The fashion cradle, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), is not finding many takers within the State for its various courses.
Currently, the Bhubaneswar campus of NIFT offers four courses __ Bachelor in Textile Design, Bachelor in Fashion Design, Bachelor in Lifestyle Accessory Design and Master in Fashion Management.
While the Bachelor degrees in textile design, fashion design and lifestyle accessory design are four-year courses, the Master in fashion management studies is two-year course.
The intake capacity of Bachelor programme is 30 each and for Master degree it is 35. As agreed by the NIFT and the State Government, the institute every year reserves 20 per cent of the seats __ six seats each __ in Bachelor and Master programmes for students of Odisha under ‘domicile’ quota. Altogether, 24 seats are reserved for students from the State.
Although the other seats are getting filled up every year with students from across India, most of the domicile quota ones had remained vacant for the last three academic sessions.
As per official reports, in 2010-11, of the 12 reserved seats under domicile quota, only one was filled up and the figure was six for the academic year 2011-12.
While the number of such seats was increased to 24 for 2012-13 session, only three Odisha students took admission in the institute under this category.
The NIFT sources attributed this to lack of awareness among the students and parents about the quota. “Since not many students of Odisha know about the quota for them, we do not receive many applications from the State for the NIFT entrance examination, although there is scope for 100 per cent placement,” said Director, K C S Ray.
Last month, Ray wrote to the Commissioner of the Textile Department, Usha Padhee, urging her to write to the Higher Education Department in this regard.
On Friday last, Usha Padhee wrote to the Higher Education Department requesting its Secretary Gagan Dhal to instruct the principals of the government autonomous and private colleges offering Plus-II and Plus-III to inform students about NIFT’s fashion courses and domicile quota.
The institute authorities said all the students who have passed from the institute so far had received 100 per cent placement.
The NIFT’s Bhubaneswar campus has started classes from a temporary campus on the premises of a private college in Jatni, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar since July 26, 2010.
Its permanent campus on Chandaka Industrial Estate was inaugurated by Union Textile Minister Anand Sharma and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in January this year.
The Odisha Government had provided the land free of cost for its permanent campus, besides funds of `58.65 crore for infrastructure development.
Set up in 1986, NIFT grooms professionals to take up leadership positions in fashion business.