Number of GATE aspirants sees upswing in 2016

The number of students taking the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) this year has seen an increase across India. Data provided by GATE office at IIT-Madras, says a total of 9.70 lakh students have registered for the test this year as against 9.27 lakh last year. 

GATE starts on January 30 and goes on till February 7. This year, a total of 74,000 candidates from Tamil Nadu have applied for the test as compared to 67,200 in 2015. The test is conducted in 58 centres across Tamil Nadu, including 19 in Chennai. The admission to Master’s and Doctoral programme in institutes that come under MHRD and other government scholarships or assistantship in engineering, technology, architecture and science is open to those who qualify in GATE. 

Score from the competitive exam is also used by some public sector undertakings for recruitment purposes. Examinations for all papers in GATE are conducted as Computer Based Tests only. 

As many as 1.34 lakh GATE aspirants from IIT Madras zone, which comprises Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, will appear for the test this year.