NISER 2026 Seat Matrix: Subject-Wise Seats at NISER and CEBS

NISER 2026 offers 257 seats in total — 200 at NISER Bhubaneswar and 57 at UM-DAE CEBS Mumbai — for the 5-year Integrated MSc program in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics through NEST 2026.

The National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) 2026 was conducted on June 6, 2026, as a Computer-Based Test across 387 cities in India. It is the sole admission gateway to two DAE-autonomous institutions: the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, and the University of Mumbai – Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. Both were established in 2007 by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India. The NEST 2026 merit list is expected by June 25, 2026.

• Total seats: 257 regular seats — NISER: 200 and CEBS: 57 — plus 4 supernumerary seats for J&K / Ladakh students.
• EWS reservation (6 seats) applies only to CEBS, not to NISER.
• Four disciplines are offered at both campuses: Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Mathematical Sciences and Physical Sciences.
• Divyangjan (PwD) students receive 5% horizontal reservation within each category at both institutions.
• Seat allotment is purely merit-based through centralised counselling — higher NEST ranks get first choice of campus and subject.

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NISER 2026 Seat Matrix: Campus-Wise Overview

The combined student intake for the 2026–31 batch is 261, comprising 257 regular seats and 4 supernumerary seats reserved for eligible students from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The official campus-wise figures from the NEST 2026 Information Brochure are as follows.

NISER is an off-campus centre of the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), a deemed-to-be university. UM-DAE CEBS is located on the Vidyanagari campus of the University of Mumbai. Both programs are residential and stipendiary, and a vast majority of graduates go on to pursue doctoral research in India or abroad.

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Category-Wise Seat Reservation at NISER and CEBS

Seats at both campuses are allotted per Government of India reservation rules. A critical difference: UR-EWS reservation applies only to CEBS (6 seats) and not to NISER. At NISER, the Unreserved (UR) pool holds 101 seats with no separate EWS sub-quota. The complete category-wise seat matrix from the NEST 2026 official brochure is below.

Source: NEST 2026 Information Brochure, nestexam.in

OBC-NCL students from the creamy layer are treated as UR and are not eligible for reserved seats. SEBC notified by State Governments is also not eligible for OBC-NCL reservation unless the central OBC-NCL criteria are met. If an OBC-NCL or SC/ST student secures a rank within the UR cut-off, they are admitted under the UR pool — freeing up the reserved seat for the next eligible student in that category.

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Divyangjan (PwD) Seat Reservation

5% of seats within each reservation category are horizontally reserved for Divyangjan (Persons with Disability) students at both NISER and CEBS. At NISER, this translates to the following Divyangjan-specific seat count.

The reservation is horizontal — if Divyangjan seats in any category go unfilled, those seats revert to non-PwD students within the same category. A minimum of 40% disability certified by a competent government authority is required. Divyangjan students also receive a 5% relaxation in the Section-wise Minimum Admissible Score (SMAS) during NEST 2026 scoring.

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Subject-Wise Seats: All Four Disciplines

Both NISER and UM-DAE CEBS offer the 5-year Integrated MSc across the same four streams. At NISER, the 200 total seats are distributed across four Schools of Science — Biological, Chemical, Mathematical and Physical Sciences — with each stream accommodating approximately 50 students. The precise subject-wise seat count at CEBS (out of 57 seats) is published on the CEBS portal at www.cbs.ac.in, as intake may vary slightly by stream each year.

The NEST 2026 exam has four subject sections — Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics — with 20 MCQs and 60 marks per section. Students must clear at least three sections. Stream preference is locked in at counselling; students pick their subject based on NEST rank and seat availability and cannot switch streams after admission.

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How Seat Allotment Works After NEST 2026

A NEST 2026 merit rank is the first step. Students must complete online centralised counselling to secure a seat. The broad process works as follows.

1. Results and merit list — published by June 25, 2026 at nestexam.in, with scores, percentiles and category-wise ranks.
2. Counselling registration — students register on the portal and fill in campus and stream preferences in priority order.
3. Seat allotment rounds — conducted round-by-round based on merit rank and category; higher-ranked students fill preferences first.
4. Seat acceptance — allotted students accept the seat online and pay the acceptance fee within the given window.
5. Document verification — original certificates (Class X, XII marksheets, category and disability certificates where applicable) are verified at the allotted institute.
6. Reporting and admission — students report to NISER or CEBS as per the academic calendar to complete admission formalities.

Scholarship: All admitted students are eligible for an annual scholarship of Rs 60,000 under the DAE’s DISHA program, plus a Rs 20,000 per annum grant for summer internships. Students selected by DST for INSPIRE-SHE are also endorsed for the INSPIRE scholarship by NISER and UM-DAE CEBS.