“The best insurance policy for the future of an industry is research, which will help it to foresee future lines of development, to solve its immediate problems, and to improve and cheapen its products”.
By- Sir Harold Hartley
In the above lines, it is well written that the best investment for the future of the fashion industry is research. Because fashion changes day by day, therefore, required a lot of research to bring new and innovative products to meet the customer’s needs and requirements accordingly. The fashion apparel industry has significantly progressed, particularly over the last 20 years. The changing dynamics of the fashion industry have forced retailers to desire low cost and flexibility in design, quality, and speed to market, to maintain a profitable position in the increasingly demanding market. To meet these demands, research should be done consistently in the fashion field.
Fashion and textiles are among the areas in which the SGT University, through the Faculty of Fashion & Design, is rigorously working for both the development of artistic viewpoint and the alliance between art and science. Therefore, the mission of the Faculty of Fashion & Design Course is to use teaching, research, and public service to solve social problems. In the process of learning, students would be oriented to use their education in solving practical problems confronting them in the society. Self-reliance and excellence cannot be achieved without extraordinary research input by the students as well as faculty members.
By considering all these points special undergraduate “SCHOLARS CLUB” has been created by the university to satisfy the advanced learning needs of the scholars. Scholar’s Club started two initiatives.
First, to reward the academically bright students by awarding them with Annual Scholarship Distribution so that they could be able to focus on their studies and shine like a star.
Scholars with Dr. M. K. Nair (Dean Fashion & Design) and Dr. Pooja Singh (Faculty Coordinator) during the Scholars Felicitation ceremony (29 Jan 2020).
Scholarships are distributed at the time of admission on the basis of student’s previous degree academic performance. Various other scholarships were also distributed to the scholars for their academic annual performance. Such scholarships also motivate young blood for their future endeavors.
Second, Research is an area that needs regular refinement so, in order to inculcate the research skills amongst students, our department is working consistently. For this, in every academic year, scholars from each program are selected on the basis of the academic performance of the previous year. The faculty coordinators and students used to select the topic of the research project, on which scholars had to carry out the research and come up with something new and innovative. For such research projects, students personally visit various places to collect first-hand information so they would be able to compile and analyze the collected data with the original information. This helps the scholars to come across various hurdles which they face after stepping outside the classroom.
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The Scholars and faculty coordinators were given a definite time duration in which they had to complete the whole project. After completion, scholars had to submit the report to coordinators of the Scholars Club along with Dean Student Welfare (DSW) so that they can go through each and every project thoroughly and also the quality of work done by respective scholars. After the submission of the research projects, scholars had to give a presentation of their particular topic. In which scholars had to explain the objective of the study, the benefitting group, how the work has done, and last but not the least that is the conclusion and outcome of the study. Jury members will evaluate the projects. On the basis of their presentation best projects were awarded cash prize along with certificates. Lastly, all the research projects were compiled and published in renowned journals. This process develops various skills in students such as carrying out research, writing skills, and exposure to real situations.
Scholars club does dual responsibility of motivating the students as well as supporting them with cash-money. Research experience allows undergraduate students to better understand published works, learn to balance combined and individual work, determine an area of interest, and start their careers as researchers. Through this exposure to research as undergraduates, many students realize their passion for research and continue on to graduate studies and faculty positions.
Dr. Pooja Singh
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Fashion & Design
SGT University