NID alumni to take part in placements

After the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), it is the turn of the National Institute of Design (NID) to offer its past students an opportunity to sit for placements and industry interface with current students to enable them to relocate for better work prospects.

Also, the institute is set to charge placement fees from the companies visiting the campus for placements this year for the first time.

This year, 185 students from different disciplines would graduate from the institute. Around 35 companies, including Honda R&D, M&M, General Motors Design and OGS Animation, would be able to absorb students for a placement fee of Rs 5,000.

"We are encouraging the NID alumni to take part in the placement process this year to enable better work prospects for them," Darlie O Koshy, executive director of NID, told Business Standard.

From December-January 2008, NID is set to host a series of events starting from the 7th Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)-NID Design Summit at Bangalore, a workshop by the Association of Indian Design Industry (AIDI), a design fair and the institute's 28th convocation and industry interface.

Of the 185 students who are graduating this year, 48 are from textile and apparel, 27 from product, 19 from graphic, 15 from animation film design, 13 from film and video communication, eight from ceramic and glass design, six from furniture and interior design, five from lifestyle accessory, five from toy design and development, five from exhibition design and four from strategic design management.

Of the 30 students from the postgraduate (PG) campus, Gandhinagar, 13 are from Information and digital design, 11 from software and user interface design and six from new media design. The convocation on Dec 15 will be presided over by Arun Firodia, chairman of the Kinetic Group.

At the 'Design Idea Fair', which was started as a means to encourage student designers and professionals to protect their designs using the intellectual property rights (IPR) laws, close to 34 design ideas were showcased last year. This year, the number will go up to 40.