National Institute of Fashion Technology was set up in 1986 under the aegis of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. It has emerged as the premier Institute of Design, Management and Technology, developing professionals for taking up leadership positions in fashion business in the emerging global scenario. NIFT has been granted statutory status under the act of Parliament of India in 2006, empowering the Institute to award degrees and other academic distinctions.

NIFT has set academic standards and excelled in thought leadership by providing a pool of creative genius and technically competent professionals. The Institute provides a common platform for fashion education, research and training.

The Institute is a pioneer in envisioning and evolving fashion business education in the country through a network of twelve professionally managed domestic centres at Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Raebareli, Bhopal, Kannur, Patna and Shillong. NIFT has further spread its wings globally with the opening of an international centre at Mauritius.

I was there at the counselling, in Delhi, getting bored and anxiously waiting for my turn to come, the only time pass at that time I had was reading the prospectus of NIFT that I carried with myself. The lines written in the above paragraphs were written with more emphasis. I was a bit confused at that time but I’m very happy today about the decision that I took two and a half years before to choose NIFT Hyderabad as my college centre.

Primary objective of joining a college is to study and receive a good education, life is an ongoing process of learning and gaining knowledge and our college is one of the best sources in fashion industry for it. The facilities available are tremendous viz-good libraries, laboratory, sports facility, Interaction with lecturers who have vast experience in their field etc.

The NIFT Hyderabad building is situated in the picturesque surroundings of Madhapur. NIFT campus is an architectural beauty in itself. NIFT Hyderabad is the biggest NIFT campus in India. Before coming here I knew that the Hindi Movie 16^th December was picturized in this campus. Most of the Tollywood movie’s campus scene is shot in our college, Jalsa being one of the recent one.

There are a few places in our campus that are very significant to all who belong here. Centre Circle being the first and the most significant in-campus landmark. It is the place where we sit in the evening in groups, where senior junior “Interactions” happens and also the place where you can wait, if you are an outsider. Don’t know about the food but the canteen is very special. It’s the place where I was made to dance on the Devdas song “Maar Dala” like Madhuri on a table, when I was a fresher. The canteen has changed a lot, to many people it’s more colourful now but to me it seems like a kindergarten class. Coming inside, the fountain area or the foyer is the epicentre of our college building. This place is for “vela” people like me who have a lot of free time to sit and pass their time.

There is a place inside our campus called pond area where you will always find someone or the other laying their back against the wall and looking disgusted due to loads of work, unhappy due to mood swings, or just feeling lonely. Just above this, on the first floor we have a place called “Hawa Mahal”, its name came because of the ventilation that this place provides. At this place there are two table tennis table, and trust me I know many seniors who spent their 4 years either playing or just sitting here.

The centre has separate design labs, pattern making labs and machine labs for the students.

We have a library in our college that we call it as “Resource Centre”. The resource centre provides support for the teaching and research programmes of the institute. It consists of a Library wing and Materials wing. Library Wing consists of books and other published resources covering its educational programmes and other subjects. It subscribes to leading fashion journals and fashion forecast services. Materials Wing consists of textiles, costumes and findings. The resource centre can be utilized by industry people and other students on special permission from the Director.

The institute has a fully equipped computer centre that allows for the students to be trained in latest software in the area of design, product development, planning and execution. It is equipped with Lectra to provide training in CAD, pattern making and marker planning.

Our ground has a well maintained lawn tennis clay court, which isn’t something very common in India, apart from a pro basketball court. We have two volleyball net stands and cricket practice pitch too.

Very recently a new building was erected, which is now completed and in use for classes.

Many people still have a perception that NIFT is just about Fashion Shows and Models. The Institute is a lot more than that. Presently in Hyderabad campus there are 4 undergraduate and 1 post graduate courses being offered to students. The undergraduate courses are as follows:-

1. Fashion & Apparels (Fashion Design)

2. Fashion & Textiles (Textile Design and Development)

3. Fashion & Lifestyle Accessories (Accessories Design)

4. and Fashion Technology (Apparel Production)

We have one postgraduate course being offered,

1. Fashion Management Studies

Apart from these courses, 2 new courses will be starting from next year, Knitwear Design and Fashion Communication. Both the courses are of undergraduate level.

NIFT is supposed to be a happening college. I really don’t know, but yeah a lot of events do happen on a regular basis. NIFT Spectrum being the annual event of our college is The Event of all the other events. I still remember when I was in my 2^nd semester and we were having our first Spectrum, we were very excited. The 3 day event was really a 72 hours slice of our life. I enjoyed a lot more than I ever had. The event made a starting of the DJ night trend in our college which is very frequent now.

The second Spectrum, Spectrum’08, really raised our spirits. You are having a three day event in your college, first day Indian Ocean is performing, second day you have the best talent in Hyderabad performing in a cultural evening and then on the final day you have the patent NIFT Fashion Show, which can’t even be compared to any other fashion event, what more you want.

Conducting an Inter-NIFT cultural, sports and literary event – Converge’08 in last December was really a challenge for our college. We had a 5 day event in which about 600 students from all 12 centres of NIFT across India came to Hyderabad to participate. Hyderabad was not only the best ever host but stood first among all other centres during Converge.

Very recently we had Spectrum’09 on 19^th and 20^th February, which was a grand success. We had the most innovative and interesting competitions organised during this time. Mr. & Ms. Spectrum, the Cultural Event “Takshati” and the Fashion Show “Through the Looking Glass” were the main highlights of the event. It was celebration in our campus during this time. No one was thinking about assignments, submissions, and any other problem. For every one this time was for fun and to rejuvenate oneself and breakout of the ordinary. Whenever Spectrum comes it spreads the same mood of celebration among us. This was my last Spectrum and being an active the part in organising these events, I really cherish the success of the all shows that we put up.

My college life and my campus memories can’t be completed without my friends. I want to thank, Radhika, Prithwish, Rahi, Mudit, Gitika, Shagufta, Anamika, Anu, Alisha, Madhu, Swarna, Sharma, Ankita, Surabhi, Arti, Aakash and all my friends who are and will always be close to me.

ROHIT