Life at NID Ahmedabad: 24/7 learning experience

Have you ever wondered how life would be at one of the top NIDs? If you do, then this article will provide some answers to some of your questions and maybe help you clear any doubts regarding studying in a NID.

Campus Life at NID Ahmedabad - The NIDs are among the most popular design colleges in the country. So, it is not a surprise that there is constant curiosity among aspiring students as to what it is like to be a student of these institutes. The students want to know what is the daily life at the NIDs, the admission process, course options, etc.  

So, here we bring the details directly from the horse's mouth.

A Graphic Design student from NID Ahmedabad, Prabuddha Das shares that he joined this design college because he was always interested in this field.

Prabuddha further shared that he loved to draw and sketch and he took his hobby a step further and pursued a design course from NID and finally made a career out of his hobby.

NID is a premier design college and the best part of pursuing a course here lies in how well trained and approachable the faculty is. Apart from that, students from all walks of life come here to study design and this makes the learning experience even more enriching.

For a more detailed account on how life actually is at NID Ahmedabad, go through the interview below:

Q. When and why did you think of joining a course in design?

A. I come from Madhubani, a small town in Bihar, I had no idea about an institute like National Institute of Design wherein design courses are offered and that it is a premium design college. But my brother was studying at Indian Institute of Craft and Design, Jaipur which is a sister institute of NID. So, in my first year of Bachelor’s in Commerce, he told me about this college and asked me to fill its form. I filled NID’s application just a month before the exam was to be held.

I had a lot of interest in sketching and fine arts. Along with my regular UG course, I was pursuing a correspondence course in Fine Arts as well. My brother knew I had interest in this field and so he asked me to apply for admission here.

Q. Please explain the admission process at NID.

A. To secure admission at NID, you need to appear for a written exam which takes place in the first week of January every year. This is followed by a Studio Test which also has audio-visual questiones and finally one has to appear for the interview round.

Q. Could you elaborate on the course options one has in the field of design?

A. Firstly, everyone has to complete the foundation programme in design and thereafter in the second year they are given choice to select their preferred design stream in which they want to specialise. Here they can opt for Product Design, Furniture Design, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Textile Design, Animation, Film and Video Design as well as Exhibition Design.

Q. Which course did you pursue at NID and why?

A. I pursued Graphic Design at NID because I thought that it was the best suited course for me.

Q. What career options does one have when they pursue a design course?

A. Most NID graduates opt to invest their time and energy in start-ups. However, some even join MNCs basically to gain experience of the corporate world and finally after 5-6 years of working, they eventually establish their own firm/start-up.

And students who pursue UG programmes at NID often opt for further studies abroad.

Q. Which is the most popular branch/specialisation in design?

A. Students at NID mostly select their discipline based on their interest rather than looking for some popular branches. As such there is no preferred branch but normally most people opt to pursue Product Design.

Product Design is popular because of the workshop designated for it at NID as well as the career scope. But the primary reason is that most students have a lot of interest in this field. It is a versatile discipline and provides you with many options.

Q. Was life at NID exactly as you expected or was it a little different from what you had heard before?

A. It was a little different for me as I faced a little cultural shock. The student-faculty ratio was quite good about which I did not know before. Earlier, I had an impression that there will be a lot of hierarchy and teachers will be very strict but at NID there is no hierarchy.

The faculty at NID is your guide as well as your friend. The atmosphere of the college is very good and I easily adjusted to the norms and ways of the college. It was a very welcoming feeling.

Q. Can you list 5 really good things about NID Ahmedabad?

A. One of the really good things about NID is the hostel life. You are on campus 24X7. Other good things about the college are the faculty and students. There is a lot of opportunity to exchange information and use resources. So, if you are not staying on campus then it limits you from using these resources.

Apart from this, the college is multidisciplinary in nature and offers students with cross-learning opportunity.

The student-faculty relationship is really good and that is what sets NID apart from other design colleges.

The college also has many on-going activities in the form of internal as well as inter-college festivals, workshops, national and international competitions which happen frequently. Such activities keep the spirit of the students high throughout the year.

Q. Talk about 5 things you would want to change about the college?

A. Well the thing I had in mind has already been changed. Earlier, NID used to offer a diploma course as in diploma certificate which proved to be a problem for anyone who wanted to pursue higher education. But now NID has been listed as an institute of national importance by the Parliament and so now the college offers degrees which I earlier felt should be the case.

Apart from this, we have two campuses which are – NID Gandhinagar and the Paldi campus. So, if two of them are together then this multidisciplinary and cross learning possibilities would have been more. Other than this, NID has no negative point worth listed. It is a very good design college for learning.

Q. Are students given any preference in the industry after they pursue a design course from NID?

A. Yes, certainly there is the advantage. First of all the standard of education is very good and so you are taught every aspect of the specialisation that you choose and apart from that the tag of the college also helps.

Q. As part of NID curriculum do you have to undergo any internship as well?

A. Yes, we had to undergo internships. After the third year one has to undergo internship as part of the curriculum. So, I ended up pursuing three internships at different intervals. One I did with ‘Vikalp Design’ located at Udaipur, my second internship was with ‘Eklavya’ which is an NGO and the third one was my final project which I did with Siddhartha Studio, Delhi.

These internships really helped me when I went out to apply for a job. I was a student of Graphic Design and I wanted to migrate to – User Experience and Interaction Design field and my last project really helped me bag my first job.

Q. So, do you have any word of advice for students who want to pursue a design course at NID?

A. For students who want to pursue a design course at NID, I just want to say that they should keep their eyes open and work hard for the NID entrance exam. The kind of questions put forth by the college for shortlisting candidates are quite unexpected and it’s better to go through the questions asked in previous years of the exam before you appear for the exam.

Aspirants should bear this in mind not only for NID entrance exam but also at other design colleges because all the colleges follow a similar pattern and thus, will prove beneficial for them.

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