How does IOE reservation work, and what are the quota percentages?
20% of Regular seats at constituent campuses are reserved for deprived communities, and that 20% is itself divided nine ways — women 20%, Janajati 16%, Madhesi 14%, Tharu 10%, Dalit 9%, disabled 9%, Muslim 7%, remote region 7%, other 8%.
There are two layers here and confusing them is the usual mistake. First, a fifth of the Regular seats is reserved. Then that reserved block is itself sub-divided by category.
Layer one
Under Tribhuvan University Organisation and Educational Administration Rules 2050, rules 11(a) and 11(b), 20% of the total Regular seats at constituent campuses are reserved for persons from deprived communities.
Layer two: that 20% treated as 100%
| Category | Share of the reserved block |
|---|---|
| Women | 20%, of which 3% for Dalit women and 2% for Muslim women |
| Janajati (indigenous nationalities) | 16% |
| Madhesi | 14%, of which 3% for Madhesi Dalit women |
| Tharu | 10% |
| Dalit | 9% |
| Disabled | 9% |
| Muslim | 7% |
| Backward and remote region | 7% |
| Other | 8% |
What that means in real seats
Because it is a percentage of a percentage, individual programme allocations are small. At Pulchowk Campus, Civil carries 22 inclusive seats in total, divided as 4 women, 3 Janajati, 3 Madhesi, 2 Dalit, 2 disabled, 2 remote region, 2 Muslim, 2 Tharu and 2 other. Smaller programmes there carry between 2 and 7 inclusive seats each.
This is separate from the general women’s quota
The 10% women’s reservation across both Regular and Full Fee programmes is a different provision. The women’s share inside the inclusive block is additional to it and sits only on the Regular side.
If you qualify under more than one category
This is the part that decides where your name actually appears, and the booklet settles it rather than leaving it to the campus. Applying under several categories does not multiply your chances: you are placed in exactly one, and a printed order of precedence chooses which. Taking the categories in the order the booklet’s own tables print them — women, Janajati, Madhesi, Dalit, disabled, backward and remote area, Muslim, Tharu, other — the category appearing later in that order takes first priority, the ones before it follow in descending order, and open is placed last of all.
The booklet works its own example. An applicant who applies under women and Janajati as well as open is placed in the Janajati quota automatically, because Janajati falls after women in that order; the women-quota priority is considered next, and open only after that. The practical effect is that the narrower category you are entitled to is usually the one you are placed in, whether or not it is the one you would have picked.
Two limits complete the picture. Where a reserved quota is not filled by applicants entitled to it, those seats are published to open applicants rather than held. And the reservation facility may be used at only one level of study, so it is not something you can draw on again for a later degree.
Section 6.3 of the booklet, pages 13 to 14, under TU Rules 2050 rules 11(a) and 11(b) and TU’s Reservation Seat Admission Bylaw 2074. The nine shares sum to 100% of the reserved block. The order of precedence, the worked women-and-Janajati example, the unfilled-quota rule and the one-level limit are read from the notes printed under the per-campus tables on page 15, verified against a rendered image of that page because the booklet sets its Nepali in legacy fonts that do not survive copying. Per-campus and per-programme tables are printed in the booklet; the rows on page 15 were re-added and each reconciles with its own printed total.
Sources
- IOE B.E./B.Arch Booklet 2083 · published 7 August 2026 · read 18 August 2026
Last reviewed by Ram Raj Thapa, Admissions Officer, Imperial College of Engineering. Every figure on this page is cited to the document it came from.