BMS School Of Architecture, Yelahanka

BMS School of Architecture in Yelahanka, Bengaluru is the newer of the two architecture colleges run by B.M.S. Educational Trust, and it is easily mistaken for its older sibling on Bull Temple Road. A management-quota B.Arch here carries Rs 3,75,000 of annual tuition in 2026-27, against Rs 3,02,000 of tuition on a COMEDK seat.

Getting in is less competitive than at the sister college. KEA's second-round general-merit close for B.Arch here was 285.5 in 2026, and COMEDK still had 9 of its 36 seats vacant after round 4. On NIRF's 2025 architecture list of 40 it came in at 37.

The school opened in 2010 as the eighth institution of the BMS trust and, from its first day, as a standalone school of architecture (About Us). Its COMEDK profile traces the growth: a B.Arch intake that has stood at 120 since 2015, an M.Arch in Urban Design launched in 2016, and a doctoral programme running since 2014 (COMEDK's BMSSA profile). The first graduating batch left in 2015 (alumni).

The school's AISHE code is C-47256 (AISHE certificate 2019-20), and NAAC's accredited list names Visvesvaraya Technological University as its affiliating university under that code (NAAC accredited institutions, as on 14-08-2025). VTU's code for it is BQ (BMSSA), which is why the student university numbers on the library's award list begin 1BQ (library).

Yelahanka's teaching space sits on a small plot and borrows the rest from a neighbour. The school's own site gives 2.5 acres and two buildings, Block A at 4610 sq m and Block B, named after B S Narayan, at 4084 sq m (campus). Its NAAC self-study places that land inside the BMSIT&M campus on Doddaballapur Main Road, a sister institution of the trust whose hostels, sports grounds, canteen and ambulance it shares (NAAC self-study report, cycle 1).

Telling the Two BMS Architecture Colleges Apart

Every counselling list, ranking table and approval register gives the two colleges separate codes, and those codes are the safest way to check which college a figure belongs to.

Three programmes run at Yelahanka, all in architecture and all affiliated to VTU.

The doctoral work is housed in the Centre for Innovation and Design Management, which VTU recognises as a research centre; the school describes its scholars' topics as ranging from participatory planning to hydrology in urban systems (Ph.D programme). The M.Arch follows VTU schemes published for 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024, with third-semester electives in urban housing, GIS and data analytics (M.Arch programme).

What a B.Arch Seat Costs in 2026-27

The tuition a B.Arch student pays depends on which of three bodies allotted the seat.

KEA's order sorts colleges into Type-1 and Type-2 without naming them, so the state-quota figure for this school should be confirmed at reporting. The same trust asks Rs 7,00,000 a year for a management B.Arch at Bull Temple Road (BMSCA management fee schedule), yet COMEDK's chart puts both BMS colleges at an identical Rs 3,22,000 (COMEDK B.Arch seat and fee chart). Management tuition at Yelahanka is therefore only modestly above COMEDK tuition, while at Bull Temple Road it is more than double.

Read the management figure on bmssa.ac.in carefully, because the site writes it differently on each page. The B.Arch admissions page gives Rs 3,75,000 and spells the amount out in words (B.Arch admissions); the main admissions page prints the same number with "Four Lakhs per annum" in brackets, under a heading still dated 2022-23 (admissions); and the FAQ prints Rs 3,75,0000 and adds that miscellaneous fees are extra (admission FAQs).

Tuition is not the whole bill. The fee structure for 2026-27 linked from the school's homepage (BMSSA) is a fees memo from the Director, dated July 2026, listing a college "other fee" schedule covering library, sports, Wi-Fi and a mediclaim policy, a separate skill lab fee, and VTU's own registration, e-learning and eligibility charges, with the eligibility charge higher for students schooled outside Karnataka and higher again for those schooled abroad (BMSSA fees memo). The memo applies to CET, COMEDK and management admissions alike. No M.Arch or PhD fee is posted on the school's admission pages.

Nobody at the Avalahalli campus sells a management seat. That quota is run by the trust from the other side of the city, at the Director (Admissions) office in the Platinum Jubilee Block of the BMSCE campus on Bull Temple Road, where forms cost Rs 1,000 per college by demand draft (B.Arch admissions); the other B.Arch places come through KEA and COMEDK.

Which Exam Scores Count for B.Arch

• KEA (code E215). The school's FAQ says only Karnataka students can come through CET, that a valid NATA score is required, and that fees follow government norms (admission FAQs).
• COMEDK (code E029). The consortium runs no B.Arch test; for 2026 it put candidates in merit order by percentage score, using whichever of NATA (2025 or 2026) or JEE Paper 2A came out higher (COMEDK 2026 architecture notification). The school's FAQ still describes COMEDK entry as needing a valid NATA score (admission FAQs), so a candidate holding only a Paper 2A score should confirm with the school before relying on that route.
• Management quota. The trust asks for copies of the 10th and 12th marks cards, the current year's CET, COMEDK or NATA score card, Aadhaar for the student and both parents, and PAN cards for both parents. The fee is paid by demand draft drawn on a parent's account; candidates from open-schooling boards such as NIOS need an AIU equivalence certificate, and those from foreign boards such as IB or Cambridge a UGC no-objection certificate (B.Arch admissions).

None of the school's admission pages lists JoSAA or a JEE Main rank as a route of its own.

Eligibility: Three Percentages on One Website

The minimum marks depend on which page of bmssa.ac.in is open. The main admissions page sets 45% across physics, chemistry, mathematics and one of biology, computer science or electronics, and wants 10+2 cleared at the first attempt (admissions). The B.Arch admissions page asks for 60% aggregate in mathematics, physics and chemistry (B.Arch admissions). The FAQ asks for 50% in the same three subjects, with a valid NATA score (admission FAQs).

COMEDK applies one rule. Its 2026 notification requires physics and mathematics as compulsory subjects with at least 45% in aggregate, or a 10+3 diploma with mathematics as a compulsory subject and 45% in aggregate, relaxed to 40% for SC, ST and OBC candidates of Karnataka (COMEDK 2026 architecture notification). The school's own admission-process sheet likewise defers to the Council of Architecture's 2020 minimum-standards regulations (admission process).

Diploma holders are admitted to the first semester only; there is no lateral entry into a later year of the B.Arch, and the FAQ names CET and management as their two routes (admission FAQs).

The counselling timetable for management seats is also stated two ways. The two admissions pages say counselling runs Monday to Saturday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM and that the trust office shuts on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays (admissions); the FAQ says Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, capped at 40 counsellings a day, with the 1st and 3rd Saturdays off (admission FAQs). Phoning the trust office before travelling across the city is sensible.

M.Arch and PhD

M.Arch entry runs through KEA's PGCET, which the school calls compulsory for Karnataka-domicile candidates; GATE holders get first preference in seat selection, PGCET rank holders come next, and management seats go on portfolio and interview (M.Arch admissions). PhD candidates need a master's degree and go through VTU's research aptitude test (VRAT), synopsis selection and a VTU interview (Ph.D admissions).

KEA's round 2 sheet gives the school closes in eight categories, while COMEDK's sheets show one Kalyana Karnataka close and a general-merit close that moved between rounds.

Yelahanka's COMEDK general-merit close slid from 479 after round 3 to 743 after round 4, a far wider swing than Bull Temple Road's move from 285 to 384 over the same rounds (COMEDK round-three closing ranks, COMEDK round-four closing ranks). Two Bengaluru rivals finished far ahead of Yelahanka on the same KEA sheet: the Bull Temple Road BMS college closed at 69 for general merit and R. V. College of Architecture at 82 (KEA second-round B.Arch ranks).

For an older reference point, the school's FAQ quotes its own 2023-24 ranges: CET general merit from rank 84 to 636, OBC from 268 to 654 and SC/ST from 515 to 653, and COMEDK general merit from 325 to 658 (admission FAQs). The FAQ names no round or source document for those ranges.

No NATA score cutoff is published by the school, KEA or COMEDK; for COMEDK the NATA or Paper 2A score is itself what the rank is built on. The Urban Design M.Arch, which admitted just 4 students in 2022-23 against 20 approved places (BMSSA's NIRF 2025 data file), shows no PGCET closing rank either: T973's row on KEA's 2025 final-round sheet is blank across categories (KEA PGCET 2025 closing ranks, final round).

Four B.Arch graduating batches, 2020-21 through 2023-24, appear across the two data files the school submitted to NIRF in 2024 and 2025.

Pay rose each year from a low base, reaching a Rs 2,10,000 median for 2023-24 (BMSSA's NIRF 2025 data file), while the Bull Temple Road college reported Rs 4,20,000 for its own 2023-24 batch (BMSCA's NIRF 2026 data file). The NIRF 2026 data the school has posted adds a 2024-25 row in which the median climbs again (NIRF 2026 data, BMSSA).

The years before NIRF tell a thinner story. The school's NAAC self-study recorded 24 outgoing students placed in 2019-20, 2 in each of 2018-19 and 2017-18, and none in 2016-17 or 2015-16 (NAAC self-study report, cycle 1).

The master's figures barely move: every M.Arch median reported is Rs 4,00,000, on graduating classes of 12, 15, 8 and 4, and only in 2023-24 did one graduate go unplaced, with 3 of the 4 placed (BMSSA's NIRF 2024 data file, BMSSA's NIRF 2025 data file).

The Training and Placement Cell is run by placement officer Ar. Navin Rajkumar with three faculty members. Its policy lets a student register once, bars anyone holding an offer letter from later drives, and states that the cell does not guarantee a job (placement cell). Recent sessions it lists include a portfolio design masterclass with Atkins and a panel discussion by REHAU India, both in 2024 (placement activities).

No highest package, recruiter list or company-wise offer count appears on bmssa.ac.in. The placement portfolio linked from the cell's page (placement cell) turns out to be an architectural design handbook of student projects rather than a placement report (BMSSA design handbook).

KEA and COMEDK publish their shares of the 120 B.Arch places; the management share is not itemised in either list.

Seats have not filled easily in 2026. At E215, 7 B.Arch places were still open going into KEA's third round, 5 in general merit and 2 in 2AG (KEA third-round unallotted seat list).

By COMEDK's final count after round 4 decision-making, dated 13.09.2026, 9 of the 36 COMEDK seats at Yelahanka were still empty; the Bull Temple Road college had 1 left and R. V. College of Architecture 4 (COMEDK final B.Arch vacancy list, COMEDK B.Arch seat and fee chart).

Earlier intakes show the same softness in some years: 119 joined in 2016-17, just 89 in 2017-18, then 120 and 119 (BMSSA's NIRF 2024 data file, BMSSA's NIRF 2025 data file). The M.Arch, approved for 20, admitted 8 in 2021-22 and 4 in 2022-23 (BMSSA's NIRF 2025 data file).

NIRF has ranked the school twice, and it was the lowest-placed of the Karnataka architecture schools in both tables.

Before 2024 it was absent from the list, including the 30-name table of 2023 (NIRF India Rankings 2023 architecture list). Four Karnataka schools finished above it in 2025: BMS College of Architecture (20th), Manipal School of Architecture and Planning (27th), the Ramaiah Institute of Technology (31st) and Christ University (34th) (NIRF India Rankings 2025 architecture list).

The two BMS schools have opposite profiles. Yelahanka's research and professional practice score of 24.85 in 2025 was well above the Bull Temple Road college's 13.91, but it trailed that college on every other parameter, by the widest margin on perception, where its 29.21 was less than half of 59.73 (NIRF India Rankings 2025 architecture list).

Research income is erratic. A lone project accounted for Rs 24,00,000 in 2022-23, but the following year's 13 projects, each from a different agency, raised Rs 2,26,500 between them, less than the Rs 2,63,500 that three consultancy jobs earned (BMSSA's NIRF 2025 data file).

The teaching buildings hold studios with projectors, two computer labs, a research consultancy lab, a pottery studio, a seminar hall and an auditorium, with lifts, wheelchairs and disabled-friendly toilets and parking shown on the infrastructure page (infrastructure). The NAAC self-study adds that the auditorium is air-conditioned and seats 250, and that the computer lab ran at a student-to-system ratio of 5:1 (NAAC self-study report, cycle 1).

Hands-on building work is a feature of the campus. A construction yard lets students build alongside masons and technicians (construction yard), and an annual week-long event called Constructorium has students working with bricks, ferro-cement, bar bending and space frames on site (Constructorium). The skill lab lists a Bosch table saw and mitre saw, an ESAB welding machine, a 3D printer and carpentry hand tools (skill lab), and the school is a nodal centre for Medini's Autodesk academic training (Autodesk center).

The library started with 600 volumes in 2010 and now lists more than 5340 books, 32 journals and magazines and over 880 B.Arch and M.Arch thesis reports, with VTU consortium e-resources and DrillBit plagiarism checking; it opens from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm, Monday to Saturday (library). Equipment buying peaked in 2022-23, when Rs 45,24,252 went into labs (BMSSA's NIRF 2025 data file).

Much of daily life is shared with BMSIT&M: a sports area of about 2.5 acres, the gymnasium, an open-air auditorium, the counselling room and the health centre (shared facilities). The school lists hostels for boys and girls and bus transport on 11 routes across the city (admission FAQs), but posts no hostel fee, room type or allotment rule. Study tours are compulsory, with ten-day guided national and international trips; the 2025 international tour went to Japan and the 2023 one to Europe (study tours).

Dr. Shaila Bantanur, Professor and Director, holds B.Arch and M.Arch degrees, an ITPI qualification and a PhD from IIT Roorkee (faculty). She is also member secretary of the school's Board of Governors, and her message credits former Director Dr. Sapna Papu with building the school up from 2010 (Director's message). Ar. Harish R is Dean, and Ar. Sunil Kumar N is Chief Proctor (contact).

The school describes itself as having about 500 students and 50 faculty (About Us), and its NIRF 2025 submission entered 51 faculty members (BMSSA's NIRF 2025 data file). The teaching mix leans on practice: the faculty page names a long list of visiting architects, including Ar. Alex Jacob, alongside engineers and an artist on the teaching staff (faculty).

Doctorates are scarce. In the NIRF 2026 data the school has posted, most teachers hold an M.Arch, and only four of those listed as currently working hold a PhD: Shaila Bantanur, D Harinadha Reddy, Pavan Kumar and Elza Dcruz (NIRF 2026 data, BMSSA). The same table marks 12 teachers as visiting and nine as ad hoc or contractual.

The website roster lags the NIRF data. It still shows Ar. Himadri Das as a Professor, whom that data records as having left in 2022, and it lists Dr. Elza D'Cruz as a Professor where the NIRF data classes her as visiting (faculty, NIRF 2026 data, BMSSA).

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