Memories!

It is quite a good experience to date in learning as well as in other activities. I have had some memorable days here with my friends and the faculty. Creating new fashion itself is a great feeling. We all work together and help each other out. I have also made a lot of connection in the industry through college events and the internships. I look forward to being on my own with a brand that can redefine fashion.

I appeared for the NIFT entrance examinations, both the CAT and GAT in the year 2015, after my board exams. The exam includes objective questions and they also asked for sample sketches to prove my drawing skills. There is no interview to take admission in NIFT for graduation courses. I got admission right after the results were published. I had heard about NIFT in a career guidance program held in the school. I was always interested in Fashion and wanted to follow my passion for a career. I am also a good artist and can do pencil sketches and painting really well and that I think is the reason, I had an inclination towards such a course. My creative skills are definitely one of the reasons why I applied there in the first place.

There was a syllabus which mostly focused on the practical aspects but rests some was based on theories. Studying fashion technology, I think one cannot ever avoid practical lessons. We always are asked to make designs and create our own style of dresses and accessories for a variety of occasions. The creations are then marked and used to assess our progress. We are also asked to keep watch on the changing international trends. I don't know about any research going on in the campus but being on a national level maybe they are taking such initiatives for the benefit of the institution. For us, I think it all comes down to our own creative abilities. What the institute does is to hone and polish us so that we can get good enough to lead the fashion industry one day. There were a lot of electives available in NIFT such as Jewellery designing, Fashion designing, Textile designing, etc.

Yes, college does have a program of internship in the third year. Stipend depends on the work of the student and on the company but the average stipend is around 5000/- and even some are unpaid also.

There are placements in the campus. Almost every candidate who prefers college placements gets placed. A number of companies who are prominent in the fashion industry come to NIFT for placements. They include export houses like Radiant and brands like Tanishq visits us. Starting packages are 4,00,000 annually. The college is really supportive of getting placements. Right from the beginning, we are trained to fit right into the industrial world outside. It helps a lot while placements.

We have 2 major fests in our college that are Navratri fest and spectrum. We do have a bigger fest then these and that is held among all the NIFT centers. Students from the NIFTs all over India come to take part in these festivals. It is a grand event and a pretty good opportunity to socialize. Every year the festival is conducted in one NIFT center so it also let us travel too. The college authorities are quite supportive of these events and provide us with all the necessary requirements and budget.

Each semester has a different fee structure because our course requirements during different semesters vary from one another. There is a lot of raw materials required for us to work on. It can be quite expensive what with varieties of fabrics, leather and other stitching materials being utilized on a daily basis and in large scale. To give an approximate figure, it can be anywhere between rupees 60,000 to 1,00,000/-. When comparing this fee with other private Fashion Technology Institutes in India, this is hardly expensive. Also, NIFT is among the best of them.

I don't really know about any scholarships that the college is providing for. I have never availed one for me anyway. But since NIFT is a government-funded college, I am guessing there must be scholarships for the academically good students and the toppers. There are however other scholarships offered by private foundations and companies for Fashion Technology students.

Our college is very active in every field be it creative design competition or debating competition. Yes, there are opportunities for interested students to participate in extra-curricular events and activities. I too joined some societies in my first year and participated in various events. Be it music, dancing or sports there is a stage for all that in college. Facilities too are very good for every kind of these extracurricular activities.

Yes, I am a resident in the hostels. The rooms are all furnished and well maintained. It is a clean and calm environment. There are double or triple sharing rooms. Single rooms are unavailable in the college hostel. We do not have PGs around our college. The hostel charges the amount to 36000 annually, that is 3000 a month including Food. So it is inexpensive. But the food served is average. We can eat it, but not enjoy it because it is the same stuff almost every day.

It is quite good when our alumni visit campus and share their past and current experiences. We have interactive sessions with the alumni too. Their experiences helped us channel our abilities in proper ways. You get to learn from their mistakes and the right choices they made. Yes, alumni do participate in the developments for student welfare.

No, the exams aren't really frequent. We don't have exams on a monthly basis but we do have assignments throughout the semester. They are quite tiring. They get us to do a lot of projects works so we are constantly engaged in activities and trying to keep up with the schedules. It is actually more exhausting than having to write exams. The workload sometimes gets on my nerves. It is a chill culture if you count only the exams but that is not possible in our case. They have a continuous evaluation process with internal marks for individual performances and then marks for written and practical exams.

Almost all of our teachers are graduates or post-graduates and some have done Ph.D. also. They have to be very interactive according to our course need. Teaching standards are quite good. They always encourage us to think out of the box and motivates us to experiment. Some of the teachers are great designers who inspire us to find our own space in the fashion industry. They have done a lot of projects themselves and are quite experienced. To excel in this field we have to trust in ourselves and be unique among the scores of designers, even within the campus. But NIFT is a good platform to begin at.