Indian Institute of Foreign Trade M.A Review By Ankan Dutta

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade is a premier institute and actually one of the best institutes in the country. It follows a rigorous academic curriculum and has a balanced course for both industry and academic knowledge. The course has the capacity to make you industry ready and higher studies ready. The alumni network here is very strong. IIFT even had tie ups with renowned universities in Europe, America and Asia, with student exchange programs providing you opportunities to visit foreign universities and share knowledge with similar mindsets. Moreover IIFT has a brand value. The name itself gives you an edge over other candidates, while participating in a collective interview process or short listing process. It's a place where you can meet people with similar academic rigor which makes you push yourself to different heights.

The admission to the course is pretty tough. One has to qualify AI Proctoring Based Entrance Exam and Personal Interview to get admission here. This entrance exam is in online mode. Basically, all the courses taught in an undergraduate level including Economics. The course also teaches you different programming languages like STATA, Python, etc. which makes you industry ready. I think it is one of the few institutes which have these programming languages in their curriculum. This makes IIFT one of the most unique and one of the best to study economics.

The faculty is really good, one of the best in India I would say. The professors are very helpful and cooperative. They will help you in any way possible and try to clear your doubts. You have to be attentive and listen to them and take notes. 75 percent attendance is compulsory. You will also have guest faculties from Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). Also there are renowned faculties who have been economic advisers for Ministry of Commerce. Faculties are often swapped. Sometimes faculties from Delhi campus come to teach in Kolkata campus and vice versa.

Yes, we have a placement cell in the IIFT. There is a placement committee has students of both the campuses. It is one of the most active committees in IIFT. It is a student run body that works tirelessly to connect with different Human Resources (HR) and representatives from different companies all around the world so that the students can share their skills and academic knowledge and technicality for the betterment of the companies. Packages are really good. The Kolkata campus and Delhi campus holds placement program jointly. Also there is an internship rate of 100 percent. One can even do their internship from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MoCI). The highest CTC offered is 24 LPA for the batch of 2022-24 and the median CTC is 13 LPA.

Yes, the MBA program is a residential program. They provide hostel facilities for outsiders. The MA Economics course is a non-residential program, but the students usually get hostel after first year. The hostel is very good. The hostel has facilities like Wi-Fi, and recreational activities including a common room having games like table tennis and basketball court. They also provide provisions for single sharing double sharing and even triple sharing rooms. The mess food is also very good. There is a Nescafe cafeteria adjacent to the hostel. They also have guest rooms to live if someone is visiting the campus.

The infrastructure is high end and well maintained. The campus is really clean. There is an administrative block where all the office related and finance related matters are looked upon. There is an academic block where all the classes are located. Separate classes for MBA students and MA Economics students are conducted. The buildings are painted red, giving them a vibrant and retro look. A pond is also located just in the middle of the campus which further adds to the beauty of the campus. The library is highly resourceful. There are separate sections for MBA books and MA Economics books, with more than 40000+ online books and articles available along with access to different websites having important articles. Also, if there is a book or an article or page that you want, but they don't have, they can arrange for that particular need, once you have registered or notified them. The resources are vast. It is also one of the few institutes having access to important resources like Bloomberg terminal and many more. The cafeteria food is also very good. One can avail the food provided by the hostel mess, which is really cheap and the food quality is also very good. Water filters are available, which provides access to drinking water easily. The whole campus is Wi-Fi connected. The washroom is also clean and very well maintained.

There is nothing as such campus life. As IIFT follows a B-school model, the students are kept under a pressure to perform well in their academics. The seniors are really helpful here. And yes, there are a lot of activity clubs like the IIFT Economics Society, IIFT Analytics club, the IIFT placement cell. Talks are going on to inaugurate more clubs like, debating society, the chess club, movie club, and many more. There is also a fest conducted every year, where lots of events are held. Participating in various committees gives you hands-on experience in managing and decision making. The admission to these clubs is done by procedures as described by the head of the clubs.