NID set to shift to new campus in Amaravati

Amaravati: Adding another feather in the cap of capital Amaravati, the National Institute of Design, Vijayawada, which is presently running its temporary campus on the premises of Acharya Nagarjuna University in Guntur, is planning to shift to its own premises to come up in Amaravati region in a sprawling 50 acre land allotted by the state government. The NID-V, was established in September 2015 as an autonomous institute under the Department of Industrial Planning and Promotion(DIPP) Union ministry of commerce and industry. It is the only NID to come up in the entire south India, since NID, Ahmedabad, was set up five decades ago.

It is the first NID to be set up in accordance with the National Design Policy, approved by Parliament in 2007 for establishing four new NIDs across the country which include Kurukshetra in Haryana (started in 2016), Jorhat in Assam and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, both yet to be set up.

NID-V has successfully completed two batches of 4-year graduate diploma programme in design in three broader groups viz., Industrial Design, Communication Design and Textile and Apparel Design. Each batch consists of 60 students and admission to 4-year graduate diploma is done through a common written entrance test (Design Aptitude Test), conducted in 18 major cities across the country for all NIDs. Shortlisted candidates of the test will be called for a studio test and personal interview for final selection.

According to Prof Nikhil Saxena, Consultant Dean of NID-V, though the classes are presently running temporarily on ANU campus, all the heavy machinery and equipment for conducting practicals and making prototypes have been placed properly in the studio rooms, which are essential for the students.

“We have nine faculty members in the ratio of 1:15 and for each programme, the number of students will be 20. Experts, professionals and designers from various fields will also teach the students as visiting faculty members. Our permanent buildings are under construction in the Amaravati area near to VIT and by next year (2018), we are likely to shif there. Presently, the students have been provided with hostel facility in a private apartment from where they are transported to campus by buses and after completion of permanent buildings by next year, this problem will be resolved,” he said.

However, only one student from AP and two students from Telangana are pursuing their third-year degree in the institution. According to P Karthik, the student from AP, who is the one and only day scholar in the entire NID-V; most of the students who joined here belong to northern states, who are more interested in design courses. “From south India, there are students from Kerala.

The youth of both the Telugu states are more interested in professional courses like engineering and medicine and opt for IT jobs. But, there are plenty of opportunities for the graduates of NID, such as consultants for industries concerned to various fields and also, they can work as freelance designers even for film industry. The visual communication course provides classes in cinematography, graphic designing, animation, branding, television and film-making will offers ample opportunities to the students, who wish to join in communication fields,” he said.

NID-V has provided latest machinery and equipment including large screen computers for giving best practical training to the students. “We have the best machinery, which is imported one which can even cut and mould any metal. We are even having touch screen computer systems, where we can draw sketches with our finger tips. Students will be trained with perfection and after every semester (every six months) the jury (faculty from Ahmedabad and expert designers) will judge the prototypes (models) designed by the students, which will be exhibited and give marks.

There will not be written examinations for the students and they have to exhibit their prototypes, which will decide their abilities. The 4-year graduate diploma programme in three broader groups will provide good career opportunities from industry and advance education opportunities from the design schools of repute,” Mohan Singh, Design Inspector of NID-V said.

By T Sudhakar