Behind The Seams: Life at NIFT Jodhpur.

So, my course is Fashion Communication, which is very promising, and a crucial part of the industry. Another factor which influenced my decision was the direction in which the course went during the pandemic. It gave me a good idea of what to expect in the field during uncertain times. The curriculum prepares us really well for the real-world applications. The curriculum focuses on the actual work, instead of the theory, and we're often taken out for industry visits, for us to see how the industry works properly. Guest lectures and seminars are often arranged for us, and we get a glimse in to the practical world. Additionally, all the classes encourage discussion and debates, for a much better understanding of the concept, and then we are assigned practical work to really understand how the topic is applied in real life. So, I believe the course prepares us really well for the actual world. Although I do think that the course can improve on certain fields. For example, the class hours can be a bit a more flexible, since considering the work load a traditional 9-5 work day might not work the best for everyone. Also, the classes are not recorded, so unless you personally take notes, or record it yourself, it's difficult to look back at the lectures. The mandatory attendance is also something that I would object to, since it's not feasible to maintain a 75% attendance for everyone, so that causes a bit of a problem for majority of the students. As for the frequency and timings of the exams, the semester starts of slow, and the work load hits almost immediately, which although is realistic, but difficult to adjust to. The frequency of the assessments is alright, and I honestly don't have any problem with the set curriculum.

I'm not very sure about this, but I do know that some of my seniors have interned at Tarun Tahiliani, NorBlackNorWhite, and other big designers. Another senior also interned with at the Ambani Wedding, and styled Gauri Khan and Suhana Khan and other A listers. There's a lot of diversity in my field, so the roles offered are just as vast.

So, the students are eligible for placements after the 8th semester, which is after they graduate. As for Fashion Communication (FC), the companies range from news channels like NDTV, to companies like Shopper's Stop, Magazine outlets like Vogue, and Media channels like MTV, almost every sub field requires FC students, given the vast area of our studies. You can get the proper details on Official NIFT FC website, since these are just the details from the top of my head. Also, I have to admit I'm not very well informed about the placement situations or the statistical numbers, but as far as I have heard from the seniors, almost every graduate leaves with a job, or chooses to get into freelancing. The highest package received was by one of my seniors, which is 24lpa, and the average is approx 15lpa. As for my plans after getting my degree, I'm still exploring, since I'm in sem 4, and only halfway thru my degree. I'm leaning towards either Fashion Journalism, Styling, PR and Brand Management or Creative Direction, but I'm still keeping my options open.

Even though NIFT is a government college, the fees is not affordable for many students who fall in the middle class tier, or below. Per sem fee is approximately 1.5 lacs, and so every year, you pay atleast 3.5 lacs in tution fees alone, which includes tution fees, library fees, lab fees and all those shenanigans. Add to this the hostel or accomodation fee, your daily cost of living, essentials, wants and luxuries, and the stationery, which is anything but affordable! Now, the Institute does provide a scholarship for students from financially struggling backgrounds, called Saarthak, but it's EXTREMELY difficult to get, and as per the hear-say, can be revoked if the authorities feel like "your lifestyle does not match your claim of coming form a financially weak family". Please take this with a grain of salt, since this is based on what I've heard from my fellow batchmates and seniors, and have not personally faced anything like this. The Fee structure is divided in 3 categories: Regular, For Children of Artisans and NRI. Regular fees is for the normal students, like myself. Students, irrespective of caste, or any other category usually pay this fee, which as I said before, is apporx 1.5 lacs/ sem. For Children of Artisans, the fee is slightly less, since NIFT consciously works towards Artisan upliftment and promotion. So if you come from an Artisan family, you come under this category, and your fee would be reduced slightly. As for NRI's, the tution fee is outrageously high, almost 6lacs/ sem.

To be honest, given the location of my campus, the social life is close to non-existent. The Student council does arrange for events on the campus during the festivals and otherwise too, and the cafe scene in the city is pretty good too, but otherwise, it's a bit below average. NIFT has it's annual event, Spectrum, which is held in the beginning of the year. Along with that, the other colleges and universities nearby also host their fests around the same time. There's also Converge, which is held towards the end of the year, and that's where all the participants from all NIFT campuses meet and compete in different sports and competitions.So, that's that. There are also some bars and clubs around, but I don't really trust the crowd. As for the library, it has a pretty good collection of books. It has almost all the books you'd need, and it's very rare for me to not find a book there. The classrooms have projectors and TV screens for display, but there are no speakers, so that is something we need to arrange for if we need it for certain presentations. Additionally, the IT lab is also well equipped, with the adequate softwares and tools needed. The stationery shop on campus tho, had been shut for a while, and also very small to accomodate the students, so there were problems with that, but that seems to have been sorted for now, but i'm not very sure. The hostel also has a gym, but the equipment is apparently all damaged, or not enough, so that's quite an issue. There's a basketball, football and volleyball court, which are used very often, and they seem to be in good condition. There are also different clubs in the college, and they oversee the student activities and events and problems and all.

The old hostels, where I live, are of horrible quality. The walls are literally crumbling, and they are not maintained well. The New hostels tho, are really well made. There are options for single rooms, as well as double and triple shairng rooms, although the single rooms and double sharing rooms are limited. Each room has a bed, study table, and cupboard. Every room also has an air conditioner, and can easily take care of the Rajasthan heat. the new hostels also have mirrors, but for the old ones, we had to buy our own mirrors, and then the college provides a guy to fix to the mirror up. Also, there are approx 5 plug points in the room. There's also a washing machine on every floor, and every hostel has a common room, which has a fridge, microwave and iron. The microwave is horribly dirty, and is literally never cleaned. Also, there are plenty of places in the hostel, so almost everyone on campus prefers to stay in the hostel, with very few people choosing to live outside the campus. The mess food is below average. The food is subpar, and often leads to some or the other disease. Several complaints have been made, but there's absolutely no action that was taken. The registration process for the hostel happened during the college registration itself. The fees was submitted at the same time, and during the orientation, we had to just fill up a form and show the receipt and we were allotted the room. But the hostel warden and faculty in charge are very negligent, and if you're facing a problem, they won't really care or do anything. They even go upto the extent of ignoring the parents' calls and emails, so that's a huge negative to consider.

So, in my case, my parents initially wanted me to pursue a more academic course, but i was set on pursuing Fashion Communication. So, they finally settled on letting me pursue my course only if I did it in NIFT. NIFT, being the best Design College in the country, and having a plethore of successful alumni was the obvious choice. So, yeah, I had my mind set on NIFT, and that's what I worked for. I didn't apply to any other colleges or other courses, but in case, things didn't work out, I had thought of pursuing English Honours in DU, because that's what my parents wanted. But I didn't need to give the entrance for it, since i got my results almost a month before the entrance. Now, getting into the college was difficult, given the high competition, so I spent almost 6 months preparing for that. I took coaching to prepare for it, and even spent the rest of my time for the same. The Entrance Exam is didvided in 3 parts: General Aptitude Test (GAT), Creative Ability Test(CAT), and Situation Test. GAT is about the basics, English, Maths, GK and Logical Reasoning. It's not that difficult, considering you need to be up to date with the Current Affairs, basic Logical Reasoning and 10th grade Mathematic skills and have at least an average command over the English language. CAT judges the student's overall creativity and innovation, their ability to be unique and think out of the box and present their ideas just as neatly and precisely. Along with the students creativity and innovation, their drawing skills are also judged, since they must be capable of presenting their ideas just as precisely. If one passes through these 2 exams, they are eligible for the Situation Test, where we must make a 3D model of the given situations, like a village fair or doctor's office etc. Along with all these criterias, they also judge how well can one explain their idea, and their ability to communicate with the judges.

So, i'm not sure about the overall Faculty-to-student ratio, but in dept. (Fashion Communication), we have 5 assistant professors, and guest faculties are often invited for certain subjects. The Faculties are rather approachable and easy to talk to. Some of them are a bit difficult to please, but I think that's good too, because it's just preparing us for the corporate world. So, there are three assessments throughout the semester, Mid-Terms and End-Term, both are of 30 marks each, and the Final exams.Now exams here are called Juries, which are basically just presentations, and they are worth 40 marks. Now, they aren't that difficult, but the marking depends on the student's ability to defend their work, and also, their overall rapport with the faculty. Since, there are no obvious answers, and the answers are subjective, it all ultimately boils down to the above mentioned facts. Most of the students clear the exams easily, with only maybe 1 or 2 students failing to clear the semester, but that's also very rare. The course curriculum is rather relevant. All the subjects are practical and the focus is on the real world applications, instead of just theory, so we get a gist of how things work in the actual workspace.

Nightlife is also non-existent, unless you have contaccts in the city, and place of accomodation. Now, there are some gyms and pizza places nearby, which can deliver the food to the campus. Us students go to the city during the weekends, since the campus provides bus at many different times for the travel. During the weekdays, we can take an auto to the city, but that is a bit pricey. A more cost efficient option is the city bus, but that's not safe after sunset. Jodhpur city has some really pretty cafes, and other touristy areas, so they are fun to be at. The cafes are also not very pricey. So far, I've only seen one Bookstore there, and they keep every book i'd need, so i never had to go look for another. It's easy to locate most of the stores there, and the collections are also pretty good. Now the campus in-time is 8:30 pm, but the campus security is not strict at all. Since it's Rajasthan, it's not very safe, so just stay alert, and preferably in a trustable group.