Next year, three to four additional Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are expected to introduce the undergraduate B Cyber program, broadening the availability of specialized courses in cybersecurity. This expansion follows the recent launch of the program at IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras in the current academic year.
In a significant shift, these premier institutes are also planning to discontinue the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main as an admission pathway. Instead, they will implement a new selection process that includes an aptitude test and a hackathon-based evaluation.
The final syllabus and examination schedule are expected to be announced in the next three to four months. “We intend to have an aptitude test in the initial phase and screen the students via that. Then we call a few hundred people, maybe in a few IITs, who are participating and organise a hackathon to select the candidates. The proposed aptitude test will focus on problem-solving and basic computer science skills such as programming and networking. The syllabus is under discussion. This year, JEE Main was used only as an initial cut-off, followed by a hackathon.
“We want to do away with the JEE Main from next year,” said IIT Kanpur’s Wadhwani School of Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems professor Soumitra Sanadhya and the B Cyber programme director.
