Indian Institute of Foreign Trade

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade

Type	Public business school
Established	1963 (1963)
Director	Manoj Pant[1]
Location	New Delhi and Kolkata, Delhi and West Bengal, India 28°53′42″N 77°18′31″E / 28.89500°N 77.30861°E / 28.89500; 77.30861Coordinates: 28°53′42″N 77°18′31″E / 28.89500°N 77.30861°E / 28.89500; 77.30861
Campus	Urban, 6 acres (24,000 m2)
Affiliations	UGC
Website	edu.iift.ac.in

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is an autonomous public business school established in 1963 by the Government of India (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) to help professionalize the country's foreign trade management and increase exports by developing human resources; generating, analysing and disseminating data; and conducting research. Its flagship program is the Master of Business Administration in International Business (MBA-IB).

IIFT was conferred the status of Deemed University in 2002. It conducts an autonomous entrance examination across various centers in India.^[2][3]

Courses

IIFT's portfolio of long-term programmes is as follows:

• Two-Year Residential MBA (International Business) - New Delhi, Kolkata, and Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania). This is the flagship course, offering core subjects and electives in Marketing, Finance, Systems, Operations, and Trade.
• Ph.D. Course (full-time and part-time)- at the New Delhi and Kolkata Campus.
• Three-Year Part Time MBA (International Business) - New Delhi & Kolkata
• Executive Master's in International Business - New Delhi, Dubai and Dar-es-Salaam
• Certificate Course in Export Management, New Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati (Assam)
• Post Graduate Diploma in International Business Strategy through NIIT Imperia

IIFT has, over the years, undertaken research studies with organisations like World Trade Organisation, World Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. IIFT has also trained more than 40,000 business professionals across 30 countries via its management development programmes.^[4]

Selection Process

Selection in IIFT is a four-pronged process:

1. The entrance test is a paper-based test which takes place in November
2. A short-list based on the test scores is used to invite students for the Group Discussion round. Topics of national and international importance across social, political, economic and corporate domains are common as individuals are tested on their group discussion skills.
3. A Writing Ability Test is conducted to test the candidate’s writing skills, along with knowledge of the subject and structure of representation.
4. The Personal Interview has a distinct focus on goals, achievements, knowledge and awareness.

A cumulative weighted score depending on the rules of that particular year of examination is taken to identify the final short-list of candidates for offer letters.

Centres at IIFT

IIFT Delhi Campus

IIFT Delhi is located in Hauz Khas, South Delhi. The campus is close to a section of the Delhi Ridge Forest, and monuments such as the Qutub Minar and Lotus Temple.The campus is also close to other premier educational institutions such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Fashion Technology, and the Indian Statistical Institute.

The facilities available on campus include lecture halls with audio-visual aids, conference halls for round-table conferences, an auditorium of 500 seating capacity, MDP Centre, three Computer Centres, indoor games, and residential facilities for students.

IIFT Kolkata Campus

Admin Building of IIFT Kolkata Campus

IIFT, Kolkata Campus became operational from the year 2006. The institute has a full-fledged residential campus which is situated near Ruby Hospital on the EM-Bypass.^[10] The sprawling campus of 7 acres provides state of the art facility to the faculty and management students of IIFT. Students are provided with single room lodging facility, smart class rooms and fully wired campus. The new campus provides state-of the art facilities for International Business education, training and research. In order to make the campus more relevant, it is proposed to offer courses more specific to the region which can help the industry to get the right manpower for addressing the current demands. Moreover, the IIFT campus at Kolkata houses a WTO cell to cater to the policy requirement for international business. This helps to enhance the capacities of bureaucrats and industries alike on policy and advocacy issues involving international business like WTO, FTA, and PTAs etc. This cell also caters to the specific policy research areas of both the state and central governments. It has a state-of-art library with centrally air-conditioned equipped with three Bloomberg terminals, e-library, WTO cell and computer facilities.

Campus Life

Student Hostel of IIFT Kolkata

It has 7 acres of campus with three large water bodies to add style and beauty for the campus. It also has 24*7 food canteen and Nescafe outlet. The new campus is made up of three major section: 1) Administration Building 2) Student Hostel 3) Academic block. Club activities like Vivaan- IIFT Kokalta's International Business summit, Cricket mania, DJ night etc. are the part of the IIFT culture. Students take active part in Volleyball, Cricket, Badminton, Football and Table tennis competitions in the campus. Students also publish two magazines namely: 1) Markmantra- IIFT's Marketing Magazine and 2) InFINeeti - IIFT's Business and Finance Magazine

International Collaborations & Student Exchange Programmes

IIFT Exchange Programme^[11] is an outcome of the institute’s academic collaboration with institutions across the world. These collaborations are mainly for student, faculty exchange programmes, joint collaborations on research and various other capacity building exercises. IIFT has developed relations with many international organizations^[12] by signing MoUs and participating in their activities or taking collaborative initiatives. The Institute is a member of the following International organizations:

• Academy of International Business (AIB)
• Association of Management Development Institutes in South Asia (AMDISA)
• International Association of Trade Training Organization (IATTO)
• The Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
• The European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD)

Rankings

IIFT was ranked 23 among management schools in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2018^[13] and 11 by Business Today's "India's best B-schools 2016".^[14] Business Standard has ranked the institute in its top group "Super League 1", with an overall percentile of 95%.^[15]

Port Visit and Social Awareness Program

IIFT also offers its students the opportunity to visit various national and international ports. Students can choose their port of choice and are accompanied by faculty members during the visit.^[16]

The institute also has a month-long social awareness program, in which several NGOs such as Muskaan Foundation are invited to the campus to pitch their projects to the students. The students are then allowed to choose any NGO of choice and have to work closely with the NGO for the next month. The SAP is a part of the course curriculum, and IIFT is one of the few institutions who have undertaken similar social programs.^[17]

Campus life

The institute has a student body called International Management Forum (IMF). IMF is the official^[18] representative student body at IIFT which acts as a coordinator for, and provides administrative support to, various student activities and events at IIFT besides taking policy decisions regarding student affairs in consultation with the Director/Chairperson/Programme Director. Among the key roles of IMF is co-ordination and supervision of the activities of various domain-specific clubs and cells. 6 clubs^[19] and 7 cells^[20] work to ensure collaborative and comprehensive learning round the year. The clubs impart domain and industry-specific knowledge via Knowledge Transfer Sessions throughout the year. Also the practical learning experience is enhanced through the regularly scheduled competitions-case studies, Group discussions, quizzes, etc. Live projects from various corporates in all domains are also brought by clubs, which ensures significant industry exposure. The activities of the clubs and cells are supervised by the General Secretary, a member of the IMF.

Papers and publications

The research carried out by the institute is widely disseminated in the form of study reports, monographs and occasional papers. The major beneficiaries of these research findings are academicians, policy makers, trade and industry, multilateral organizations, researchers and NGOs. In addition, the Institute publishes a quarterly journal Foreign Trade Review^[21] published by Sage Publications. The journal focuses on key relevant areas such as international trade, finance, econometrics, IT, WTO, Trade blocs and marketing. Focus WTO,^[22] another quarterly journal published by the Institute focuses exclusively on WTO related issues. Each issue of the journal is thematic. An electronic magazine E-Zine is also published by the Centre for International Trade in Technology of IIFT.

Notable alumni

• Rashesh Shah, founder of Edelweiss Capital^[23]

See also

• Indian Institutes of Management

References

External links

• Official website