Students from National Institute of Technology, Agartala have much to cheer as BTech graduates and BTech-MTech dual course graduates from the institute can directly join IIT Delhi as a PhD fellow without passing GATE. Besides PhD, NIT students also have the option of undertaking courses at IIT, Delhi and even have the option of pursuing a semester-long internship. 

NIT and IIT have signed a memorandum of understanding that has made it possible for students to now collaborate on academic activities. Students can now consider applying directly to the PhD programme without worrying about passing the Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering (GATE) or any other kind of national qualifying exams. There is one catch though, aspiring students have to ensure that they maintain a CGPA of 8.00 or higher - after sixth semester of study and eighth semester of study for dual degree students up till the time of their graduation. 

"Under this scheme, the BTech (or BTech -MTech) degrees will still come from NIT-A, but part of those programmes will be completed at IIT Delhi," the Indian Express reported. This new move will increase the chances for NIT-A students to qualify for the PMRF fellowship for PhD at IIT Delhi. The students will receive their final confirmation of the offer to pursue PhD at IIT after they go through a selection committee that will evaluate their coursework or research during their stay at IIT-D.