Direct Admissions For Students From Abroad

Children of Indian expatriates and foreign nationals can get direct admission for UG engineering programs in institutions like NITs and IITs through DASA...

- Prabha Dhavala

Ankita Mehra, a Class 12 stu-dent based in Kuwait, had one wish to join one of the top ranked National Institutes of Technology (NITs) or an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Delhi or Hyderabad. She reached out to Careers360 to know if admissions to these institutions were possible through any exams other than appearing for JEE (Main). The answer is: ‘Direct Admissions for Students Abroad’ or DASA.

What is DASA?

Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), NITs and IIITs are popular in India and abroad and so many of the expatriates wish to see their children studying in these reputed institutions. Keeping this in mind, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) introduced DASA in 2001. NITs conduct DASA on rotation.

It is open to Foreign Nationals/Persons of Indian Origin/Non-Resident Indians/Overseas Citizens of India for admissions to undergraduate programmes in NITs or the IIITs. The number of seats on offer under DASA will be 15 percent more than the total sanctioned intake.

There are 3,076 seats on offer under DASA, out of which 1,008 seats are reserved for Children of Indian Workers in Gulf Countries (CIWG).

Students can appear for the standardised test SAT and use its scores for admissions to undergraduate programmes through DASA. GRE scores are used for postgraduate studies.

Eligibility for DASA UG

Indian nationals studying abroad or foreign nationals who are less than 25 years of age are eligible for selection through DASA. They must have passed 10+2 or equivalent from a system/ board recognized by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).