UGEE isn’t a rank-list sprint. It’s a staged funnel - SUPR exam, REAP interview, and then a multi-round counselling process that runs entirely on IIIT Hyderabad’s own portal, completely separate from JoSAA or CSAB. As of 14 June 2026, the on-campus interviews held from 4 to 6 June have just concluded, and the institute is about to release the counselling schedule. If you cleared the interview and are now staring at terms like “continuation fee,” “one-time payment,” or “lock/unlock,” this is your operating manual.
The core thing to understand: after the interview panel ranks qualified applicants, IIIT Hyderabad allocates seats through an internal, round-based process. You accept or decline a seat within tight deadlines, and if you ever want to switch from a UGEE dual-degree seat to a JEE-mode seat, you must first surrender the UGEE seat entirely.
The 2026 Context - What’s Already Happened
The UGEE 2026 timeline has moved forward exactly as scheduled. The computer-based entrance exam was held on 2 May 2026 from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. Results were announced on 11 May 2026, and shortlisted candidates attended on-campus interviews from 4 to 6 June 2026. The application fee for UGEE 2026 was ₹3,100 for male applicants and ₹1,550 for female applicants.
The dual-degree programmes offered through UGEE 2026 and their sanctioned seat numbers are:
Total seats: 120. Every single one leads to a 5-year B.Tech + MS by research degree. There is no exit after a 4-year B.Tech; the dual-degree is a single, integrated programme. You either finish all five years or you leave without either degree.
How UGEE Counselling Works - The Architecture
UGEE counselling is a round-based seat-allotment system run exclusively through IIIT Hyderabad’s admission portal at ugadmissions.iiit.ac.in. Only candidates the interview panel found suitable are eligible. The institute ranks qualified applicants solely on interview performance - not SUPR, not REAP, not board marks. The SUPR and REAP scores got you to the interview; the interview gets you a seat.
In each round, you either accept the offered programme by paying fees, or you decline it. If no seat is allotted, you can continue to the next round only by explicitly consenting and paying a one-time continuation amount on the portal. Miss that window, and your UGEE admission journey ends.
The process typically runs three rounds, sometimes four if seats remain. In 2025, the schedule was:
- Round 1: announced 25 June, accept by 30 June
- Round 2: announced 3 July, accept by 7 July
- Round 3: announced 10 July, accept by 13 July
All deadlines were strictly at 5:00 PM IST. For 2026, the exact dates will be posted on the admission portal once the schedule is finalised. With interviews wrapping on 6 June, expect Round 1 somewhere in the second half of June.
Programme Preferences: Locked Before Counselling Starts
You selected your programme preference order during the application process itself - before the exam even happened. That order cannot be changed now. The institute’s instructions are blunt: “avoid selecting a programme that you are not interested to join. Otherwise, if offered, you will have to accept it (or) exit from the admission process.” If CSD is your top choice and CND your second, and CSD is not available but CND is offered, you must accept CND (or exit). You cannot reorder preferences mid-counselling. This is why the application stage required serious thought.
One Seat Allotment Policy
IIIT Hyderabad admits students through multiple channels - UGEE, JEE (Main), Olympiad, DASA, SPEC, and Lateral Entry - but every candidate can hold only one seat at the institute at any time. If you have accepted a UGEE seat and later receive a JEE-mode offer, you can switch only after cancelling the UGEE seat through the portal. Once you cancel, you enter the JEE-mode round structure (if rounds are still running). You cannot keep both seats, and you cannot go back to the UGEE seat once you’ve surrendered it.
This rule matters acutely because UGEE and JEE-mode counselling timelines often overlap. If you are a high-percentile JEE applicant who used UGEE as a parallel track, you may need to decide whether to give up a confirmed dual-degree seat in late June for a JEE-mode offer that emerges weeks later. The refund schedule we’ll cover below tells you exactly what you stand to lose financially with each passing day.
Step-by-Step UGEE Counselling Process
Step 1: Check Your Qualification Status
Once the institute releases the interview results, qualified candidates are listed on the admission portal. Only those shortlisted and interviewed can participate in seat allotment. If your name is not on that list, you cannot take part, regardless of your exam score.
Step 2: Round 1 - Allotment, Acceptance, or Continuation
You log into the admission portal on the announced date. You will see either an offer against one of your programme preferences, or no offer.
If you are offered a seat:
- Accept by paying the admission fee of ₹10,000 (non-refundable) plus the first-semester tuition fee. For the 2025-26 academic year, first-semester tuition was ₹2,25,000, making the initial payment ₹2,35,000. Annual tuition for dual-degree programmes that year was ₹4,50,000. The 2026-27 fee structure has not yet been announced; budget using the 2025-26 figures as a benchmark.
- You may lock the seat if you are satisfied with the allocated programme. A locked seat means you exit all further rounds. If you want to be considered for a higher-preference programme if one opens up, accept the seat without locking. But know this: if a higher preference is offered in a later round, you must take it and surrender your current seat. You cannot fall back to the earlier one.
- If you do not pay by the Round 1 deadline, your seat is cancelled and you are removed from all future UGEE rounds. No second chance.
If you are not offered a seat in Round 1:
- To continue to Round 2, you must explicitly consent on the portal and pay a one-time continuation fee. In 2025, this was ₹20,000 (₹10,000 seat-allocation charge + ₹10,000 advance towards tuition). If you eventually get a seat in a later round, the ₹10,000 advance is adjusted against your tuition; the ₹10,000 allocation charge is retained. If you never get a seat through any round, ₹19,000 is refunded - ₹1,000 is kept as processing charges.
- If you do nothing, you are out.
Step 3: Round 2 - Upgrades and New Allotments
Round 2 results are typically announced within a week of Round 1’s acceptance deadline. If you accepted but did not lock a Seat 1 in Round 1, the system checks whether a higher-preference programme has become available. If it has, you are upgraded. You must accept the upgrade or exit entirely. You cannot reject the upgrade and keep the old seat. So if you held CND in Round 1 hoping for CSD, and CSD opens in Round 2, you must either take CSD or give up the seat entirely.
If you had no seat in Round 1 and continued, you are now in the allotment pool. Accept any offered seat within the deadline. If still no seat, you can again consent to continue to Round 3. No additional continuation fee is charged beyond the initial ₹20,000.
Step 4: Final Round and Physical Reporting
After the last round, seat allocation is frozen. No sliding, no upgrading, no waiting lists. If you have accepted a seat, you proceed to complete formalities and physically report to the IIIT Hyderabad campus in Gachibowli. In 2025, physical reporting was on 26 July, with a parents’ meeting on 27 July. For 2026, the reporting date will be announced with the counselling schedule.
Cross-Mode Switching: UGEE to JEE (Main) Seat
As mentioned, if you hold a UGEE seat and later get a JEE-mode offer, you must surrender the UGEE seat first. The institute warns: you “will have to accept the first instance the seat is offered in the jee mode regardless of it not being their highest preference programme.” This means the first JEE-mode seat you are offered - even if it’s ECE and you wanted CSE - becomes your binding offer. You cannot shop around. This is a hard trade-off. If you are waiting for JEE-mode results while holding a UGEE seat, calculate the financial cost of delay using the refund table below.
Fees and Financial Assistance for 2026
The exact tuition fee for the 2026-27 academic year is yet to be released. Use the 2025-26 figures for financial planning:
- Annual tuition (dual-degree): ₹4,50,000
- First-semester tuition payable at acceptance: ₹2,25,000
- Admission fee (non-refundable): ₹10,000
- Continuation fee (if unallotted in Round 1): ₹20,000
- Hostel charges: approximately ₹6,000 per month
- Mess charges: approximately ₹5,000 per month
Hostel and mess fees are paid semester-wise and are not included in tuition.
IIIT Hyderabad offers two key financial assistance mechanisms:
- SBI Scholar Loan: The SBI branch on campus guarantees a loan of up to ₹40 lakh to any admitted student, with no collateral required. This can be availed even if the family already has existing loans.
- Alumni-Supported Financial Assistance Fund: Need-based support on a pay-it-forward model. Available to students whose family income is below ₹8 lakh per annum. Assistance starts from the second semester, subject to fund availability. Students above the income threshold may also apply if a committee determines their case merits support. Under the pay-it-forward model, after graduation and employment, the beneficiary contributes towards another student’s tuition, creating a sustainable cycle.
You apply for financial assistance through the institute after admission, not during seat acceptance.
Cancellation and Refund - The Exact Math (2025 Pattern)
The refund policy is round-sensitive. The cancellation deadline of the round in which you first accepted a seat determines your refund - even if you get upgraded in a later round, the refund rules of your original acceptance round apply.
Refund schedule for UGEE 2025 (without an offer letter from another institute):
If you have a valid admission offer letter from another institute (dated after the IIIT Hyderabad offer), the refund is significantly more generous. The table above shows the figures without such a letter. All refunds are settled by 21 August of the admission year.
For 2026, the exact dates and thresholds will be announced with the counselling schedule, but the stepwise structure is unlikely to change materially. The key lesson: cancel early if you are unsure. With every passing week, the money you recover shrinks sharply.
Documents to Keep Ready
At the time of seat acceptance and physical reporting, you will need:
- Class 10 marksheet/certificate (date of birth proof)
- Class 12 marksheet and passing certificate
- UGEE 2026 admit card
- Interview call letter (if issued)
- Category certificate (SC/ST/OBC-NCL/EWS) in prescribed format, if applicable
- Aadhaar card or other government photo ID
- Passport-size photographs
- Medical fitness certificate (format may be specified on the portal)
- Proof of fee payment (transaction receipt)
Original documents are mandatory at physical reporting. Any mismatch leads to immediate cancellation.
Common Pitfalls That Cost Students Their Seat
- Not paying the continuation fee after Round 1 if unallotted. The system does not carry you forward automatically. You must explicitly consent and pay ₹20,000 within the deadline. Missing this step ends your UGEE admission path entirely.
- Locking a seat prematurely when you want an upgrade. Lock means final. No upgrades later, even if slots open. Only lock if you are genuinely satisfied with the programme allotted and do not want anything higher.
- Not understanding that an upgrade means losing the earlier seat. You cannot test the waters. If CSD is offered in Round 2 and you accept it, your CND seat is gone. Be sure you prefer CSD before accepting.
- Holding a UGEE seat while waiting for JEE-mode results without knowing the refund clock. If your JEE-mode offer arrives in July, you may already be in the ₹60,000-deduction zone for cancelling your UGEE seat. Map out the financial implications before you let deadlines slip.
- Ignoring the programme preference order at application time. Many applicants filled preferences casually, treating them like JEE choices. UGEE preferences are binding and cannot be reordered. If you listed a programme you now dislike, you still must accept it or exit.
What You’re Signing Up For
UGEE admits you to a 5-year dual-degree programme (B.Tech + MS by research). This is not a regular B.Tech with an optional master’s tacked on. It’s a single integrated curriculum where research coursework and thesis work begin early. The programme’s expected duration is 5 years, but exact completion depends on satisfactory thesis submission. There is no provision to exit after 4 years with a B.Tech alone.
IIIT Hyderabad operates through research centres, not traditional departments. As an undergraduate, you work alongside graduate students and faculty in labs focused on AI, robotics, NLP, computer vision, VLSI, computational sciences, and more. Placement data for 2025 shows an average package of ₹23.86 LPA for dual-degree graduates, with the highest at ₹74 LPA and a 100% placement rate across all programmes. Top recruiters included Google, Samsung R&D, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Atlassian, and Adobe.
The counselling process is the final gate. Treat every accept, lock, and cancellation decision with the seriousness it deserves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When will UGEE 2026 counselling dates be announced?
As of 14 June 2026, IIIT Hyderabad has just concluded the interviews held from 4-6 June. The counselling schedule for seat allotment is expected to be posted soon on the official UGEE portal at ugadmissions.iiit.ac.in. Check this page daily. In 2025, Round 1 was announced on 25 June, so a similar late-June timeline is likely for 2026.
Q: Can I participate in UGEE counselling if I also applied through JEE (Main)?
Yes. The two modes are independent. However, you can hold only one IIIT Hyderabad seat at a time. If you accept a UGEE seat and later receive a JEE-mode offer, you must cancel the UGEE seat before accepting the JEE-mode seat. You will then continue exclusively in the JEE-mode round process. Be mindful that refund amounts for cancelled UGEE seats decrease sharply with time.
Q: What happens if I don’t pay the acceptance fee by the deadline?
Your allotted seat is cancelled immediately, and you are removed from all future UGEE rounds. This is irreversible. There is no appeal.
Q: Is the ₹20,000 continuation fee refunded if I eventually get a seat?
The ₹20,000 consists of ₹10,000 (seat-allocation charge) + ₹10,000 (advance towards tuition). If you are allotted a seat in any subsequent round, the ₹10,000 advance is adjusted against your tuition; the allocation charge is retained. If you never get a seat across all rounds, ₹19,000 is refunded (₹1,000 processing charge retained).
Q: Can I change my programme preference order after the application deadline?
No. Programme preferences are locked at the end of the application window. During seat allotment, you either accept the offered seat (with or without locking) or decline it. You cannot reorder preferences mid-counselling. The institute explicitly warns: select only programmes you would genuinely join.
Q: How many rounds of UGEE seat allotment are there?
In 2025, three rounds were conducted, with a possible fourth if seats remained unfilled. The exact number for 2026 will be announced with the schedule. After the final round, seats are final - no sliding or upgrading thereafter.
Q: What fees do I need to pay immediately upon seat acceptance?
In 2025-26, the initial payment was ₹2,35,000 - comprised of a ₹10,000 admission fee (non-refundable) and ₹2,25,000 first-semester tuition. Annual tuition for dual-degree programmes was ₹4,50,000. For 2026-27, the fee structure has not been released; budget using the 2025-26 amounts as a close estimate. Hostel and mess charges are additional and paid at the time of reporting.
Q: If I cancel my UGEE seat after acceptance, how much refund will I get?
The refund depends on when you cancel relative to your round of first acceptance. In 2025, cancelling by the acceptance deadline yielded a full tuition refund (₹2,25,000). Delaying by 5 days dropped it to ₹60,000. Cancellations very close to the reporting date returned only ₹10,000. If you have an admission offer letter from another institute, the refund is higher. The exact 2026 thresholds will be declared with the schedule.
Q: Do UGEE seats appear in CSAB or any other national counselling?
No. UGEE seat allocation is completely internal to IIIT Hyderabad. Unallotted UGEE seats are not filled through JoSAA, CSAB special rounds, or any spot-admission process outside the institute.
Q: Can I switch from a dual-degree programme to a 4-year B.Tech through UGEE?
No. UGEE mode is exclusively for the 5-year dual-degree programmes (CSD, ECD, CLD, CND, CHD, CGD). If you want the 4-year B.Tech in CSE or ECE, you must apply through the JEE (Main) mode or other eligible channels. There is no programme change from dual-degree to single-degree after enrolment.
Q: What financial assistance is available for UGEE-admitted students?
IIIT Hyderabad provides two primary avenues. First, SBI (IIIT branch) guarantees a scholar loan of up to ₹40 lakh with no collateral, available to all admitted students. Second, an alumni-supported financial assistance fund operates on a pay-it-forward model for students with family income below ₹8 lakh per annum, with support starting from the second semester. Even students above the income threshold can apply if a designated committee finds their case meritorious.
Q: Is there any reservation or quota in UGEE admissions?
No. IIIT Hyderabad admissions are strictly merit-based with no category-based reservations. However, the institute does target at least 25% women among those shortlisted for interviews and offers a reduced application fee (₹1,550) for female applicants. There is no SC/ST/OBC/EWS quota at any stage of the UGEE process.