policy initiatives - Textile Magazine

education
options for the students in India and
overseas”.
NIFT has 15 centers in India.
Since 1987 it has produced designers
and fashion entrepreneurs who
have shaped the Indian fashion industry
into a global leader.
The Director General also said
that over the last few years NIFT
has undertaken strategic steps to
forge international linkages with
international schools of repute. Currently,
it has over 30 MoUs with
foreign fashion schools for student
& faculty exchange, conferences,
seminars and exhibitions. In 2011,
the existing MoUs were reviewed,
and four new ones were signed with
the Fashion Institute of Technology,
New York, the BGMEA Institute of
Fashion Technology, Bangladesh,
the University of Wolverhampton,
UK, and the Royal Academy of
Arts, the Hague.
NIFT has also entered into an
MoU with the Textile Committee
to increase the knowledge base of
its faculty, students and research
scholars. As part of this agreement,
facilities like library, publications,
laboratories, etc., are made available
by the Textile Committee to NIFT
for research purposes.
Ms. Monika Garg presenting the
annual Academic Report, recounted
the journey of NIFT through expansion,
extension and benchmarking
in fashion education.
As per the NIFT policy, after
completion of four years the complete
curriculum is reviewed incorporating
views from industry and
alumni. Accordingly, an elaborate
and intensive exercise of peer and
industry review of the curriculum
of their respective departments was
carried out by the Chairpersons in
January 2011. Two-day workshops
were organized for each discipline
in NIFT Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore
and Gandhinagar, in which peer institutes,
industry members and NIFT
alumni and faculty participated. The
focus was on dynamic and emerging
needs of the industry and future
trends. The new curriculum has
been implemented with effect from
July 2011 onwards.
Built into the academic curriculum
are internship, industry visits,
out-bound programmes as well as
real life projects, seminars and interactions
which provide opportunities
for students to appreciate and
understand the working of the industry.
The institute also undertakes
research and consultancy projects
for the industry with its expertise in
Design, Management and Technology
at strategic and operational levels.
The students get the opportunity
to work in stimulating environment
with industry projects focusing on
integrative abilities that use skills
ranging from technical expertise to
creative exposure.
As an attempt to inculcate social
awareness, the Craft Cluster Project
has been woven into the Academic
Calendar. Understanding the social
responsibility towards this sector,
the NIFT students continue to contribute
to the clusters through design
intervention and product diversification.
In all, 1,492 graduates from 10
streams of study and from nine centers
of NIFT were awarded Degrees.
Mr. Venu Srinivasan, Chairman,
Board of Governors of NIFT, in
his brief address, congratulated the
graduating students.
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The Textile Magazine jANUARY 2012 | 89