NID plans more centres in metros

National Institute of Design (NID) has submitted a proposal to the Union government for setting up four NID centres in major metros including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore.

"We have already submitted a proposal to the government and NID is awaiting a nod from the Centre, so take things forward," said Darlie O Koshy, executive director of NID.

About setting up a NID branch in Gandhinagar, Koshy said that apart from centres in metros, the institute will shortly open an automobile design centre in Gandhinagar.

On NID's focus on new avenues in designing, Koshy said, "NID is giving more focus on animation, computer game designs, automobiles and jewellery as these segments need more experiments on designs."

NID is also organising a three-day international conference at Ahmedabad on design education, tradition and modernity (DETM 2005) in the Indian sub-continent from March 2.

At least 60 internationally renowned designers, design academicians, practitioners and researchers and three hundred participants are going to attend the event which will produce a declaration on design education at the end of the conference.

The conference will be the first ever such event to be held in the Indian subcontinent. Over 90 presenters of international repute and more than 350 participants covering about 27 countries from America, Europe, Australia, Africa, Middle East, south east Asia, China, Korea, Pakistan are expected to attend the event.

The objective of conference on design education is to provide a platform for defining the vision and future directions of design education in contemporary scenario and to bring together the academic design community, design researchers and design professionals for deliberating on the emerging issues related to design education in the context of changing paradigm and globalisation, the NID executive director said.

The conference will focus on design research and new curriculum development, evaluation methods and practices and design competency.