UCEED Exam Date:18 Jan' 26 - 18 Jan' 26
Indian Indian Institute of Technology Indore is the newest IIT to join UCEED. It admitted its first batch of B.Des students last year. With the addition of IIT Indore, the total number of IITs in the UCEED entrance exam currently stands at six. The only non-IIT that is part of the Undergraduate Common Entrance Exam for Design is IIITDM Jabalpur, which has been part of the design entrance exam for more than six years. Analysis of the UCEED 2025-26 cut-off of IIT Indore and IIITDM Jabalpur shows interesting insights. In this article, let’s find out how the data corroborates the popularity of the IIT brand among students
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Candidates shortlisted in UCEED 2026 will be eligible to secure admission into the 4-year B.Des programme of participating IITs and other result-sharing institutes.
IIT Indore started admitting the first batch of students into its 4-year B.Des programme in 2025-26. It is the newest institute and IIT in the UCEED exam. The institute offers the B.Des programme through its School of Innovation. IIT Indore offers 16 B.Des seats
IIITDM Jabalpur started its B.Des programmes a decade ago. Even though it is not an IIT, IIITDM Jabalpur is considered an Institute of National Importance and is among the top design colleges in India. IIITDM Jabalpur offers 66 B.Des seats.
Category | IIT Indore | IIITDM Jabalpur |
Open | 6 | 25 |
Open-PwD | 1 | 1 |
EWS | 2 | 6 |
EWS-PwD | 0 | 1 |
OBC-NCL | 4 | 18 |
OBC-NCL PwD | 0 | 0 |
SC | 2 | 10 |
SC PwD | 0 | 0 |
ST | 1 | 4 |
ST-PwD | 0 | 1 |
Total | 16 | 66 |
The UCEED cut-off shows that the closing ranks for IIT Indore are much higher than IIIDM Jabalpur. This indicates that higher-ranked candidates prefer to opt for IIT Indore during the UCEED counselling rounds. IIT Indore has emerged as a preferred choice ahead of the much older IIITDM Jabalpur in UCEED
Although the B.Des programme is newly launched and there is no precedent for candidates to rely on, they are opting for IIT Indore over IIITDM Jabalpur, which is the participating non-IIT. Past UCEED cut-off trends show that IIITDM Jabalpur has the lowest cut-off among participating institutes in UCEED. Despite the addition of a new IIT, the trend still remains unbroken.
This goes on to show that students still prefer and value the IIT Brand that comes along with pursuing B.Des at IIT Indore.
The tables below provide the category-wise opening and closing ranks for IIT Indore and IIITDM Jabalpur last year for five rounds of counselling. The cut-offs are much higher for IIT Indore than IIITDM Jabalpur. A smaller number of seats at IIT Indore could also be at play for this higher preference for IIT Indore.
Category | IIT Indore | IIITDM Jabalpur | ||
Opening Rank | Closing Rank | Opening Rank | Closing Rank | |
Open | 56 | 80 | 78 | 144 |
Open-PwD | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 |
EWS | 19 | 22 | 21 | 30 |
OBC-NCL | 49 | 54 | 45 | 78 |
SC | 23 | 24 | 30 | 42 |
ST | 13 | 13 | 14 | 18 |
Category | IIT Indore | IIITDM Jabalpur | ||
Opening Rank | Closing Rank | Opening Rank | Closing Rank | |
Open | 56 | 83 | 78 | 162 |
Open-PwD | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 |
EWS | 19 | 22 | 21 | 30 |
OBC-NCL | 49 | 54 | 55 | 82 |
SC | 23 | 24 | 30 | 42 |
ST | 13 | 13 | 14 | 18 |
Category | IIT Indore | IIITDM Jabalpur | ||
Opening Rank | Closing Rank | Opening Rank | Closing Rank | |
Open | 67 | 99 | 78 | 202 |
Open-PwD | 4 | 4 | 11 | 11 |
EWS | 22 | 23 | 24 | 38 |
OBC-NCL | 52 | 61 | 56 | 93 |
SC | 23 | 24 | 31 | 46 |
ST | 13 | 13 | 14 | 18 |
Category | IIT Indore | IIITDM Jabalpur | ||
Opening Rank | Closing Rank | Opening Rank | Closing Rank | |
Open | 67 | 100 | 78 | 231 |
Open-PwD | 4 | 4 | 11 | 11 |
EWS | 22 | 23 | 24 | 39 |
OBC-NCL | 52 | 61 | 56 | 99 |
SC | 23 | 24 | 31 | 47 |
ST | 13 | 13 | 14 | 18 |
Category | IIT Indore | IIITDM Jabalpur | ||
Opening Rank | Closing Rank | Opening Rank | Closing Rank | |
Open | 67 | 119 | 93 | 267 |
Open-PwD | 8 | 8 | 11 | 11 |
EWS | 22 | 23 | 24 | 39 |
OBC-NCL | 52 | 61 | 63 | 104 |
SC | 24 | 31 | 36 | 51 |
ST | 13 | 13 | 14 | 19 |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
IIITDM Jabalpur offers 66 B.Des seats.
There are six participating IITs in UCEED.
IIT Indore offers 16 B.Des seats.
IIT Indore started offering the B.Des programme in 2025-26.
On Question asked by student community
Hello,
NIFT 2026 admission - Applications release around November–December 2025.
UCEED 2026- Registrations open around September–October 2025.
Pearl Academy - They have multiple admission cycles (Jan, April, June). Applications usually open by October 2025 for Jan cycle.
Keep checking official sites regularly since dates shift slightly every year.
Thank you!
Hello!
UCEED is a competitive exam for design aspirants, testing design aptitude, logical thinking, creativity, and visualisation skills. To improve your score out of 300, start by understanding the exam pattern—Part A (objective) and Part B (subjective). For Part A, practice reasoning, numerical aptitude, and environmental & social awareness questions. For Part B, focus on drawing, sketching, and presenting your ideas clearly. Solve past year UCEED papers and join online mock test series. Spend at least 2–3 hours daily practising creative problem-solving and sketching. Also, work on time management because the exam requires quick thinking.
Thank you for reading, and I wish you the best
Hello Akanksha,
For NID DAT 2026, your eligibility is established based on your born date as you are born on or after July 1st 2005. For UCEED 2026, your eligibility is dependent on your born date by category. You are eligible if you are OPEN/EWS/OBC-NCL category and born on or after October 1, 2001. If you are SC/ST/PwD category you must be born on or after October 1, 1996 in order to be eligible. Based on your born date of December 20th, 2006 for both NID DAT 2026 and UCEED 2026; you will be eligible.
The UCEED exam is conducted by IIT Bombay, and the previous year’s question papers you can download the papers along with answer keys directly from the link given below :
https://design.careers360.com/articles/uceed-previous-year-question-papers
Thank you and all the best!
Currently, NSUT does not offer a B.Des. program. However, other institutes like IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and IIITDM Jabalpur offer B.Des. through UCEED.
Expected UCEED Cutoffs (General Category):
IIT Bombay: Around Rank 14
IIT Delhi: Around Rank 35
IIITDM Jabalpur: Around Rank 165
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