Over the past 27 years since it was promoted by the Union textiles ministry, NIFT-Delhi has set new benchmarks in fashion education and produced some of the country’s top designers, securing a position among India’s top 20 Fashion Design Institutes 2013. 

Given its status as India’s pioneer institution offering professional degree programmes in fashion design, it’s inevitable that the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi is ranked #1 in the Education-World-C fore survey of India’s Top 20 fashion design institutes, and also top-ranked on all four parameters of excellence — competence of faculty, infrastructure, pedagogic systems and processes, and placements. Promoted in 1986 by the Union ministry of textiles in technical collaboration with the New York-based Fashion Institute of Technology, over the years NIFT-D has set new benchmarks in fashion education and produced some of the country’s most successful fashion designers including Ritu Beri, Rohit Bal and Manish Arora among others.

NIFT-D’s success and rising demand for professionally trained designers from the Rs.80,000 crore haute couture industry prompted the Central government to promote affiliates in all major cities, and in 2006, Parliament enacted the NIFT Act, empowering it to award undergraduate and postgrad degrees in fashion design education. Currently there are 15 NIFT campuses country-wide with an aggregate enrolment of 7,000 students. And NIFT-D apart, six of them — NIFT, Mumbai #2, Bangalore #3, Gandhinagar #4, Hyderabad #5, Chennai #7 and Kolkata #8 — are rank-ed in the Top 10 league table of India’s most admired fashion design institutes.

“The credit for NIFT’s #1 ranking must be given to our faculty and creative students who have helped the institute maintain its premier position in fashion education in all such surveys. NIFT-D is endowed with excellent faculty and students. We nurture their creativity by offering a stimulating learning environment. It is this integrated mix that provides a unique set up for our students to transform into professionals ready to grasp entrepreneurial opportunities,” says Prem Kumar Gera (IAS), director-general of NIFT.

This explanation for the success of NIFTs countrywide is endorsed by Prof. S. Shivalingam, founding professor of textile design at NIFT-D, and currently director of NIFT, Bangalore ranked #3. “Excellent faculty with industry experience, supplemented by a hands-on curriculum, excellent campuses and strong partnerships with industry. This is the common factor of all NIFT institutes which explains their high ranking,” says Shivalingam. Promoted in 1997, NIFT-Bangalore has 740 students and 39 faculty on its muster rolls.

Although NIFT institutes which had a head start in fashion education dominate the EW-C fore rankings, several private sector institutes are challenging NIFT’s domination. Among them is Pearl Academy whose three campuses in Delhi, Jaipur and Chennai are ranked among the Top 20. Promoted in 1993, Pearl Academy claims to be the first fashion academy in India to be conferred ISO 9001: 2008 certification and offers over 30 undergraduate, graduate and professional programmes to 1,000 students.

“Pearl Academy’s dynamic and innovative study programmes are specially designed in consultation with industry experts which is why our graduates are employed in key positions in leading haute couture and retail establishments, and fashion conglomerates around the world. We have also signed affiliation and collaboration agreements with top foreign schools including the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles, and London College of Fashion. Every year, about 200 students participate in reciprocal exchanges, international conferences, study tours and summer school programmes,” says Sharad Mehra, CEO of Pearl Academy which recently (2012) promoted a fourth campus in Noida.

To see Top 20 league table visit http://www.educationworld.in/rank-fashion/2013.html