Footwear Design and Development Institute B.Des Review By Serin Elizabeth George

I am a student in FDDI pursuing bachelor in design which is a four year course. FDDI stands for Footwear Design and Development Institute has its branches in many states and is run by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Even though this college is not that popular as NIFT and other design institutes this college provides with good exposure in the design field. It cannot be compared with NIFT but has its own pros and cons. As this is a footwear design college more priority is given to FDP, with amazing faculty and learning experience, same goes with FD that is fashion designing department. This can be a good backup plan too for design aspirants who couldn't get into NIFT. FDDI is one of the top design colleges. Almost all the FDDI branches are placed in the outskirts and industrial areas which makes it a little difficult to travel.

FDDI Chennai provides with two main courses that is bachelor in design i.e. B.Des and master of design i.e. M.Des, That are of 4 and 2 years respectively. To apply for the bachelor's degree the candidate must pass 12. The admission is based on the entrance exam AIST and according to the rank students will get admission to various branches. AIST is a simple and easy entrance exam which has various segments such as general aptitude, mathematical ability, etc. The best part is there is no negative marking. There is also provision of taking admission by taking into consideration the UCEED marks.

The faculty in FDDI are well educated and have full knowledge about the course which they are teaching. Sometimes they might not come to class but they'll be available to the students whenever we need them for whatever reason be it for projects, assignment or even personal issues, they are very supportive.

There is residential facility inside the campus. They provide with two sharing rooms and three sharing rooms for both boys and girls separately.

The infrastructure in the campus is still improving and under renovation but there are good classrooms, cutting labs, cad lab as well as many other labs which are provided. Each classroom has ac and the orientation hall and auditorium etc. have centralized air conditioning. There various machines used for different purposes and also fd students are provided with mannequin to work on. Recently center of excellence was built which has new specialized machines. Apart from that there is hostel for both boys and girls and also staff quarters. There are two big grounds from which one is used for sports. There is volleyball as well badminton court.

As the campus is in outskirts there are only around 200 students in total. The number was high earlier but due to covid it dropped. Having only few students has its own advantage. Seniors and juniors all know each other by name and also helps in mingling with everyone. In the evening after college everyone walks and people also play sports at that time. There aren't many programmes conducted in the college but whenever there is a programme it is really fun. Overall it is a peaceful environment. If you are willing to come to FDDI come with an open mind without the expectation of NIFT standard as I said earlier this cannot be compared to NIFT but is a good option in itself.