UCEED vs NID - Which is Better?

If you are seeking admission to a B.Des course, you may probably have this question in mind - which is better between UCEED and NID? In this article, we try to explain the differences and tell you which exam could fit your profile.

Candidates seeking admission to design courses may have the option of appearing in the NID DAT or UCEED exam. If you are in intermediate and planning to appear in any of these exams, it is only natural to ask the questions - UCEED vs NID - Which is better? It is because every candidate wants to get into the best design institute with good placement records. Also, the academic curriculum of the institute is another important criterion when deciding to appear in an entrance exam. So, in this article, we try to decipher, between UCEED and NID, which is better. Or in simple terms, which entrance exam do you need to appear in?

IIT Bombay will conduct the UCEED 2025 exam tentatively in the 3rd week of January 2025. Meanwhile, the DAT Prelims exam will be held around the 4th week of December 2025.

Scores UCEED exam will be considered for admission to 225 B.Des seats offered by UCEED 2025 participating colleges. Meanwhile, the NID DAT 2025 merit rank will be considered for admission to 425 B.Des seats offered by NID DAT 2025 participating colleges.

UCEED vs NID - Highlights

The important distinctions, and also similarities, between NID DAT and UCEED are given below.

Exam Name	UCEED	NID DAT
Conducting Body	IIT Bombay	National Institute of Design (NID)
Exam structure	A single-stage exam, which comprises: Two parts - Part A and Part B Part B answer booklets are evaluated only if the candidate qualifies Part A	Two-stage exam. DAT Prelims DAT Mains Candidates are shortlisted for DAT Mains based on DAT Prelims scores.
Mode of exam	Part is conducted in computer-based mode. Part B is held offline	DAT Prelims - paper-and-pencil/pen test. DAT Mains - Offline
Duration of the exam	3 hours	Both DAT Prelims exam for the B.Des program is 3 hours, while the M.Des exam is 2 hours and 30 minutes long.  DAT Mains will be 3 hours each.
Exam Level	National Level	National Level
Frequency of the exam	Once a year	Once a year

Courses offered through NID and UCEED

Before we decide which is better between UCEED and NID, we need to be first of all aware of the courses offered based on these exams.

The scores of UCEED 2025 will be considered for admission to the B.Des courses offered by participating and result-sharing institutes. On the other hand, the scores of NID DAT 2025 will be considered for admission to the B.Des, M.Des, and Ph.D. courses offered by participating colleges of NID DAT 2025.

UCEED vs NID - Seat Intake

There are five participating institutes of UCEED 2025 that offer a combined intake of 225 seats.

Institute	Open	Open-PWD	EWS	EWS-PWD	OBC-NCL	OBC-PWD	SC	SC-PwD	ST	ST-PwD	Total
IIT Bombay	14	1	4	0	9	0	5	0	3	1	37
IIT Delhi	7	1	2	0	5	0	3	0	2	0	20
IIT Guwahati	23	0	5	1	15	0	7	1	3	1	56
IIT Hyderabad	10	0	3	0	6	1	4	0	2	0	26
IIT Jabalpur	26	1	6	0	17	1	10	0	4	1	66
lIT Roorkee	7	1	2	0	5	0	3	0	2	0	20
Total	87	4	22	1	57	3	32	1	16	2	225

The NIDs have a combined intake of 425 seats for the B.Des program.  

NID DAT 2025 Participating Colleges and Seat Intake

S. No	Participating Institute	Seat Intake for B.Des program
1	NID Ahmedabad	125
2	NID Andhra Pradesh	75
3	NID Haryana	75
4	NID Madhya Pradesh	75
5	NID Assam	75
	Total	425

The intake capacity for the M.Des program is 347 seats.

Also Read:

• NID DAT 2024 Toppers - All India Rank, Scores, Interviews
• What is a Good Score in NID DAT

UCEED 2025 Participating Colleges and Seat Intake

S.No	NID Campus	Seat Intake
1	NID Ahmedabad	126
2	NID Gandhinagar	126
3	NID Bengaluru	95
	Total Intake	347

UCEED vs NID - Exam Pattern

The exam patterns for the NID DAT 2025 and UCEED 2025 exams are given below.

UCEED 2025 exam pattern

The UCEED 2025 exam will have two parts. Part A will be conducted in a computer-based mode, whereas Part B will be held offline. Note that IIT Bombay has recently revised the UCEED 2025 syllabus and exam pattern. 

Part B of the exam will now have TWO sections and two questions - One on Drawing and the other on Design aptitude.

Part A of the UCEED 2025 question paper will continue to have three sections.

• Numerical Answer Type (NAT)
• Multiple Select Question (MSQ)
• Multiple Choice Question (MCQ)

Exam pattern of UCEED 2025

Particulars	Part A	Part B
Maximum Time	2 hours, 30 hours	60 minutes
Mode of Exam	Online as a Computer Based Test (CBT)	Offline
Medium of Instruction	English	English
Number of Questions	68	2
Types of questions asked	The paper will have three types of questions: Numerical Answer Type (NAT) Multiple Select Question (MSQ) Multiple Choice Question (MCQ)	Sketching-based Design Aptitude-based
Total Marks	240	60

NID DAT 2025 (Prelims) exam pattern - B.Des 

The candidate may go through the exam pattern for the NID DAT 2025 exam below.

• Duration - The duration of the DAT Prelims paper for the B.Des program isn’t fixed. The structure and pattern of the question paper will be outlined in the NID DAT 2025 admit card.
• Mode of the exam - Paper-and-pencil/pen test
• Type of questions - The question paper may include textual and visual questions
• Language of the question paper - English 

UCEED vs NID - Placement Record

The placement report is one way to decide UCEED vs NID - which is better. So, check out the placement reports for the UCEED and NID participating colleges below.

NID placement report

NID Package level 2023	Salary 2023
Highest	INR 18 LPA
Average	INR 4.91 LPA
Lowest	INR 1.5 LPA

B.Des placement for UCEED graduates

NID Graduate	Salary Per Annrum
Median Salary	INR 18 LPA