On my last visit to NIFT, I interacted with the newest Batch of students and they had quite a few questions which I now realise were infact the same ones that we had when we joined this institute. I always admired the infrastructure at NIFT Hyderabad and things have become better now. But my concern is not NIFT Hyderabad but the brand called "NIFT".
NIFT, a decade ago was a big brand name in the apparel industry and it had a kind of aura around it. NIFTians were the most sought after breed of new age professionals in this sector. The irony is dat in the age of extensive media exposure, NIFT has lost some of its sheen for sure. Its true that there is an Act by Parliament which puts NIFT right up there with IITs and IIMs. But the people who matter failed to act on the act. Sadly, it is viewed as a Cashcow for milking more and more money but the Cow is getting weaker. However, not much ground has been lost and I can see some efforts being made to get it to the level where it deserves to be. One area that I would like to address here is that NIFT is the premier institute for Fashion in India(along with NID) and is seen as an Institute at par with IIMs, IITs and AIIMS. But, the ground reality is different. Compare the offers that students of these institutes get in Placements. IIMs and IITs are able to attract fat packages.Somewhere, there is a great disconnect between the industry and our Institute. This is primarily because the NIFT ALUMNI network is not half as good as dat of IIMs and IITs. It is the Alumni which is the Bridge between an Institute and the Industry and if the Bridge is not taken care of then there won't be any long term benefit that the Institute can derive out of educating each and every Alumni. Many students do not get the desired result out of the time spent here and then develop negative vibes about the institute and then those vibes spread across. Agreed that the student is as much responsible for his fate as is the Institute but I guess the time has come to set things in order so that henceforth the students get the best of offers. For this, I am putting forward these 10 points:
1. Regular Alumni Meets and building a wide network so that the good word spreads far and across. Especially, the students of the first 10 batches would be now in positions where they can play a key role in placements and projects. It should not be the case that these students are remembered only when the new students require jobs but they should be invited into councils at each Centre for the betterment of that particular Centre.
2. There should be effort on spreading the awareness about the various courses offered at NIFT as I have seen most people having a notion that anybody who comes out of NIFT is a designer. That is why, the Fashion Management Students have not got that what they expect out of the PG Course.
3. The selection procedure must be much more watertight to ensure that only genuinely interested students join this course.
4. The projects appraisal should leave no scope for mediocrity or dupllicity in the work. There should be a system in place where the Faculty Guide gets a constant feedback from the Organisation where the student is doing his/her project or internship. The scores should that feedback seriously along with the Jury Presentation.
5. There should be strategic tie-ups with organisations so that students can get involved in projects round the year. This would build a relationship which might translate into pre-placement offers. This is very important as often placements suffer the wrath of recession.
6. Consutancy projects should be taken up and the students should be active part of that.
7. For PG Course, the 2-year term should be a rigorous(ofcourse the students would find ways to enjoy) and inculcate the discipline which they can carry into the industry. When the so-called "NIFTIAN ATTITUDE" wd be backed by the DISCIPLINE, everyone else will shut up.
8. There has to be a minimum threshold level in place for the participating organisations.
9. The Coursework should be regularly updated to be in sync with the pace of the industry.
10. WE STUDENTS SHOULD LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED TO ENCASH THE OPPORTUNITY THAT WE GET BEING PART OF NIFT.
Sincerely, I feel that I should have done somethings better and somethings should have been better.However, we cannot discount the Brand name of "NIFT" that is already there. The idea behind all that I have written is just to put it across to all of you that is about time that we(the Institute, the faculty, Alumni and the Students) work together to take the brand called "NIFT" to a level which would make it the most important 4 alphabets in a Student's CV.
