IIT Patna Admission Through GATE: M.Tech in AI and CSE, and PhD

IIT Patna's campus is at Bihta, which the institute's About page puts at approximately 40 km from Patna. Its Find Us page says Bihta railway station is about 4 km from the campus, while Patna Junction and the Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport are each about an hour away. If you are coming from the south for an interview or to join, allow time for the road or rail leg from Patna to Bihta.

For a GATE DA or CS taker, almost everything sits with the Department of Computer Science & Engineering. The M.Tech page lists two specialisations under it:

• M.Tech in Artificial Intelligence, started in 2022
• M.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering, started in 2013

A third programme, the M.Tech in Mathematics and Computing, is run by the Department of Mathematics jointly with Computer Science & Engineering. The institute's M.Tech page says entry to the regular, full-time M.Tech is only for GATE-qualified candidates, apart from the IIT B.Tech exemption covered below.

The 2026-27 M.Tech advertisement, dated 24 March 2026, gives the eligibility and the GATE papers for each programme. For the three computing-side programmes it reads as follows.

Programme	GATE papers named	Degree named
Artificial Intelligence	DA, CS/IT, EC, ME, CE	B.Tech/B.E. in Computer Science, IT, ECE, Aerospace, Maths & Computing, ME or Civil, or equivalent; or M.Sc. in Mathematics, Statistics or Mathematics & Computing (MA also accepted for M.Sc. holders)
Computer Science & Engineering	CS	B.Tech/B.E. in Computer Science or Information Technology
Mathematics and Computing	MA, CS, EC (Statistics also valid)	M.Sc. in Mathematics, Statistics or Mathematics & Computing, or B.Tech/B.E. in Computer Science, IT, ECE, Aerospace or Maths & Computing

So a GATE DA score points you to the AI M.Tech. The advertisement does not list DA for the CSE or Mathematics and Computing M.Tech. A GATE CS score is accepted for all three, provided your degree matches. The AI row prints the paper list in brackets after the words "for TA/RA/Part-time", so read the PDF yourself before applying and check the 2027 advertisement when it is out.

The marks floor in 2026-27 was 60% (or CGPA 6.5) for General, OBC and EWS candidates and 55% (or CGPA 6.0) for SC and ST candidates, with the final result due by 31 October 2026 for those still finishing their degree.

IIT Patna does not admit regular M.Tech students straight from COAP alone. You first apply on its portal, and the advertisement page shows the window ran from 24 March 2026 to 20 April 2026 (till 11:59 PM). The steps in the 2026-27 advertisement were:

1. Pay the application fee through SBI Collect: ₹1,000 for General, EWS and OBC-NCL men, ₹500 for women and for SC, ST and PwD candidates in the regular category.
2. Fill the online form at ais.iitp.ac.in, entering your GATE registration number and COAP registration number correctly. The advertisement warns that an application without them is liable to be rejected.
3. Submit a separate application and fee for each specialisation you want.
4. Watch your email (including spam) and the website. No call letters go by post.

Selection for the regular, full-time category was based on GATE performance through COAP. The institute also says it may call only a limited number of candidates based on GATE and qualifying marks, so meeting the minimum does not guarantee an offer.

Regular students with a valid GATE score above the prescribed cut-off receive an assistantship of ₹12,400 a month for up to two years, according to the advertisement.

The institute's 2026-27 seat matrix gives these totals for the computing programmes. The regular column is the COAP-linked GATE intake.

Programme	Regular seats	Other seats	Grand total
Computer Science & Engineering	25	2 (sponsored, project staff, part-time)	27
Artificial Intelligence	20	40 (through the TIH)	60
Mathematics and Computing	19	2	21

The matrix also splits the regular seats by category (Open, OBC, SC, ST, EWS and PwD), if you want to check your own category.

The 40 extra AI seats are self-financed or sponsored places through the Vishlesan I-Hub Foundation under the Technology Innovation Hub (TIH). The advertisement says no reservation roster applies to them, and selection is by written test and/or interview, not COAP.

We did not find an official IIT Patna PDF listing M.Tech GATE cut-off or COAP offer scores for the computing programmes. The M.Tech page publishes seat matrices for each year from 2018 to 2026, but not closing scores, and COAP itself does not publish institute cut-offs.

That is why this page shows no cut-off table. When IIT Patna publishes an official cut-off document, it will be added here with the year, round and category exactly as printed. Our GATE 2027 hub has the exam dates and pattern, and the previous year questions are the best place to start practice.

Several routes at IIT Patna skip COAP.

• The TIH self-financed AI M.Tech is open to B.Tech/B.E. holders in Computer Science, IT, ECE or EE, or MCA holders, with at least 60% (or CGPA 6.5). Selection is by written test and/or interview. The institute posts the selected and waiting lists on its TIH results page.
• Sponsored (full-time) applicants need at least two years with their employer and an endorsed sponsorship form. GATE is not mandatory, and no assistantship is paid.
• Project staff and part-time candidates go through a written test and/or interview. Project staff must have GATE.

The M.Tech by Research advertisement for July 2026 offered four project-staff places in Computer Science and Engineering with a Cybersecurity specialisation, under the ISEA-III project. It asked for a bachelor's in engineering or technology, an M.Sc. or MCA, with a valid GATE score in "CS / AI" as printed. Selection weighted GATE at 70% and a personal interview at 30%. Applications ran from 30 March to 29 April 2026, according to the programme notice.

The July 2026 PhD advertisement lists research areas in Computer Science and Engineering that will interest a DA aspirant: generative and agentic AI, natural language processing, multimodal and conversational AI, responsible AI, data science, machine learning, deep learning, computer vision and model compression. It also lists cyber security and blockchain, theoretical computer science, and intelligent networks.

For a Teaching Assistant (institute-funded) seat with a B.Tech or M.Sc., you need a valid GATE score above the prescribed cut-off or NET qualification, and the advertisement adds that the GATE cut-off does not guarantee a call. B.Tech graduates of centrally funded technical institutes with CGPA 8.0 or above are exempt from GATE but must still clear the interview. The upper age limit for TA applicants was 28 with a bachelor's or M.Sc., with 5 years' relaxation for SC, ST, OBC, women and PwD candidates.

The July 2026 cycle took applications from 24 March to 20 April 2026, issued department call letters on 28 April, and held tests and interviews in the window of 8 to 15 May 2026. The institute assistantship was ₹37,000 a month for the first two years and ₹42,000 after that. Details are on the PhD admission page.

For M.Tech, the 2026-27 advertisement gives dracademic@iitp.ac.in (06115-233-240/784) for academic questions, acad_techsupport@iitp.ac.in for portal problems and arfa@iitp.ac.in (06115-233-062) for fee payment. PhD queries go to phd_admissions@iitp.ac.in (06115-233-684/697). Its admissions page links every programme.

A sensible plan for 2027:

1. Pick your paper with the target programme in mind. GATE DA keeps the AI M.Tech open; GATE CS keeps all three computing M.Tech programmes open if your degree fits.
2. Prepare with how to prepare for GATE DA 2027 or how to prepare for GATE CSE 2027, and use practice for timed sets.
3. Register on COAP when it opens and keep that number ready, because IIT Patna's own form asks for it.
4. Watch the academics site from March. The 2026-27 advertisement was dated 24 March 2026 and closed on 20 April, so the window can be short.

Our Patna city page has more on the city itself. Students also weighing CCMT options in the same city can read our NIT Patna page.