IIT Roorkee: Department of Design

IIT Roorkee is India's oldest technical institution, founded in 1847. Its Department of Design was established in 2014, relatively recently, but operates within an institution with deep research roots and strong industry relationships developed over more than 170 years. That heritage gives the department access to facilities, alumni networks, and industry connections that newer campuses are still building.

The B.Des programme focuses on product design, communication design, and smart systems design. The smart systems focus reflects a growing interest in the intersection of industrial design and embedded technology, including IoT products and connected devices. Students work across physical and digital domains, supported by the institute's engineering departments and fabrication infrastructure.

Roorkee is a mid-sized city in Uttarakhand, close to Haridwar and Dehradun. The campus environment is compact and academically focused. Students who prefer an immersive campus life over urban proximity tend to find this setting productive. Industry engagement happens through structured placements and guest programmes rather than casual proximity to studios.

Graduates have joined product companies, engineering-focused design teams, and communication design agencies. The NIRF rank 7 overall position of IIT Roorkee gives its graduates a recognisable institutional brand that holds weight with employers.

Admission is through UCEED with JoSAA counselling. With approximately 25 seats and a General category closing rank around 90, it sits in the mid-competitive range among UCEED-accepting institutions. Verify seat availability by category at josaa.nic.in during the counselling window.

IIT Roorkee's design faculty draw on the institution's deep engineering heritage to develop design education that takes technical rigour seriously. The smart systems design focus reflects faculty interests in embedded technology, IoT product design, and the intersection of hardware and interaction design. Faculty members engage in research collaborations with the institution's engineering and computing departments, and students benefit from cross-disciplinary research groups. Guest faculty from industry and practising designers from Delhi and Mumbai visit campus for workshops and crits, connecting students to the professional world beyond campus.

The Roorkee campus has a heritage character: as India's oldest technical institution, it has a formal architectural quality and a mature campus culture. The environment is compact and contained, which many students find supportive for focused academic work. Students who want urban stimulation travel to Haridwar or Dehradun, both easily accessible. IIT Roorkee's institutional culture values academic seriousness and research productivity, which shapes the design department's atmosphere accordingly.

Graduates from IIT Roorkee Design have taken up roles in product design, communication design, and technology-oriented design at companies across India. The programme's smart systems focus is becoming increasingly relevant as connected devices and embedded technology roles grow in the Indian job market. Some graduates have gone on to M.Des programmes at other IITs through CEED, or to design programmes internationally. The IIT Roorkee brand carries strong recognition in engineering and technology industries, where the institution's 170-year history gives graduates a distinctive credential.