Postgraduate students are admitted to the program through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) conducted by the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science. Postgraduate students are required to complete coursework in addition to a thesis or dissertation that entails independent research under the guidance of a faculty. Postgraduate and doctoral Ph.D students are also involved as teaching assistants for undergraduate courses. An MBA course has been recently introduced by the Humanities department. NITK also offers MCA (Master of Computer Application) course for graduate students in which admission is done on the based on NIMCET (NIT MCA Common Entrance Test). NITK from 2003 is offering Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D program for Mtech and other post graduate students.