The dust has settled on the 2026 UGEE cycle. The exam was held on 2 May, interviews wrapped up by 6 June, and a fresh batch of dual-degree researchers will soon walk the Gachibowli campus. If you are targeting IIIT Hyderabad in 2027 or beyond, the 2026 process is your clearest blueprint - from the registration portal that opened on 11 February to the diversity push that slashed fees for women applicants to ₹1,550.

UGEE is not a dress rehearsal for JEE. It is IIIT Hyderabad’s own undergraduate entrance examination, built exclusively for its 5-year B.Tech + Master of Science by Research dual-degree programmes. You sit for two back-to-back tests - SUPR and REAP - under a 25% negative marking regime in both, and if you survive the combined cutoff, you face a panel of professors on campus. The interview decides everything. The written exam merely gets you through the door.

What UGEE 2026 Offered: Programmes and Seats

IIIT Hyderabad’s dual-degree model is its signature. You earn a B.Tech (Hons) and an MS by research over five years, with the MS thesis embedded in the curriculum from the third year onward. In 2026, 110 seats were spread across six programmes:

The seat distribution - 110 across six trans-disciplinary programmes - explains the intensity of the competition. Every year, roughly 30,000 to 60,000 students apply, and only a few hundred reach the interview stage. For 2026, the institute explicitly targeted at least 25% women in the interview shortlist.

UGEE 2026 Timeline: Dates You Should Know

The official schedule for the 2026 cycle was:

These dates are now historical, but they form a reliable template. The 2027 window will likely open in the first half of February and run through late March or early April. Always verify on the official IIIT Hyderabad undergraduate admissions portal: ugadmissions.iiit.ac.in.

Who Could Apply: UGEE 2026 Eligibility

Eligibility for 2026 was refreshingly simple. You needed to have passed - or be appearing for - Class 12 (or equivalent) in 2023, 2024, 2025, or by June 2026, with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as core subjects. Candidates who finished Class 12 in 2022 or earlier were not eligible. There was no minimum board percentage requirement for the UGEE channel itself, though academic strength mattered at the interview stage. No upper age limit was enforced.

The institute does not apply category-based reservations. All seats are filled on pure merit.

UGEE 2026 Application Fee Structure

IIIT Hyderabad adopted a straightforward fee model in 2026, with a deliberate discount to support gender diversity:

Payment was accepted online via debit card, credit card, net banking, and UPI. There were no offline payment options. The fee is non-refundable under any circumstances except duplicate deductions caused by a technical glitch - in which case you need to email the admissions office with your transaction ID.

Document Checklist: What You Needed Before Starting

Having scans ready before the portal went live prevented last-minute panic. The 2026 portal required:

• Recent passport-size colour photograph: JPG/JPEG, white or light background, face occupying roughly 80% of the frame, taken after January 2026. File size: 20-50 KB, dimensions approximately 200 x 230 pixels.
• Signature: black ink on plain white paper, scanned clearly, not in all-caps. File size: 10-20 KB, dimensions approximately 140 x 60 pixels.
• Class 10 mark sheet (or certificate) for date-of-birth proof.
• Class 12 mark sheet if already passed; admit card or school ID if appearing.
• Government-issued photo ID: Aadhaar card, passport, or driving licence.
• Category certificate (OBC-NCL/EWS/SC/ST) in PDF, valid for the 2026-27 financial year, if you plan to use any benefit during the application process (even though IIIT-H does not have reservation, category details may be recorded).
• PwD certificate issued by a competent authority, if applicable.

A green checkmark after upload meant the file was accepted, but manual verification could still reject a blurred image later. Always preview each document at full zoom before submission.

Step-by-Step Registration Process (2026 Model)

Even though the 2026 portal is now closed, this sequence mirrors what you will face in any future cycle.

Step 1: Visit the official admissions portal. Go to ugadmissions.iiit.ac.in and click on the UGEE registration link. Do not use any third-party site that claims to process IIIT Hyderabad applications - the institute runs its own independent system.

Step 2: Register as a new user. Enter your full name exactly as it appears on your Class 10 certificate. Provide your date of birth (DD-MM-YYYY), a working email address, and a mobile number. You will receive an OTP for verification. After verifying, the system generates your application number. Write it down.

Step 3: Complete the application form. Log in and fill in personal details, academic history (Class 10 and 12 boards, subjects, passing year), category, and contact information. Every field should match your original documents - typos in the name or a wrong date of birth are the most common reasons applications get flagged later.

Step 4: Upload documents. Use the separate upload links for photograph, signature, and any certificates. Upload, preview, and confirm each file individually. Placing the photo in the signature slot or vice versa leads to instant rejection.

Step 5: Choose your exam city preferences. The 2026 exam was held in over 30 cities across India, from Anantapur to Siliguri. You selected 2-3 preferences, and the centre was allotted based on availability. Once submitted, the city selection could not be changed even in the correction window.

Step 6: Preview and verify. The portal displayed a full preview. This was your last chance to spot errors. Check name, DOB, category, email, mobile number, academic details, and photo/signature clarity.

Step 7: Pay the fee. Complete the payment using a stable internet connection. After successful payment, a confirmation page appeared. Do not close the browser until the confirmation is visible, and keep a screenshot of the transaction ID.

Step 8: Download and print the confirmation page. Save a PDF on your device, email it to yourself, and print at least two copies. The confirmation page is not your admit card - that was released later, on 21 April 2026.

Correction Window: Was It Available in 2026?

IIIT Hyderabad did not announce a dedicated correction window for UGEE 2026. In previous years, if a correction facility existed, it was typically a narrow 2-3 day period right after the application deadline, allowing edits to name (minor spelling), category, photograph, signature, and academic details. Fields like registered email, mobile number, and application number were permanently locked.

For future cycles, do not bank on a correction window. Review your form obsessively before clicking ‘Submit’. If an error is discovered after submission, contact the admissions office at [email protected] immediately - but there is no guarantee they can amend locked fields.

UGEE 2026 Exam Pattern: What the Test Looked Like

The 2026 exam was a computer-based test lasting three hours, divided into two sections with no break between them.

SUPR covered Class 11 and 12 Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics at roughly the JEE Main level, but with a sharper focus on conceptual application. REAP was the differentiator - puzzles, logical reasoning, data interpretation, linguistics, case studies, and unfamiliar problem scenarios that tested creativity more than memory. Both sections ran with the same 25% negative penalty, meaning every second guess could erode your score quickly.

The shortlisting mechanism was equally strict: SUPR acted as the first filter. Candidates who did not clear the SUPR cutoff had their REAP scores disregarded entirely. Those who cleared SUPR were then ranked by REAP score, and the top-ranked candidates were invited for the interview.

Sectional Cutoffs (2023-2025)

Understanding where the bar has been set in recent years gives you a realistic target.

Note that the SUPR scoring scale changed from 50 marks in 2023 to 40 marks in 2024 and 2025. The REAP cutoff has hovered around 65-68 for several cycles, making it the primary rank-decider.

After the Exam: The Interview Stage

This is where UGEE diverges sharply from any other Indian undergraduate entrance route. The interview is not a formality - it is the decisive stage. For 2026, shortlisted candidates gathered on the IIIT Hyderabad campus between 4 and 6 June.

A panel of professors evaluated each candidate on:

• Conceptual clarity and depth in Physics, Mathematics, and their chosen areas of interest.
• Problem-solving approach - explaining your reasoning aloud, incorporating hints, and demonstrating a flexible mind.
• Research curiosity and genuine interest in the dual-degree model.
• Communication ability and intellectual honesty.

No fixed script exists. Some interviews lasted 10 minutes with two deep questions; others ran longer with a sequence of puzzles and open-ended scientific scenarios. The final rank list was based entirely on interview performance. The written exam score determined who got invited, but not who got a seat.

Seat Allotment: How the Rounds Worked

Once interviews concluded, eligible candidates entered a multi-round seat allotment process. In each round, you could be offered a seat in one of your preferred programmes. You then had three choices: accept and lock (confirming your seat and exiting the process), accept without locking (staying eligible for an upgrade in later rounds), or decline (leaving the process entirely).

To continue beyond the first round, a one-time payment of ₹10,000 for seat allocation plus ₹10,000 advance tuition fee was required. The first-semester tuition fee for dual-degree programmes in 2025-26 was ₹2,25,000, with total annual costs (including hostel and mess) of approximately ₹4,50,000. Financial assistance was available through the IIIT-H Special Financial Assistance Scheme (ISFAS), structured as a repayable loan.

Common Registration Mistakes You Should Avoid

Name mismatch: Your name on the application must mirror your Class 10 certificate exactly - same spelling, same initials, same order. Even an extra space can create verification trouble later.

Blurred documents: A photo that looks clear in a thumbnail may appear unreadable when the admit card is printed. Scan at 200 DPI minimum and zoom-check every upload.

Expired category certificates: OBC-NCL and EWS certificates are tied to a financial year. If you submit one valid only for 2024-25 in a 2026-27 cycle, it will likely be rejected.

Date of birth reversal: When the format is DD-MM-YYYY, 15-08-2007 is 15 August. Entering 08-15-2007 can lock your entire application into an error that is hard to correct.

Last-minute submission: The portal closed on 31 March 2026 and was briefly extended to 5 April. Server traffic spiked in the final 48 hours. Early submission - before mid-March in any future cycle - gives you breathing room for corrections.

What UGEE Registration Tells You About IIIT Hyderabad

The application form asks for identity, eligibility, and exam logistics. It does not ask for a JEE roll number, a resume, or a detailed branch preference. That simplicity is deliberate. IIIT Hyderabad does not pre-filter by rank - it pre-filters by an exam that tests how you think, and then by an interview that tests who you are.

The dual-degree programmes that emerge from UGEE are dense, research-immersive, and built for students who want to produce a thesis, not just a marksheet. Graduates walk away with two degrees, publication credits, and placement outcomes that routinely include packages well above ₹30 LPA at top technology firms and research labs.