIT Guwahati.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on full time basis. Therefore, it is preferable that their R&D project works are relevant to their PhD Thesis Work.
  • The remaining duration of the project at the time of admission should be at least one year. If the project gets completed before the student completes his/her PhD Programme, then his/her category will be converted to that of SELF-FINANCED unless he/she is absorbed in some other R&D Projects or he/she is granted an assistantship/ fellowship from any other agency.
  • They are not entitled to receive Scholarship/ Fellowship from the Institute.
  • They should submit No Objection Certificate in prescribed format (See: NOC Format DOC, PDF) from the Dean-R&D, IIT Guwahati along with the application. The application without No Objection Certificate will NOT be considered.
  • The final admission to the candidates under this category is based on the performance in the written test and / or interview conducted by the concerned academic department/ center, academic credentials of the candidates, etc.

Project Staff and Part Time:
  • The candidates under Project Staff and Part Time Category are presently working on sponsored R&D projects in IIT Guwahati.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on part time basis.
  • The remaining duration of the project at the time of admission should be at least one year. If the project gets completed before the student completes his/her PhD Programme, then his/her category will be converted to that of SELF-FINANCED unless he/she is absorbed in some other R&D Projects or he/she is granted an assistantship/ fellowship from any other agency.
  • They are not entitled to receive Scholarship/ Fellowship from the Institute.
  • They should submit No Objection Certificate in prescribed format (See: NOC Format DOC, PDF) from the Dean-R&D, IIT Guwahati along with the application. The application without No Objection Certificate will NOT be considered.
  • The final admission to the candidates under this category is based on the performance in the written test and / or interview conducted by the concerned academic department/ center, academic credentials of the candidates, etc.

External and Part Time:
  • The candidates under External and Part Time Category are sponsored (with a study leave for doing course work) by a recognized R&D organization, academic institution, government organization or industry with adequate Research Facilities for doing PhD at IIT Guwahati.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on part time basis.
  • The PhD student under this category carries out the PhD Thesis Research Work mainly at his/her parent organization under a Local Supervisor but with the overall guidance provided by a faculty member (IITG Main Supervisor).
  • The candidate under this category must be a regular employee of his/her organization with at least 1 (one) year of experience at the time of applying and be engaged in professional work in the discipline in which admission is sought.
  • They should submit Sponsorship Letter for External Category in prescribed format (See: Sponsorship Letter for External Category Format DOC, PDF) from the employer along with the application. The application without Sponsorship Letter will NOT be considered.
  • The final admission to the candidates under this category is based on the performance in the written test and/ or interview conducted by the concerned academic department/ center, academic credentials of the candidates, etc.
  • The Institute does NOT give any financial assistantship/ fellowship to the students under this category.

Self-Financed and Full Time Foreign Students:
  • The candidates under Self-Financed and Full Time Foreign Students Category pursue the PhD programme at IIT Guwahati without getting financial assistantship from IIT Guwahati or any other funding agency.
  • They pursue PhD programme at the Institute on full time basis.
  • The students under this category must be able to attend classes regularly as per the schedule of the Institute during the course work and do research work by reporting every day to the supervisor/ department.
  • The final admission to the candidates under this category is based on the performance in the written test and / or interview conducted by the concerned academic department/ center, academic credentials of the candidates, etc.
Eligible Foreign Nationals can apply in this category by selecting "Self-Financed and Full Time" in the online application form.

Important Note regarding Hostel Accommodation:
For students pursuing PhD on part-time basis, the hostel accommodation is NOT provided. If the hostel accommodation is needed (for example, during course work), they have to request for it and pay the required fees for it and it is subject to availability.

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