Rani Birla College mulls PG course in fashion designing

There is some good news for those who want to pursue a career in fashion and apparel designing but cannot pursue their dream due to exorbitant course fees at the private level. Rani Birla College for Girls affiliated to Calcutta University is planning to introduce post graduate (PG) studies in fashion and apparel designing from the next academic year. The college already offers degree courses at the undergraduate (UG) level.

The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) offers fashion designing courses at the UG level but the course fees is often not affordable for the middle class people. In NIFT, garment designing, production and accessories are taught as different subjects at the UG level. All these categories have been integrated in a single course in Rani Birla College. “There are various job openings in the arena of fashion technology and designing. This is the only state institution that offers degree courses in this subject. The course fees is much less in comparison to NIFT or other private institutions. The demand for higher studies in this course is also very much there. So if everything goes as per plan, we will introduce PG in the subject in the coming academic year,” a senior administrative official of the college said. There are 25 UG seats for this course and 10 more seats are reserved for industry sponsored candidates. In the four-year course, there are provisions for industrial internship at various garment houses where the students are subjected to hands-on training on the way these companies operate.

About 50 to 60 per cent of the students from the college get placements and many others earn their livelihood through entrepreneurship.

The course started in the year 2008 and has witnessed modifications in curriculum with changing times.