Difference Between NID and UCEED, Which is Better NID or UCEED?

NID DAT Vs UCEED: Highlights

NID VS UCEED: Registration Process

NID DAT - The NID Design Aptitude Test is conducted once a year to choose the best candidates for admission in NID Ahmedabad and other campuses. The NID application form has been released on September 11, 2025. The application fee for NID exam is Rs. 3000 for general candidates and Rs. 1500 for SC/ST candidates.

NID Application Fee 2026

UCEED - UCEED full form stands for undergraduate common entrance exam of design. The UCEED application form will be released in October 2025. The UCEED registration form fee is Rs. 4000. However, there is a concession for female, SC, ST and PWD candidates as they need to pay only Rs. 2000. For late fees the candidate needs to pay Rs. 500 extra for each category.

NID vs UCEED Eligibility

In order to get admission in IITs or NID for design admission, candidates are required to meet the eligibility criteria laid down by the concerned authorities. The difference between NID and UCEED eligibility needs to be checked before filling out the application form. The eligibility criteria include conditions and requirements related to minimum qualification, age limit, minimum aggregate marks and more.

NID DAT Eligibility Criteria

For UG admission through NID DAT, the students must know the following NID DAT eligibility criteria:

• Aspirants must be under the age of 20 years in the year of application. However there is a age relaxation of 3 years for OBC-NCL, SC and ST candidates and a 5 year age relaxation for PWD candidates.
• Aspirants must have passed the 12th or equivalent examination in any stream science, arts or commerce. Or the candidate must be appearing for the 12th examination or equivalent in the year of application.

UCEED Eligibility Criteria

Aspirants planning to obtain BDes admission at IITs or other UCEED colleges must know the following UCEED eligibility criteria set by the conducting authority. UCEED eligibility criteria is as follows:

• For the candidates appearing for the UCEED exam, they must know the age limit which is 23. The candidate must be under the age of 23 on or after October 1 of the year of application. There is a relaxation of 5 years for SC, ST and PWD candidates
• The candidates can only appear for the UCEED exam, a maximum of two times and that too in consecutive years.
• The candidates must have passed all the exams in 12th class or equivalent from a recognised institution.
• There are some colleges which state that science stream is compulsory. And some colleges which state Maths is compulsory as a subject. Students must check the eligibility criteria of individual colleges before applying to them.

NID vs UCEED: Paper Pattern

Candidates need to know the difference between NID and UCEED patter pattern which is described in the article below. Knowing this the aspirants have to compare UCEED or NID which is better based on their views.

NID DAT exam consists of two stages: The Prelims and the Mains. Prelims is the first stage of the NID DAT exam which evaluates the candidate's ability in design aptitude and logical reasoning and a test to evaluate visual observation, creativity etc. Based on the NID DAT exam pattern, the NID question paper is a mixture of multiple choice questions, subjective type questions, and sketching. The NID DAT prelims have two parts. Part 1 consists of MCQ questions and subjective-type answers. Part 2 consists of drawing, sketching, and model making. There is no negative marking for NID DAT. The shortlisted candidates from the Prelims exam, need to appear for the mains exam, which involves studio tests and personal interviews.

As per the revised NID selection process, the NID prelims will not have any weightage in the final selection of the candidates.

NID B.Des 2026 Revised Weightage

NID M.Des 2026 Revised Weightage

UCEED exam is a three-hour exam consisting of 300 marks. UCEED question paper consists of two parts- Part A and Part B. Further, the UCEED paper A consists of three sections- numerical answer type (NAT), multiple select questions (MSQ), and multiple choice question (MCQ). The total marks for UCEED part A is 200. As per UCEED exam pattern, Part B consists of two questions of 50 marks each which evaluates the student's sketching and design aptitude. There is a negative marking in UCEED.

UCEED vs NID DAT: Participating Institutes / Colleges

Many reputed institutes accept the UCEED scores for design admission. However, the top IITs that participate in the UCEED exam to intake students are IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad, IIITDM Jabalpur, IIT Roorkee and IIT Guwahati. However, IIITDM Jabalpur must have a science stream with physics, chemistry, and biology or maths as compulsory subjects. IIT Guwahati and IIT Roorkee prescribe a science stream with mathematics as a compulsory subject.

UCEED Colleges with Seats

The total number of seats offered by each college is given in the seat matrix below:

NID DAT gives access to the students across the three NID campuses to join the BDes programme. The campuses are in Ahmedabad, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gandhinagar and Assam.

NID DAT Colleges with Seats

NID vs IIT: BDes Courses Offered

NID - The various BDes courses offered at NID are:

NID vs UCEED: Courses offered in IITs are:

IIT vs NID: Placements

Both IIT and NID have good placement opportunities for the candidates.

Table for IIT Placement Report:

Table of NID Placement Reports: