House panel visits NID to assess ‘excellence’ claim

A nine-member team of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance led by chairman Shanta Kumar visited the National Institute of Design (NID) campus on Thursday to assess its claim for becoming a Centre of Excellence (CoE).

The team, with members from both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, saw display work by students of various courses and interacted with the faculty members and students before moving to Gandhinagar to meet state government officials. The NID bill is expected to be put forward during the monsoon session of the Parliament, seeking to bring it at par with the IIT's.

"This is in line with the procedure for the NID bill to be cleared . The team took a look at the facilities and education offered. They also saw the students' diploma projects along with the socio-economic development projects taken up by different departments," said Pradyumna Vyas, Director, NID.

In 2009, the UGC (University Grants Commission) had rejected the institute's plea for deemed university status. To retain its autonomy, NID's governing council had drawn up a draft to apply for the CoE like the IIT's and NIFT Act.

"Once the institute is declared a Centre of Excellence(CoE), we can offer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees rather than diplomas and PhD Degrees, while maintaining our autonomy in terms of curriculum and pedagogy. We want NID to be at par with institutes like IITs," added Vyas.

The bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on March 11, 2013 and had then been referred to the Committee on Commerce headed by BJP leader Shanta Kumar.

Presently, NID is recognised as an autonomous body under the DIPP( Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Source: Indian Express