Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), IIT Madras

About University:

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) is an institute of national importance established through an Act of Parliament in 1959. It offers quality education in Humanities, Sciences, Engineering, Management and Technology at UG/PG level. The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) is one of the earliest departments at IITM. Since 2006-07, the department has been offering a five-year integrated Master of Arts (M.A.) programme. With the launch of this programme, the IITM has crossed a milestone in fulfilling its role in higher education in liberal arts and social sciences in the country. This has opened avenues for highly motivated students in arts and humanities to enter IITM.

The department is essentially multi-disciplinary in nature and has faculty from diverse streams, such as 

• Development Studies 

• Economics 

• English

• Environmental Studies 

• Film Studies

• Health Studies

• History

• International Relations 

• Philosophy 

• Politics 

• Sociology

UG Programs under Liberal Arts:

Excellence in higher education in the humanities and social sciences is evidently of growing importance around the world. By imparting quality education through this programme the Institute aims at producing well-rounded individuals with sound training in the humanities and social sciences to answer the needs of universities, research institutes and commercial and public sector enterprises. The programme draws its strength from the unique mix of streams.

Courses Offered

• Integrated M.A. in Development Studies  

• Integrated M.A. in English Studies 

A brief description of each stream of the programme is given below. 

Development Studies: This stream addresses questions of “order and change” in a globalizing world and aims to explore available approaches to fostering development, understood broadly as the goal of providing people the freedom to make their lives better. 

• This will entail studying the web of © HSEE-2021, Information Brochure, IIT Madras 6 relationships humans have with each other and the physical world, which can serve both as a constraint and a source of enormous creativity and ingenuity for achieving sustainable development. 

• Analyzing and addressing these issues therefore requires knowledge and skills from across the social sciences, which is what the interdisciplinary area of Development Studies seeks to do. 

• It covers such topics as economic development, the role of the state and markets, globalization, inequality, poverty, gender relations, environment, conflict, new social movements, politics and institutions, urban studies, area studies and international relations, to name a few. 

• Courses include those in economics, urbanization, gender studies and science and technology studies as well as advanced topics in political philosophy and social theory. 

• Students in this stream will be expected to acquire and develop quantitative skills in introductory calculus and statistics in the course of the programme. Graduates have career opportunities in government, academia, research organizations and industry. 

English Studies: The English Studies stream has been designed for students with sensitivity for literary and linguistic analyses. It provides an understanding of literatures in English from around the world with special emphasis on current debates in literary theory, lesser-known literatures and the importance of an interdisciplinary approach. It aims to introduce students to language, literary and cultural studies, with an emphasis on critical reading skills that would stand a student in good stead whatever he/she may eventually do in life. 

• Starting with introductory courses in the basics of language and literature, the stream covers the masters of English literary tradition, as well as major writers from other traditions – Asian, African, Latin American and Continental. 

• A range of genre-based, author-based and period-based courses are offered so that students appreciate different kinds of literature in English in different periods of its history. 

• Courses in linguistics and the structure and function of natural languages as a system of cognition and communication are parts of this stream. 

• Students are exposed to other streams such as Economics, Sociology, History, and Philosophy so that they can have a range of career options from academics and editing to journalism and language training

ELIGIBILITY

• Candidates must PASS Class XII (or equivalent) examination to take admission to the integrated MA Programme. 

• A Candidate should have appeared in any one of the following qualifying examinations for the first time in either 2020 or 2021.  

• Any Public School, Board or University examination in India or in a foreign country is recognized as equivalent to the 10+2 system by the Association of Indian Universities.  

Application Process:

The students for the integrated Masters program at IIT-M are selected through the Humanities and Social Sciences Entrance Examination (HSEE) conducted by IIT Madras every year in the month of May. 

HSEE-2021 has two parts: Part I and Part II. 

Part I:

• English (25% marks of Part I), 

• Analytical and Quantitative Ability (25% marks of Part I), and 

• General Studies (in four sub-parts; 50% marks of Part I). 

Part II involves essay writing:

Topics for the essay writing in Part II will be based on current affairs and general knowledge. The essay should build an argument, demonstrate a clear perspective and be substantiated with examples, wherever possible.

MERIT LIST / RANKING:

• Rank list will be prepared based on the aggregate marks obtained in HSEE-2021.  

• A common rank list made up of candidates who score at least 50% in HSEE-2021 will be prepared. 

• Separate rank lists will be prepared corresponding to GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST and PwD categories.Indian nationals belonging to certain categories are admitted under the seats reserved for them in accordance with the rules of the Government of India

The programme has a total of 58 seats; each stream will have 29 seats. 

Allocations of seats to individual streams will be made based on the academic performance of students (CGPA) during the first three semesters, students' preferences, and availability of seats under each discipline.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED ALONG WITH THE APPLICATION FORM

 i. Scanned photograph and signatures of the candidate. 

ii. Scanned copy of 10th class Public Examination certificate for name and proof of date of birth.

iii. Scanned copy of 10+2 class mark sheet (if already passed 10+2 examination). 

iv. Scanned copy of category certificate (GEN-EWS-Undertaking / OBC-NCL-Undertaking / SC / ST). 

See FORM-GEN-EWS-UNDERTAKING, FORM-OBC-NCL-UNDERTAKING, FORM-SC/ST. v. Scanned copy of PwD/Dyslexia/Scribe certificate, if applicable. See FORM-PwD(II), FORM-PwD(III), FORM-PwD(IV), FORM-DYSLEXIC-1, FORM-DYSLEXIC-2, FORMSCRIBE / COMPENSATORY TIME

IIT- Madras Timeline: 

Online Application and Payment of Examination Fee - Starts: February 01, 2021

Last Date for submission of online application: March 16, 2021

Examination Date for HSEE-2021: TBA

Declaration of Result on HSEE Website: TBA

Fee Structure 2021