IIT Guwahati Admission Through GATE: Data Science, Robotics and AI, CSE and PhD

IIT Guwahati gives its address as Guwahati 781039, Assam. Its CSE department describes the campus as sitting on the banks of the Brahmaputra with hills around it. From South India that is a long trip, but GATE-based M.Tech selection needs no visit (more on that below).

Three academic units are relevant if you are writing GATE DA or GATE CS.

• The Interdisciplinary M.Tech in Data Science, listed under "Interdisciplinary" on the institute's master's disciplines page and in the July 2026 seat matrix. The page does not tie it to a single department.
• The M.Tech in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, run in 2026 by the Centre for Intelligent Cyber Physical Systems. The 2026 notification says the centre is proposed to merge into a new school, which would then run M.Tech selection.
• The Department of Computer Science and Engineering, which offers an M.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering with no specialisations, and a PhD.

The Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence admits PhD students. The July 2026 eligibility document lists MS(R) only in Energy Science and Engineering, so CSE and data science had no MS by Research route in that cycle.

The July 2026 eligibility criteria set the admissible GATE papers for regular candidates. Every M.Tech also needs a bachelor's or master's degree in a relevant discipline with CPI 6.0 out of 10 (or 60%), relaxed by 0.5 CPI or 5% for SC/ST/PwD candidates.

M.Tech	Admissible GATE papers (2026)	2026-27 seats
Data Science (Interdisciplinary)	DA, CS, EC, EE, IN, MA, ST, XE	20
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence	DA, CS, AE, BM, CE, CH, EC, EE, ES, GE, IN, ME, MN, MT, NM, PE, PI, TF, XE	30 regular, 10 sponsored
Computer Science and Engineering	CS only	68

Seat totals come from the 2026-27 seat matrix, which also says the institute may change it before allocation starts. Seats are split across OPEN, GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC and ST, with 5% reserved for PwD candidates.

The practical point for a GATE DA candidate: IIT Guwahati's CSE M.Tech is closed to you, but Data Science and Robotics and AI are open. A GATE CS candidate can apply to all three. The CSE department's own FAQ adds that a non-CS graduate (civil, electrical and so on) with a valid GATE CS score can apply to the CSE M.Tech, subject to the eligibility rules.

The July 2026 PG notification is the document to read first.

Step	July 2026 cycle
Application portal	Opened 20 March 2026, closed 5:00 PM on 10 April 2026
Application fee	Rs. 300 (female, transgender, SC/ST/PwD), Rs. 600 (others), paid separately for each application
Selections	5 May to 25 June 2026
Registration	21 July 2026, orientation 22 July, classes from 23 July

For regular GATE candidates in the ten listed M.Tech disciplines, including Computer Science and Engineering, Data Science and Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, seats were offered through COAP 2026, which IIT Roorkee organised. The notification says selection is "typically" on GATE score alone, though a department may add a written test and/or interview carrying at most 30% weightage for some specialisations. The selection schedule states that GATE candidates offered seats through COAP "need not visit IIT Guwahati for the selection process". In 2026 the only written test listed alongside COAP was for Environmental Engineering in Civil.

After COAP's Additional Round 10, IIT Guwahati ran a spot round for candidates who had applied, been shortlisted for COAP-2026 and had not chosen "Accept and Freeze" anywhere. Registration ran from 15 to 16 July 2026, departments held online spot meetings on 17 and 18 July, and anyone who took a seat had to report in person by 10:00 AM on 21 July.

IIT Guwahati has put two kinds of 2025 numbers on its own sites.

CSE shortlisting cut-off. The CSE department's July 2026 admissions page says candidates are shortlisted on a GATE CS score cut-off, and that the July 2025 M.Tech admission used Open/General(EWS) 650, OBC (NCL) 585 and SC/ST/PWD 433. That is the score needed to enter the ranked list, not the score of the last admitted candidate.

Lowest GATE score in COAP 2025. The institute's COAP 2025 list prints a "Lowest GS" for each programme and category. The figures for the three DA/CS-relevant programmes are below, exactly as printed.

M.Tech (COAP 2025)	OPEN	GEN-EWS	OBC-NCL	SC	ST
Data Science (M6101)	806	744	718	559	453
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (M6301)	747	718	694	531	390
Computer Science and Engineering (M0101)	772	752	714	589	456

The list does not name the GATE paper, so a Data Science or Robotics and AI figure could belong to any admissible paper. These are GATE scores out of 1000 for one year. They are not a forecast for 2027.

IIT Guwahati admits PhD students in July and December sessions through the same portal. The current cycle is the December 2026 session: the portal opened on 8 October 2026 and closed at 5:00 PM on 28 October 2026, with selections between 24 November and 5 December 2026 and registration on 4 January 2027.

The December 2026 schedule puts CSE selection on 3 December 2026 as an offline written test plus offline interview, and the Mehta Family School of Data Science and AI on 26 and 27 November 2026 as an offline interview. The seat matrix for this session lists 22 PhD seats in CSE and 3 in the Mehta Family School.

The CSE department's page describes its process.

• The written test is objective and subjective, 2 to 3 hours long, covering mathematical foundations, programming and data structures and algorithms, and computer systems.
• At the interview you name at least three core subjects, close to the GATE CS syllabus, and are asked questions from them.
• Shortlisted candidates are housed in institute hostels, and travel allowance is paid to regular-category applicants.
• Declared dates cannot be changed, and anyone who misses the written test is not interviewed.

A B.Tech holder can apply directly for the PhD and, once admitted, may opt for the dual M.Tech plus PhD by the end of the first semester. Unless you are an IIT graduate, the department says a B.Tech holder needs a GATE score that is still valid to apply in the regular studentship category. M.Tech holders without GATE take the institute's IATMLA test for assistantship.

Two M.Tech routes sit outside COAP. Regular candidates with an IIT degree but no GATE score, and non-regular (for example sponsored) candidates, are selected on their record and a written test and/or interview. For CSE in 2026 that was an online interview on 13 May; for Data Science it was an online interview on 12 May. The CSE department asks such candidates for a BE/B.Tech/BS (4 years)/MSc in CS or equivalent, and adds MCA for non-regular applicants. Non-regular candidates may fill at most 10% of seats in each discipline in 2026-27.

The 2027 notification is not out yet. Based on the 2026 documents, plan as follows.

1. Choose your paper with the table above in mind. DA keeps Data Science and Robotics and AI open; CS adds the CSE M.Tech.
2. Prepare with how to prepare for GATE DA 2027 or how to prepare for GATE CSE 2027, and use previous papers and practice tests. Dates and rules for the exam are on GATE 2027.
3. Watch iitg.ac.in/acad/admission from March. In 2026 the window was three weeks.
4. Register on COAP when it opens and respond in every round. M.Tech selection for GATE candidates needs no visit.
5. If you aim for a PhD, budget for a campus visit: both the CSE and data science school selections in December 2026 were offline.

Contacts: acad_admission@iitg.ac.in for institute admission queries and cseadmissions@iitg.ac.in for the CSE department. For other IITs that accept GATE DA, see IIT Roorkee or the full institutes list.