JOIN USStarted in 1981 by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is the success story of a joint collaborative effort of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), for admission to postgraduate programmes in Engineering, Technology, Architecture and Pharmacy at the national level. It could be called the GATE(way) to postgraduate education in the country.
GATE is an all-India examination conducted in eight zones across the country by the
In the year of its inception, GATE exam was held twice in a calendar year, but later it was decided to conduct the exam annually, to be held on the second Sunday of February every year. Today, approximately 4,00,000 students from across the country take the exam for admission to about 20,000 Post Graduate seats in all the IITs in the country, the NITs and AICTE-approved engineering colleges.
For the GATE exam, there are several disciplines that students can opt for, ranging from Aerospace Engineering to Textile Engineering and Fibre Science (complete details available at the GATE Website - http://gate.iisc.ernet.in/ and at the website of the IITs).
The eligibility criteria to appear in GATE is - (a) Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Technology/Architecture; (b) Master's degree in any branch of Science/ Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Applications; (c) Candidates in the second or higher year of the Four Year Integrated Master's Degree programme; (d) Candidates with qualifications obtained through examinations conducted by professional societies recognised by UPSC/AICTE.
Application forms are currently available for GATE 2011 at designated State Bank of India Branches in Bangalore. GATE 2011 is scheduled to be held on February 13, 2011 at over 250 exam centres spread across the country.
According to Dr N C Shivaprakash, Principal Research Scientist, Depart-ment of Instrumentation and Applied Physics and former Vice-Chairman, GATE, IISc, GATE score is valid for two years and several IT and related engineering companies in the country use the GATE score as one of the criteria to look for potential candidates to join their companies. Several universities abroad have also selected students based on their GATE scores.