Top Design Colleges in India 2023: Ranking, Courses, Fees & Placements

Design is one of the popular and creative courses in India that is pursued by candidates at UG, PG, and PhD levels to become skillful designers. There are various specialisations offered by design colleges, such as interior design, fashion design, graphic design, web design, etc., in B.Des, M.Des, or advanced diploma courses. Designers are in huge demand due to the growth of the IT sector and design industry in the past few years. Top design colleges in India provide relevant knowledge and exposure to the students to design and develop aesthetic solutions and products to cater to the needs of the modern world.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Design Colleges in India
Specialisation-wise Design Colleges in India
Fee Structure for Top Design Colleges in India
Entrance Exams accepted for Design Colleges
Admission and Eligibility Criteria for Design Colleges
Cut Off for Top Design Colleges in India
Scope of Design
Design Colleges’ Placements
FAQs

Top 10 Design Colleges in India

Following is the list of the top 10 design colleges in India:

Ranking	Name of the College	B.Des Total Fees (INR)
1	National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi	11,00,000
2	National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bengaluru	6,50,000
3	National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chennai	9,00,000
4	Indian Institute of Art and Design (IIAD), Delhi	4,50,000
5	National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Patna	3,00,000
6	National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Gandhinagar	8,00,000
7	National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Hyderabad	8,00,000
8	Pearl Academy, New Delhi	9,00,000
9	National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Kolkata	7,00,000
10	Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID), Ahmedabad	18,00,000

Specialisation-wise Design Colleges in India

Top design colleges in India offer design courses in various specialisations such as textile design, fashion design, interior design, product design, graphic design, etc. Students can choose from the multiple specialisations based on career opportunities and placement packages. Below mentioned are some of the top specialisations from design colleges in India:

Top Fashion Design Colleges in India

Fashion Design is one of the most popular and lucrative specialisations among students due to the increasing technology and growth of the fashion industry. Students can work in top MNCs, retail industry, or independent design houses as fashion designers. Listed below are some of the top colleges for fashion designing in India:

National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru
Pearl Academy, Delhi
National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad

Top Graphic Design Colleges in India

Graphic design is a visual form of communication that uses words, images, videos, animation to create brochures and displays. Graphic designers are high in demand to work in advertising agencies, design studios, and design firms. Below mentioned are some of the top graphic designing colleges in India:

Industrial Design Centre (IDC), IIT Bombay
National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad

Fee Structure for Top Design Colleges in India

Design colleges in India offer undergraduate, post-graduate, diploma courses such as B.Des, M.Des, etc. The fee structure for these courses ranges from low to high, depending on the type of college and the amenities. Below listed is the fees in top private and public design colleges in India:

B.Des Fees in Private Colleges

Below mentioned is the B.Des fees in top private design colleges in India:

Name of Private Colleges	B.Des Fees Structure (Total Fees INR)
Amity University, Noida	7,56,000
Avantika University, Ujjain	8,90,000
International Institute of Fashion Design, Pune	2,50,000
School of Design, MIT WPU	11,00,000

B.Des Fees in Public Colleges

Listed below is the B.Des fees in the top public design colleges in India:

Name of Public Colleges	B.Des Fees Structure (Total Fees INR)
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay	9,23,000
Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad	8,00,000
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Kolkata	7,00,000
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chennai	9,00,000

M.Des Fees in Private Colleges

Check out the fees structure for M.Des courses in top private design colleges in India:

Name of Private Colleges	M.Des Fees Structure (Total Fees INR)
Amity University, Noida	3,15,000
Avantika University, Ujjain	2,00,000
International Institute of Fashion Design, Pune	3,00,000
School of Design, MIT WPU	4,00,000

M.Des Fees in Public Colleges

Here is the fees structure for M.Des courses in the top public design colleges in India:

Name of Public Colleges	M.Des Fees Structure (Total Fees INR)
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay	82,000
Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad	1,00,000
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Kolkata	4,10,800
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chennai	2,30,000

Entrance Exams Accepted by Design Colleges

Top design colleges in India offer admission to the students based on the marks obtained in various national or state-level entrance examinations. Below mentioned are some of the popular entrance exams for design courses:

UCEED
NIFT
NID
MAT
NATA
SEED
MITID DAT
Amity JEE
GATE
LPU NEST

Admission and Eligibility Criteria for Design Colleges

Admission to the top design colleges is granted based on the rank secured in the national or state level entrance exams, which is merit-based admission. Check out the eligibility criteria for admission to design colleges in India:

Eligibility Criteria for Design Colleges

All the design colleges set standard guidelines for the students to participate in the admission process. Candidates must qualify the minimum eligibility criteria set by the administration for admission to design courses. Listed below are the general eligibility criteria for design colleges in India:

To pursue an undergraduate course, candidates must have passed 10+2 from a recognised state or central board of secondary education with a minimum of 50% marks in any stream and have a good score in any national or state-level design entrance exams.
Aspirants must have completed a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 50% marks for admission to PG courses.

Admission in Design Colleges

There are 1670 design colleges in India that offer UG, PG, and diploma courses. Top design colleges grant admission to the candidates based on the entrance exam scores and academic merit. Following are the general admission criteria for admission to design colleges in India:

NIFT is one of the most popular entrance exams to take admission in the design colleges in India. It is an entrance test for admission to UG and PG courses conducted for 18 NIFTs across the nation, followed by Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds.
Candidates can visit the official website of the college of their choice for registration and fill the application form along with the entrance exam details.
After submitting the application form, candidates will update the required information and documents by paying the application fees.

Cut Off for Top Design Colleges in India

Top design colleges in India release multiple cut-off lists for various rounds based on the merit scores in the entrance exams. The cut-off may vary every year based on certain factors such as the difficulty level of the paper and the number of candidates appearing in the examinations. UCEED, NID, NIFT entrance exams are some of the popular exams for admission to design courses. Below mentioned is the cut-off for some of the design entrance exams:

UCEED Cut Off

Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design (UCEED) is a national-level entrance exam conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay to offer B.Des courses at IITs and IIITDM. Below listed is the UCEED cut-off for some of the top colleges:

Name of the Colleges	UCEED Cut-Off (Rank-wise)
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay	1-15
Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati	17-60
Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad	21-53
Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Jabalpur	55-92

NIFT Cut Off

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is a national-level exam for admission to UG and PG courses such as B.Des, M.Des, MFM, etc. The cut-off for fashion design at top NIFT colleges is mentioned below:

Name of the Colleges	NIFT Cut-Off (Rank-wise)
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Hyderabad	422
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru	264
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Gandhinagar	362
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Chennai	784

Scope of Design

The demand for proficient designers is increasing at a rapid pace with the growth of the design industry. Students get many high-paying job opportunities and career prospects after completing design courses from the top design colleges across the country. Below mentioned is the scope of design courses:

After completing design courses, candidates can work in various sectors such as export houses, leather companies, fashion show organisers, textile mills, jewellery design houses, etc.
Students can pursue Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) or Bachelor of Design (B.Des) in fashion design, product design, interior design, etc., to get jobs in various job profiles such as Fashion Designer, Product Marketer, UI Designer, etc.
Many students also prefer to pursue a diploma or higher studies such as M.Des in leather design, ceramic design, interior design, etc., that provide better career prospects and exposure.

Design Colleges’ Placements

Students can get good career and placement opportunities in top companies or industries from top design colleges in India. As per PayScale, the average entry-level package for a designer in India is 3-4 LPA. Below mentioned are the recruiters for top design colleges:

Top Design Recruiters

Listed below are some of the recruiters from the top design colleges in India:

Name of the Colleges	Top Recruiters
Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad	TCS, Snapdeal, Microsoft
Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati	Microsoft, Myntra, Flipkart, Nutanix
School of Design, MIT WPU, Pune	IBM, Ford Motors, Fujitsu, Amazon
Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune	Deloitte, Cognizant, Huawei, Microsoft, Mindtree, Whirlpool, BookMyShow
Arch College of Design and Business, Jaipur	Zara, Myntra, H&M, Lifestyle

FAQs

Q. What is the duration of a B.Des course?

A.Bachelor of Design (B.Des) is a 4-years duration course.

Q. What are the popular specialisations for design courses in India?

A. Some of the popular specialisations for design courses are interior design, fashion design, textile design, etc.