Lucknow: Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) will allow eligible BTech students entering the second year to change their branch in the 2026-27 academic session.The university has issued guidelines and a prescribed format to affiliated institutions detailing the procedure and eligibility criteria for branch changes, which will be made at the institute level strictly on the basis of merit.AKTU examination controller Prof Deepak Nagaria said, “Only those students who cleared all papers of both semesters of the first-year BTech course in the 2025-26 academic session in their first attempt will be considered.”Students must also have no carry-over paper in any subject or semester to be eligible for a branch change.“The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) permits engineering students to change their branch after completing their first year, but it is strictly regulated and not a guaranteed right. Approval depends heavily on academic merit, seat vacancies and specific institutional guidelines. AKTU has also kept academic merit as a criterion for this,” said AKTU vice-chancellor Prof JP Pandey.He said students with no back papers and a CGPA of 6.5 or above will be allowed to change their branch, depending on seat availability in the respective branch.Among eligible applicants, selection for branch change will be based on their first-year marks and YGPA merit. The move is expected to give high-performing students an opportunity to switch to their preferred engineering branch, subject to eligibility, merit and seat availability.
