BITS Pilani is a Deemed to be University, offering on-campus programs to more than 18,500 students across its campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Dubai. It has been recognized as an Institute of Eminence by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 2020.
Applications are invited for First Semester admission to the PhD program (Full time and/or Part time) starting August 2026 in Pilani, Goa and Hyderabad campuses of BITS Pilani in the following Departments :
• Engineering : Chemical, Civil, Computer Science and Information Systems, Electrical & Electronics, Mechanical
• Science : Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics
• Pharmacy
• Economics & Finance, Humanities & Social Sciences, Management
Minimum eligibility qualifications
• M.E./M.Tech./M.Pharm./MBA/M.Phil. or an equivalent degree with a minimum of 60% aggregate in the qualifying examination
• M.Sc./B.E./B.Pharm. or an equivalent degree with a minimum of 60% aggregate in the qualifying examination
• For admissions to Humanities and Social Sciences, candidates with an M.A. degree and a minimum of 55% aggregate may apply.
• For part-time applicants, a minimum of one year experience in the related field of study is required.
• Meeting the minimum eligibility criteria does not guarantee admission into the PhD program.
• In addition, Departments may set specific admission criteria for shortlisting. Candidates are advised to visit the departmental website for specific admission criteria.
• Shortlisted candidates will have to appear for an admission test, which may comprise of a written exam and/or interview as recommended by the DRC (Department Research Committee).
• Candidates admitted with qualifications equivalent to BITS First Degree programmes including M.Sc., B.E., B.Pharm. etc., will be required to do course work with minimum of 6 courses and minimum 24 units in the first and second semester after admission to the programme.
• Candidates admitted with qualifications equivalent to BITS Higher Degree Programmes including M.E./M.Tech./M.Pharm./MBA/M.Phil. etc., will be required to do course work with minimum of 2 courses and minimum of 6 units in the first semester after admission to the programme.
• The admission will be provisional and will be formalized after passing a qualifying exam and/or submissions of PhD Proposal by the Departmental Research Committee (DRC) of the relevant discipline.
Financial assistance
• All the full-time Ph.D. students admitted into the Ph.D. program will receive fellowship up to a maximum of five years.
• The fellowship could be from the Institute or Sponsored Projects. Ph.D. students may also have their own fellowship if qualified through UGC/CSIR NET.
• Students offered Institute fellowship will receive ₹37,000 per month. The fellowship may be enhanced to ₹40,000/- or ₹42,000/- after two years based on the performance. Institute Fellows will also receive a contingency amount of ₹20,000/- per year.
• Students offered admission through Sponsored Projects would receive the fellowship in accordance with the funding agency guidelines.
• BITS Pilani provides one-time International Travel Support of up to ₹1.5 lakh to selected full-time Ph.D. students during their tenure, to present their work at an international conference.
Application Process
1. The Admission portal to apply online opens on 26th February 2026.
2. Interested and eligible candidates should apply through the prescribed application form available online at admissions.bits-pilani.ac.in/PhD/phd.html. Hard copy of the application form is not required to be sent. Candidates are advised to take a printout of the filled form and retain it for further reference.
3. Candidates will need to register online prior to filling the application form. A registered mobile number and email ID will be required to generate a username and password essential for filling the application form.
4. While filling the application form online, candidates are required to give preference of the campus or campuses to which they wish to apply for. It is advised that the candidates provide preference after careful thought. This preference will be used to assign the campus for appearing in the written test/interview if shortlisted. The preferences cannot be changed after submission of application. The shortlisted candidates will have to attend the selection process at the campus for which they have been shortlisted. Please refer to Department offering full and part-time admissions prior to filling the application form.
5. The completed application form along with the prescribed application fee should be submitted online by the prescribed deadline. Details on modes of Fee Payment will be available while applying online. Campus preference and priority cannot be changed once the application form is submitted#. 6. Deadline for submission of the completed application form online is 5:00 PM on 29th April 2026.
7. A non-refundable application fee of Rs. 2600/- is payable at the time of submission of the online form.
8. A candidate can submit only one application form for PhD admission. However, if a candidate discovers any mistake in the form to be submitted by him/her, there will be an edit option# which will be made available before the final submission of the application form, which he/she can make use of to incorporate necessary changes. This option will be available only till the deadline for submission of the form which is 5:00 PM on 29th April 2026.
9. The final decision on admitting the candidates to the PhD program will be taken by the Admission Committee of the Institute and will be binding on all.
Important Dates
Admissions open for I Semester 2026-2027 : 26th February 2026
Last date for submission of application : 29th April 2026
Declaration of shortlisted candidates for written test and interview : 6th May 2026
Written test and/or interview date (At the selected BITS Pilani Campus) : 18th and 19th May 2026
Announcement of admission offers 28th May 2026 Last date for fee payment : 10th June 2026
Reporting at the respective BITS Pilani campus selected for : 25th July 2026
Orientation : 27th and 28th July 2026
Course registration : 1st August 2026
Beginning of classwork : 3rd August 2026
The Institute reserves the right to change the above deadlines. Candidates will be informed in advance should there be such a change.
Applicants are advised to take careful note of the dates scheduled for the written test/interview and the reporting date for joining the institute, to make appropriate travel arrangements well in advance.
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