For skill based programmes, classroom training is essential
Dr MM Kariappa founded the Vogue Institute of Art & Design in 1996. Today it is ranked among the top art and design institutes in the country. Fibre2Fashion spoke to Dr. Vijaya Kumar, Director, Vogue Institute of Art and Design to understand how the current Covid crisis has impacted educational institutes worldwide and reshaped education in more than one way.
How has the worldwide lockdown impacted educational institutes and students? What are the immediate concerns?
The lockdown has caused psychological depression among students due to uncertainty of the future. Higher education students face the heat due to ambiguity of job opportunities. Students face confusion and find it difficult to make decisions about the career field to pursue due to the changes in industry dynamics and global economy.
How equipped are your students to be a part of the industry from the word go – bridging the gap between theoretical studies and practical demands of a job?
Our students are prepared in a way that meets the industry’s demands. We have designed the courses, and programmes in consultation with industry experts from fashion, interior, manufacturing and retail segments. The campus is located in Apparel Park, which is a star project of Karnataka Government, presently housing more than 70 mega industries from apparel sector which encourages interface at all levels of designing to merchandising, interaction with industry professionals on a day-to-day basis and allows students to gain hands on knowledge. We regularly conduct workshops and talk-sessions with industry experts so that the students understand the ground reality about the industry, think out-of-the-box and make a mark in their careers.
How easy or difficult is to secure an admission? Any scholarships on offer?
While choosing a course, students need to consider many elements like the environment, location, transport links, accommodation, cost of living, options for financing studies through institutional scholarships and more. It’s not really tough to secure admission but yes there is no shortcut to success. So you will have to work hard even for the online entrance. To make the whole process easier, our admissions team shares their advice on how to make college application processes as painless as possible. Given the amount of time each application can take up, it’s important to think carefully about where you really want to apply. Yes, we do offer various scholarships so that the right students get an opportunity for higher studies. The economically weaker section students are also given importance and special provisions are made to accommodate their financial crisis in the form of giving away special discount on fees or scholarships.
How is the institute’s course offerings realigned in the era of Covid-19? How has the crisis reshaped education in more than one way?
We have kept our course offerings in alignment with the university guidelines and ensure that all the necessary requirements are accommodated for our students. All courses on distance learning are primarily for commerce or general science. When it comes to art and design, face to face mode and physical presence is essential. Students at Vogue Institute of Art and Design continue learning their courses through virtual classes. We ensure all the theoretical classes are undertaken during the current crisis situation. We share online tutorials, videos, also attempt for practical workshops that can be done at home. For instance, we conducted a workshop for fashion and textile students on ways to create natural dyes using food and floral waste on World Environment Day. This required materials and ingredients that were easily available for students and faculty.
What have the learnings been since the institute went the e-learning way to ensure continual learning for the students from home?
The field of Art and Design requires the right balance of theory and practical sessions to meet the industry demands. Our faculty members strategically planned the sessions with a time table and covered important subjects in the curriculum. While theoretical classes can be executed effortlessly through online platforms, practical sessions required a lot of planning and preparations to ensure the materials and tools for the session were easily accessible by the students. Video tutorials played a significant role in practical sessions. The academic environment has been better as students and faculty members were engaged during the lockdown period virtually.
The industry and education institutes are much closer during this period. Industry experts from India and abroad are joining hands with institutes to conduct webinar sessions for students frequently. Our initiative to conduct industry webinar sessions has been a successful platform for providing an industry-institute interaction set-up for students to understand the present and post Covid-19 effect on the industry. We conducted 20 webinars to date and the participation responses from students and faculties for the webinars have been extremely positive. Students in India and countries like the US, UK, UAE, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong took part in the webinar sessions regularly. There has been bilateral interaction among stakeholders of the fashion industry across the country and also worldwide. Other educational institutes are also conducting webinars during the lockdown and this has given our students the opportunity to connect with them.
What percentages of your students are absorbed in the textile industry of India?
75 per cent of our fashion students are absorbed in the apparel industry. We aim to achieve 100 per cent placements in the upcoming academic year.
How well equipped is the institute in conducting R&D projects?
Vogue Institute of Art and Design has allocated nearly 30 per cent of its space to conduct R&D projects. The institute has experienced human resources to conduct R&D projects in India and abroad.
What impact do you think this engagement into online/distance learning by many/most institutions might have on faculty and student confidence in technology-enabled learning?
There is a lot of confidence visible among faculty members and students after conducting virtual classes to continue the curriculum with the use of technology. This has increased their knowledge horizon as they have learnt the skill of using technological means to provide live streaming classes for our students. Students and faculty feel confident that learning need not stop despite the set of challenges.
What are the challenges of e-learning?
The challenges are as follows:
- Due to complete dependency and need for availability of technology and tools among students for conducting virtual classes, there is disproportional access to e-learning programmes
- E-learning requires faculty members and students to have knowledge to use the tools and platforms available for conducting the classes, and handling technical challenges
- Only 60 per cent of the curriculum is achievable through online platforms in case of skill based programmes, like Art and Design as it needs more face-to-face interactions
Who are the major collaborators among brands and foreign universities? Do they collaborate with you on research topics?
Vogue Institute of Art and Design has collaborated with four foreign universities- University of Sunderland, UK; Accademia Costume and Moda, Italy; DeMontfort University, UK; and Accademia Del Lusso, Italy. Through the collaborations, students at Vogue gain progression opportunities to pursue undergraduate and master degree programmes, summer courses, joint student projects, workshops, exchange programmes amongst others. Vogue Institute of Art and Design is also exploring collaboration with AIC-NIFT TEA Incubation Centre for Textiles and Apparels.
What are the significant textile projects you are currently working on?
With an aim to direct the bright minds of today to think about sustainable practices for a better future, Vogue Institute of Art and Design initiated a circular fashion economy project in association with Shahi Export Pvt Ltd. The students are undertaking up-cycling projects from apparel waste that was collected from Shahi Exports.
Students created artistic mirror frames, lampshades with jute rope, weaved lampshades, artsy storage boxes, appealing pillow covers, wall hangings and plan to create more.
Could the move to online learning be the catalyst to create a new, more effective method of educating students?
Classroom experiences are more effective than online learning. While theoretical classes are still effective through online platforms, practical classes need a lot of tools to make the session as effective as a classroom setting. For skill based programmes, classroom training is essential. On the other hand, practical industry exposures has increased immensely as industry experts are joining hands with institutes to conduct webinar sessions for students frequently. Students and faculties find this form of learning more effective and engaging.
What has been Vogue’s achievement so far? What are the various courses related to art, fashion and design?
Since its inception in 1996, Vogue Institute of Art and Design has emerged as one of the highly-rated Art and Design institutes with the highest number of recognised courses in the field of art and design by Bengaluru North University. With an aim to build a strong ecosystem for design education, Vogue is the first to introduce higher education management courses in the design landscape from an accredited source. This year, the institute has successfully entered the 24th year of academic excellenc. Today, we are proud to affirm that our skill development programmes are bridging the gap between the industry and education system. We are featured among the top educational institutes in the field of art and design in the country. With immense efforts of our professors and management, the institute has received multiple awards and accolades from renowned publications like India Today and Outlook for the programmes designed to shape the students for their careers.
We cover the whole spectrum of activities in the realm of fashion and textiles, design and management, to develop design professionals with a dynamic global outlook, a sense of social responsibility, critical and creative thinking. The courses include graduation programmes in BSc in fashion and apparel design, BSc in interior design and decoration, BVA in animation and multimedia, BVA in textile design, Bachelor in jewellery design and management, BSc in digital filmmaking and media. The institute offers MBA courses in fashion merchandising and retail management, fashion design and business management, interior design and management.
According to you, what are the things plaguing the textile industry at present?
We are in the era of fast fashion where fashion trends change once a week, ie 52 cycles a year. Since the life of fabric is only for 1 week, apparel waste has increased exponentially. While a few brands work towards changing the face of the same apparel as per the fashion trends, many fashion labels change their collection as per the trend to ensure market visibility. The wastage level is 4-5 per cent for classic wear as the collection requires minor changes. However in case of fashion wear – about 25 per cent of fabric goes as waste.
What steps should governments and countries take to reduce textile related wastages?
- Governments can undertake programmes that promote reduction and recycling of waste from the grass root level. Education and awareness should start from schools and colleges as one can’t control manufacturers and marketers. Students in school can be taught about fashion, ways to reduce consumption, transform the product and avoid discarding the product. This way, the garment consumption levels can be controlled
- Support can be provided to develop second hand retail stores, lending stores, rent based apparel products as their business models help reduce apparel waste. They are going to thrive in a big way in India as it’s already getting popular in parts of the country
- In India, cotton based apparels are still a priority. However, in other countries, people prefer comfort due to which polyester, nylon based products are more popular. If we adopt this module, we will not run short of cotton and can synthesise more bio-degradable apparels, therefore reducing the shelf life from 6 years to 3 years for fashion wear products.
- It would be ideal to initiate a parallel marketing system for used manufactured garments, recycling and up cycling of garments. Circular fashion projects have already been initiated in 10 countries across the globe, and the Indian government has also adopted this now.
How has Vogue been an employment generator for youths drawn from economically backward sections?
The institute imparts training to underprivileged youth from the rural sector to provide employable skills in the areas of designing, pattern making and cutting, tailoring, jewellery designing, manufacturing and more. This initiative has created employment opportunities to thousands of youths from economically backward sectors.
What percentage of students does Vogue have as international students? Which are the major countries they come from?
Most of the international students come from UAE, Africa, SAARC countries.
What needs to be done in terms of driving sustainability?
There is a need to create awareness from the grass root levels in schools about sustainability and the impact on earth and the environment. Children always like to equip themselves with the practices undertaken and the right values. Circular fashion needs to be a part of the school curriculum for students in 5th grade preferably. This will ensure the young minds are shaped to be responsible future leaders in the industry.
What are your future goals? Any major announcements in pipeline?
Vogue Institute of Art & Design aims to expand its array of courses offered to students in the coming years in the realm of design education, which includes architecture design. (PC)
