The baton to conduct the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2017 has been passed on from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati to IIT Madras. JEE Advanced is the gateway to secure admission in India’s premier engineering institutes.
An official from IIT Guwahati, organising institute for JEE Advanced 2016, confirmed the development. The official said, “We handed over the details, and website to IIT Madras on August 20, 2016.” The organising institute is responsible for maintaining the official portal, for preparing the question paper, in-charge of logistics for conducting Advanced, releasing answer keys, declaring results and much more.
About 13 lakh candidates appeared for JEE Mains and approximately 1.56 lakh aspirants registered for Advanced in 2016. It is mandatory for students to take Mains, in order to appear for Advanced, and further secure a seat at an IIT. However, it might not be the case for foreign nationals. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has received a proposal from the Joint Admission Board to scrap JEE Mains for foreign nationals, and keep only Advanced. IIT aspirants from the following nine countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Maldives, Nepal, the UAE, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, might benefit if MHRD accepts the proposal to scrap Mains.