Anmol Garg's Review On Indian Institute Of Foreign Trade - [IIFT], Kolkata

Entrance exam for IIFT, Score in Written Exam: 52.66. Essay, Group Discussion and Personal Interview for final selectionI chose IIFT over NMIMS, XIMB and some IIMsIIFT offers a very rigorous curriculum and Trade as a discipline which is not offered in other B Schools. Every subject is treated with an international aspect, which is lacking in most other top B schools.

Course curriculum throughout the 2 years is quite extensive. Electives are offered in the 2nd Year and distributed over 3 semesters. In the first three semesters, apart from focus on subjects from Finance, Marketing, Stats and Strategy students are introduced to Trade. Trade related subjects include those dealing with economics, documentation and operations. Some of the trade related subjects are compulsory while some are electives.

For the 2014-16 batch, a number of companies in the domain of trade, investment banking, consumer banking, sales, marketing and general management offered summer internship opportunities. A number of e commerce firms like Flipkart and Amazon opened ecommerce opportunities. Students got ample opportunities in IT and ITES as well.

Workshops and cultural fests are held.Quo Vadis, Vivaan and Tradewinds are some of the best events held at IIFT. The Kolkata Campus holds a special Budget Discussion session post the launch of General Budget. TedX has been held this year for the first time.

Loans are available from all banks .SBI offers the Scholar Loan which offers less interest rate than a regular education loan.

Campus life is improving. People from different industries with varied work experiences are present. The new campus at Kolkata is surely well built. IIFT Kolkata has one of the best quizzing cultures in B School circuit. In fact IIFT is the defending champion in a number of top corporate quizzes. Sports facilities are still under construction.Students and teachers are very open minded. There are some restrictions related to entry and exit in the campus due to safety issues in the area.

College seniors were very helpful. They introduced themselves with a rigorous PDP after which they opened up.Alumni interactions took place officially as well as unofficially. Alumni meets are held in different cities.Lot of alumni interacted with us through video conferencing.A number of our seniors were present during pre placement talks. Alumni interaction also takes place actively on social network.

Every trimester finishes with the end term exams. Owing to the large number of subjects, some of the exams are taken immediately after the completion of the respective course. Evaluation is divided into quizzes, assignments, class participation and final exams. On an average classes are held for about 6 hours in a day. Students in first 5 trimesters can have upto 12 subjects depending on their elective distribution. Assignments and quizzes are tough and challenging. Classroom interaction and attendance is really important for understanding the subjects.

Faculty in both Delhi and Kolkata campus are shared. Some of the faculty fly between the 2 campuses. Trade related faculty are possible the best in the country. Most of the faculty have extensive industrial and academic experience.A number of faculties are involved in live industrial projects offered by industries and governments. Some of the faculty are part of government bodies and trade delegations too.