Soon, NID to become centre of excellence

Will get Rs 25-crore fund from central govt for infrastructure development

The National Institute of Design (NID) will soon be declared a Centre of Excellence for Design and will get a funding of Rs 25 crore for infrastructure development from the Centre. The announcement was made by Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textile Anand Sharma on the sidelines of his inaugurating NID's PG campus at Gandhinagar on Wednesday.

"Once the NID Bill gets the Cabinet's nod next week after approval, the institute will be declared a National Centre of Excellence for Design. This will put NID on par with other IITs and IIMs in the country. After the legal vetting of the Act comes through, we will be further providing a fund outlay of Rs 25 crore for development of a Jewellery Design Centre, Automobile Design and Research Centre, a Recreation centre and mess facility," he said.

While the institute has been crafting the NID Act since two years, the flush of funds promised will be part of the Centre's Twelfth Five Year Plans that will be materialised by next year.

"Once the Bill is cleared by the Cabinet, NID will be able to provide undergraduate and post-graduate degrees to both national and international students in design. It had been offering diplomas up until now. More importantly, we will also be able to award PHDs, that can help us push for design reforms in the country and to create a knowledge base for future," said Pradyumna Vyas, Director of NID, Ahmedabad.

Adding that four new NIDs were also coming up in the country, Vyas said, "The four NID's together will have a intake capacity of 2,500 students. In Hyderabad, we have already finalised a 30-acre campus with a intake of 1,000 students. We plan to have a capacity of 500 students each at the Jorhat, Bhopal and Kurukshetra campus. The land in all these places has been scouted and now work on the campus infrastructure will begin."

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