Sohini Mukherjee's Review On National Institute Of Fashion Technology - [NIFT] Kolkata, Kolkata

I'm happy here, and that's all that matters it's not the best as there's always a scope for improvement in everything.

NIFT was my one and only choice because I wanted to become a trend forecaster. The admission process for B.F. Tech course includes a test of GAT (General Aptitude Test) only. However the aspirants must have a 60% or more aggregate in matriculation with PCM. The counseling session was held online in each of the 15 institutes and candidates were called out rank wise to select their choice of the education center. I secured a rank of 129, and hence chose to stay close to my home in West Bengal.

The entire course has not been divided on a very satisfactory basis. Garment Construction and Pattern Making, for example, puts in a lot of pressure during the 5th semester, whereas there is nothing much to do in the 3rd and 4th semesters. The remaining subjects are, however, interesting and standardized.

Yes, we are subjected to textile internships from the very end of our 2nd year. We are guided by mentors in our college as well as in the apparel industry. I went for a 2 week internship at Jaya Shree Textiles, Rishra (Aditya Birla Group) and got the opportunity to gain hands on practical knowledge about the industry, machinery and workers there.

Popular companies like Raymond, Planet Fashion, Nike, etc. seek production managers, human resource managers, merchandisers, retailers and forecasters from NIFT Apparel Production graduates every year. We also have certain designers who are NIFT graduates and belong to the alumni of NIFT Kolkata like Sabyasachi, etc.

The most recent and unique was Dandiya Night. It was the 1st time we experienced such an event in college, all credits to Ms, Shinjini Agarwal (cultural club president). Other than our own college event Spectrum, we also have the opportunity to unite among all 15 centers during the inter-college fest "Converge" and there's a huge variety of events for us to participate.

To someone who belongs to a middle class family, this course is unique as well as expensive there has been many protests against the fee hike, one of which has been in the news recently too. And all materials for assignments require separate expenses every month. It becomes difficult to continue till the end of the month with the pocket money given by our parents because our parents do not really understand the requirements for every assignment in the course.

Not really. But there's a twining programme in which the college provides an opportunity to students to study abroad for one semester and the fees are paid by the college. I, however, never availed this service hence I cannot provide any information on this regard.

If you enter the nift premises, then the first word that strikes your head is "glamorous". The society in nift is not biased to transgenders, and that's one of the best qualities I find here. People are very friendly and always ready to help. In my department specially, there is no fixed group to hang out with. We all stand united under every circumstance.

I'm not staying in NIFT hostel. I stay at New Town, Rajarhat, which is about 20 mins away from college. The locality of my college is not very tidy hence I prefer staying here. Thanks to OYO Studio Stays, I have rented a furnished flat at a very affordable rate.

Yes. It's the seniors who actually help us to understand and complete our assignments on time. Without them, we would have been absolutely helpless.

As I already mentioned, written examinations do not carry much weightage (only 40%). Its the assignments and presentations that matter for passing in these subjects. The environment of the written exams, however, depends on the invigilator!! Most of them are strict and create their own sitting arrangements (Some even have the stamina to create 4-5 different sets of question papers.

I took coaching in AFD, Delhi for a year to get into NIFT. The admission forms released in November, following which I got my admit card in the end of January. The GAT offline and online tests took place in the 2nd week of Feb and every candidate had the option to appear for either of the tests or both. I took the offline test. Results were announced by the end of April. And the first round of counseling started in May. In June, my course started as a foundation programme.

To me, if the faculty wouldn't be willing to help, we wouldn't even exist! All subjects are assignment and jury based with the written examinations carrying very little or no weightage at all. The jury members too are mostly unbiased and our hard work usually gets paid off by good marks.