Design Institutes in India Offering Lateral Entry Admissions

One of the top design institutes NIFT conducts its own rounds of tests and interview for lateral entry admissions. Scroll down to know the complete list of design institutes in India offering Lateral Entry Admissions.

Lateral Entry admissions are for those students who have completed their diploma or graduation in the relevant field and wish to get into design colleges. It is a special entry system where budding aspirants can get direct admission to the second year of the design institutes. Many design institutes provide lateral admissions and have their own eligibility criteria.  

In the regular admission scheme, the candidate gets admission to the 1st year.

While not many colleges offer the lateral admission scheme, there are still a good colleges that offer the option and you can check out here.

The most prominent colleges that offer the lateral admisison scheme are the NIFTs. Yes, you heard it right. The top-most design colleges in India offers this option for eligible candidates.

The NIFT 2025 exam will be conducted tentatively in February 2025; online applications for NIFT are expected to OPEN in December 2024.

To learn more about lateral entry to a design program, keep reading! 

National Institute of Fashion Technology(NIFT)

NIFT lateral entry admission (NLEA) is the process through which candidates can secure admission directly in the third semester of UG courses offered at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Candidates can go through the admission tests that they would need to appear for when seeking admission through NIFT lateral entry admission (NLEA) in the table below.

Name of Course	Test (Tentative Dates)	Weightage
Bachelor of Design (B.Des)	GAT Timing: 1st week of February 2025	40%
	Studio Test Timing: April 2025	40%
	Personal Interview Timing: April 2025	20%
	Verification of documents/eligibility Timing: April 2025
Bachelor of Fashion Technology (B.F.Tech)	GAT Timing: 1st week of February 2025	40%
	TAT Timing: April 2025	40%
	Personal Interview Timing: April 2025	20%
	Verification of documents/eligibility Timing: April 2025

Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE)

Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Karnataka offers lateral admissions to UG design programmes. Applicants must have passed a 10+3 year diploma in fashion design from a recognized institute to apply for lateral admission. One can check the latest updates for design 2025 admissions at https://manipal.edu/foa/program-list/BDes-Interior-Design-Lateral.html.

 

Pearl Academy

Aspirants studying in other creative design colleges or universities in similar course may apply for lateral admission to Pearl Academy via the Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) or the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) entry. Students can contact Career Advisor on Pearl official site before registration under APL category. Pearl’s APL Admission Panel will assess candidates. When they got selected Pearl call them directly for a personal interview for lateral admission purpose.

 

World University of Design (WUD)

World University of Design, ranked 2nd in the Top 10 Private Universities. Students need to mention the details about their diploma while applying for lateral entry into relevant courses in the second/third year. One must be well-versed in drawing, sketching and other design exam topics to get into such colleges.

 

United World Institute of Design (UID)

UID offers lateral admissions that are subject to the availability of seats and are allotted on the basis of choice-cum-merit. It is a constituent college of Karnavati University. Candidates have to submit a written application form in the prescribed format along with an application fee. The admissions are done on the basis of portfolio evaluation of students for particular semesters of B.des.

 

Other Colleges Offering Design Lateral Entry Admissions:

Shiksha has jotted down some top Design colleges in India offering lateral entry admissions to the aspirants. One can check the latest 2023 lateral entry admission updates here:

College Name	City	Admission Process
Karnavati University	Gandhinagar, Gujarat	Merit-based
Pearl Academy	Jaipur, Rajasthan	Personal Interview
Indian Institute of Art & Design	New Delhi, Delhi	Personal Interview and Portfolio Analysis
UID Ahmedabad	Gandhinagar, Gujarat	Entrance Exam
LISAA School of Design	New Delhi, Delhi	Portfolio Analysis and Personal Interview
Amity University	Mumbai, Maharashtra	Merit-Based
CREO Valley	Bangalore, Karnataka	Merit-Based
Sanskriti University	Mathura, Uttar Pradesh	Merit-Based
Lovely Professional University	Phagwara, Punjab	Merit-Based
Jagannath University	Jaipur, Rajasthan	Merit-Based

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