The perfect trade-off - Hindustan Times
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The perfect trade-off

Hindustan Times | ByGarima Upadhyay, New Delhi
Jul 06, 2011 10:38 AM IST

Students at this B-school learn the tricks of the trade to tackle the challenges thrown up by growing consumerism

Management education with an in-depth focus on global trade and policy formulation continues to be the guiding light for the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade’s (IIFT’s) MBA (international business) programme. With a beautiful campus set in the midst of the lush Qutab Institutional Area, the environs are more than impressive.

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Apart from exuding a corporate feel, the architecture also subtly speaks of elements of fun. ‘Top of the World’ is one such area on the campus that lets you get a feel of the Delhi skyline and let’s you forget everything else. Overlooking the Delhi Ridge area and Qutab Minar, this place has been a favourite with IIFTians for many generations.

“Be it the imposing structure of the ‘Atrium’, the mystical beauty of the architectural design called ‘Top of the World’, or the splendour of the campus in full bloom in winter, it never fails to impress the visitors,” says Bhushan Bapat, a second-year MBA student, who is also the media coordinator (student body).

USP: Located in the Qutab Institutional Area in the vicinity of Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, the campus is spread over six acres.

Faculty: The institute has about 35 full-time members in the faculty. The institute has a vibrant visiting faculty.

Programmes: Apart from the MBA (international business), which is a full-time residential programme, the institute offers a wide range of management development programmes (MDPs) in various areas of international business such as international marketing, trade operations and logistics, international finance, WTO and related issues in India and abroad for government officials from various departments, trade associations and exporters.

IT quotient: IIFT has three state-of-the-art computer centres with a local area network comprising IBM Blade Centre, HP Servers and 300 Pentium Core2Duo/i7 nodes with wired and wireless access to the campus network. Other facilities include 24-hour internet access via a 14-mbps leased line, access to national and international databases, in-house publishing facilities, LCD/plasma screen projection systems, etc.

Infrastructure: The MBA (international business) is a fully residential programme. Students enrolled in the programme stay in hostels on campus. There is a separate wing for female students. Computers are provided in every hostel room with internet connectivity. The institute also has residential facilities for participants of its management development programmes.

The library is a resource centre in the true sense of the word. One of the largest of its kind in the country, it houses close to 84,000 volumes and subscribes to 800 journals with complete online cataloguing. The IIFT library is a veritable treasure of information.

It also has a unique collection of publications from FAO, IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, UNCTC, the World Bank, and other international agencies. The students have access to databases such as the NIC, CMIE, India Trades, World Bank Indicators and audio-visual aids on management.

There is also a WTO Resource Centre in the library that focuses exclusively on WTO issues.

A library-cum-reading room is kept open round-the-clock.

Studentspeak: The Social Awareness Programme (SAP) is an integral part of the MBA curriculum. Under this initiative, students are affiliated to more than 40 NGOs for about six months. “We are free to choose the NGO we want to work for and the experience is very rewarding — not just academically but personally as well,” says Puneet Goyal, a second-year MBA student.

Clubs and societies: IIFTians take pride in their passion for sports. The Ultimate Warrior League (UWL), a cricketing event organised once a year, is the most popular one in the academic calendar.

Conceptualised on the lines of the IPL, the UWL sees students bid big amounts to earn the right to own one of four franchisees, each representing four zones — Aryan Juggernauts, Eastern Gladiators, Mumbai Hawks and Southern Stallions. Once the owners are selected and have bid for their franchises, they select a team of two from the junior batch as brand managers. The brand managers ensure that their classroom training meets playground implementation. What is different is the composition of each team. It is mandatory for each team to have certain fixed number of seniors, juniors, women and foreign exchange students.

Apart from cricket, another activity that incites the interest of IIFTians is quizzing.

“Quizzing is very popular. We organise a quiz competition every weekend and there are at times marathon-quizzing nights,” says Nishtha Anand, a second-year MBA student.

Along with quizzing, the book club is another popular cult at IIFT, Delhi.

QUO VADIS is a three-day annual management and cultural festival at IIFT.

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Factfile
The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) was set up in 1963 by the Government of India as an autonomous organisation to help professionalise the country’s foreign trade management and increase exports by developing human resources; generating, analysing and disseminating data; and conducting research

Wishlist
“We have the best of everything and there is no wish that won’t be met if desired. The management is very supportive and integrates our suggestions and views in the way things happen here. It is a great experience to study here,” says Varun Sharma, a second-year MBA student

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