Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an all India examination administered and conducted 
jointly by the Indian Institute of Science and seven Indian Institutes of Technology on behalf of the National Coordination
 Board - GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India.

The GATE committee, which comprises of representatives from the administering institutes, is the sole authority for regulating
 the examination and declaring the results.

GATE is conducted through the constitution of eight zones. The zones and the corresponding administrative institutes are: 

      Zone-1: Indian Institute of Science   Bengaluru 
      Zone-2: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay 
      Zone-3: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi 
      Zone-4: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati 
      Zone-5: Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur	
      Zone-6: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur 
      Zone-7: Indian Institute of Technology Madras 
      Zone-8: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

The overall coordination and responsibility of conducting GATE 2012 lies with Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, designated as the Organizing Institute for GATE 2012 .

Admission to postgraduate programmes with MHRD and some other Government scholarships/assistantships in
 engineering colleges/institutes is open to those who qualify in GATE examination. GATE qualified candidates with
 Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Technology/Architecture or Master's degree in any branch of Science/Mathematics/Statistics
/Computer Applications are eligible for admission to Master's degree programmes in Engineering/Technology/Architecture as 
well as for Doctoral programmes in relevant branches of Science with MHRD or other government scholarships/assistantships
. To avail the scholarship, the candidate must secure admission to such a postgraduate programme, as per the prevailing procedure
 of the admitting institution. However, candidates with Master's degree in Engineering/Technology/Architecture may seek admission
 to relevant Doctoral programmes with scholarship/assistantship without appearing in the GATE examination.

GATE qualification is also a minimum requirement to apply for various fellowships awarded by many Government organizations.