IIT cut off for SC/ST lowered ,exam fee structure and more seats for foreign students 

 Up to 10% additional seats in each IIT course can now go to foreign students. Casting the enrolment net for foreign students wider, the IITs will now hold their entrance exam at six international centres instead of just one so far.

"Foreign candidates will have to qualify the JEE advanced examination for an IIT seat. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for entry to MTech courses will be held in these six countries as well," said an official. Foreign candidates, however, will not have to take the JEE main examination.

Induction of foreign students will not mean less seats for Indian students. "The 10% intake is in addition to the existing seats available in each of the 23 IITs," the official clarified. Also, 20,000 more candidates will be eligible to write the exam after clearing JEE main, thus taking the total number to 2,20,000.

The examination will be held in six countries outside India — Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE, Nepal and Singapore. The number of foreign students can't exceed 10% of the total seats in each course offered by the IITs and ISM-Dhanbad. There will also be no quota in this category. In another significant change, the cut-off for the aggregate marks in Class XII for SC and ST candidates has been reduced from 70% to 65% in JEE advanced 2017.

"Various interactive features are conceived to make the process of registration, fee payment, result announcement, choice filling, etc, less strenuous. Features like short video tutorial and SMS services will be used extensively to help the candidates," said a senior official.

From next year, candidates who register late for the IIT-JEE advanced exam will be charged a late fee of Rs 500. The registration fee has been increased to Rs 1,200 from Rs 1,000 for girls and reserved category students, and to Rs 2,400 from Rs 2,000 for others. Students from Saarc countries will pay $135 and those from other other countries $270. The late fee for them is $80.

In another change, candidates applying under PWD category with dyslexia must submit a certificate from a doctor specialising in psychiatry and associated with Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) or Dyslexia Associations. The medical certificate must mention the word 'severe'.