UIFT’S FDP in collaboration with UGC-HRDC

Chandigarh, March 22, 2022: A 7-Days Online Faculty Development Programme was organised from 15-21st March 2022. Valedictory of the Faculty Development Programme was held on 21st March, 2022.  
THEME: Fostering the Boundaries of Fashion Design and Technology Course For Enhanced Employability
UGC-Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC), Panjab University, Chandigarh (under the aegis of RUSA) and University Institute of Fashion Technology & Vocational Development conducted this programme where participants from different places in India - Patiala, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Jalandhar, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Noida, Delhi, Gurugram and different disciplines such as Fashion, Textile, Leather, Home Science, Anthropology, Literature etc. joined.
Dr. Anu H. Gupta, the FDP Co-ordinator and Chairperson of UIFT, elaborated on the uniqueness of this FDP, which had an inter- and multidisciplinary approach and the focus was to impart skill sets to students of fashion, design, and technology courses to make them employable. Many interesting topics related to the theme were dealt with in the programme, like: Evolving Designers for the Industry, Textile Crafts of India-Sustaining a World of Tomorrow, Leadership and Entrepreneurship as a Designer, Experiential Marketing, Industry Academia Partnership for Enhancing Student Employability, Technology-An Opportunity for Apparel Export Organizations to Improve Supply Competitiveness, Image Building and Branding, Secret Life of Products, Innovation and Start-Ups, Merging Art & Science: Trending Technology Uses in Fashion Industry etc. Every session of FDP was engaging where the latest technology, techniques, processes, innovations, and research in the fields of fashion, apparel, textiles, design technology, education, start-ups, and entrepreneurship were deliberated.
At the valedictory function, Prof. Sanjay Kaushik, Director, ICSSR NSWC, was the chief guest. He stressed that the apparel, textile, and design industries are contributing in a big way to our lives and the economy, but they can contribute even more. The need of the day is to make our youth employable. The skill gap between industry and academia can be bridged by organising such programmes where teachers are sensitised so that they can contribute back to the organisations and students.
Prof. Jayanti Dutta, Deputy Director, UGC-HRDC, congratulated the Coordinator of FDP, Dr Anu H. Gupta, and the Co-coordinators, Dr Rita Kant and Dr Avanish Kumar, from UIFT, for the success of the programme. She remarked that teachers can transform the personalities of learners if they are updated and deliver teachings, experiences, research, etc. and she emphasised the role of UGC-HRDC in updating teachers. She said that the programme is only successful if the learning from it is taken back to the final beneficiaries, i.e., the students.
Two participants presented the review of the complete FDP programme: All sessions were highly engaging, interesting, and very relevant to the area of study. Some of the eminent resource people who gave input were:
Ms. Taran Ahuja, Coordinator of Capstone and Project Subject, University of Technology, Sydney, reflected on how to make technical graduates more employable. She described how the University of Technology collaborates with students and industry on several initiatives to bridge the gap and prepare them for their future profession. During the workshop, she provided an overview of a capstone project that their university is working on so that students can be involved in a variety of projects/startups begun at different levels.
Prof. Ramakrishnan G, Head of Fashion Technology at Kumara Guru College of Technology in Coimbatore, elaborated on the skills needed for future employment in fashion and industry 4.0.
Ms. Meeta Kumar, Head of Design, Womenswear, Style Union Mumbai, spoke on the topic "Evolving Designers for the Industry: Academia-Industry Collaboration." She stated that with more and more people buying and using products, physical and digital companies are looking for skilled designers to create beautiful and user friendly designer outfits. She said that it is not just about designing products, but designing complete experiences with elaborate and complicated systems.
Nita Thakore, a textile artist and design educator from Ahmedabad, elaborated on the impact of COVID on people's ideas, ideologies, and shifts in adopting slow fashion and purchasing from zero-waste enterprises. She spoke about several efforts that are being attempted to help craftspeople. She talked about the concept of 'Paritran,' how she experimented with bringing craft to school, and the steps that could help inculcate sensitization among children through the medium of cloth books.
Prof. Sushil Raturi, Department of Fashion Management Studies at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai, explained how the experiential marketing idea may be implemented in retail businesses to increase consumer satisfaction.
Ms. Anupama Singal, Co-Founder of SLICeR, Singapore, explained the importance of learning digital technologies and virtual applications like online-campaigning, 3D fashion, digital fashion, etc. that can give an edge to the skill set of the students.
Mr. Apaar Gupta, Founder, Designcart.com Ecommerce Service, Pitam Pura, Delhi, explained the requisites, process, channels, and challenges for starting a start-up. He mentioned that a long-term vision, continuous research and exploration, persistence, and passion are required for a start-up.
Prof. Archana Gandhi, Academic Head of the NIFT New Delhi campus, spoke on technology as a means for clothing export firms to boost supply competitiveness.
Rasika, an entrepreneur, the founder of Studio Rudraksh, and a stylist, provided valuable insight into how to educate students for a career in fashion in the new normal world. She contributed her understanding of business in fashion to researching retail trends and comprehending e-commerce, as well as the importance of technologies such as AR, VR, and 3D printing. She discussed new-age textiles such as banana fibre, lotus fibre, and bamboo.
Aparna Rampal, Technical Program Manager, WITEKIO, USA, elaborated on the phases involved in developing a product, including ideation (concept), product definition (discovery), prototyping and design, validation and testing (customer acceptance), launch (commercialization), and what should be done to ensure one product's success in the market.
Dr. Rana Mukherji of the ICFAI University, Jaipur, emphasised the essentials of a start-up and mentioned that in order for a start-up to be successful, one should work on the idea's stability and scalability. He also emphasised the role of incubation centres at various organizations.
Prof. Nandita Shukla Singh of Panjab University, Chandigarh, highlighted how Gandhiji's philosophy of self-reliance is mirrored in NEP 2020 and what academia is supposed to do to educate students for vocational education, skill-based education, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary education/approaches, and train students to be self-reliant.
Prof. Sunil Dutt from NITTTR, Chandigarh explained the various dimensions of blended learning and flipped classrooms and how technology can be used most effectively for students.
Mr. Gurmeet Singh, CEO, GS International, Ludhiana, gave an insight on how the students can be prepared for the industry. He explained the functional areas of business and how each functional area is designed to produce results.
The key take away from all the sessions was that "it is important to design for experience and for a cause." It is important to impart skills as well as refresh the skills of the students with respect to the latest in fashion, design and technology, where they can participate and collaborate with industry and other partners for enhanced employability.
The FDP was well received and much appreciated by all participants.