The National Institute of Design (NID) will soon be declared a Centre of Excellence through an Act of Parliament, bringing it on par with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). 

"The institute has been providing contextual and cross-disciplinary education and our students have done well both nationally as well as internationally, but till now, we were just awarding postgraduate diplomas. NID will be able to award Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees after it has been declared as a centre of excellence. Many steps have been taken by the ministry of commerce and industry to implement the recommendations envisaged in the National Design Policy," says Pradyumna Vyas, director, NID. 

The process of declaring NID a centre of excellence was set in motion around two years ago. There is a growing need of excellent designers and so to attract students from all over India, four new NID campuses will be set up — Jorhat, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Kurukshetra. These campuses will be functional in 2017, as per the 12Five-Year Plan. 

"We have acquired 30 acres of land in Jorhat, Hyderabad and Bhopal, while 20 acres of land in Kurukshetra, where these campuses will be set up with a capacity of 500 students in Jorhat, 1,000 in Hyderabad, 500 in Bhopal and Kurukshetra, each. These campuses will serve as catalysts in furthering the design needs of industries , by treating the needs of the regional industries — small, medium, village or cottage. They will also attract students from different parts of India and bring quality design education to them." 

Four broad areas will be taught — industrial design, communication design , textile and apparel design and IT integrated design. Initially Rs 550 crore have been invested in setting up these campuses.