Graduation Project Guidelines

Bachelor of Fashion Technology

(Apparel Production)

Reference Manual
For Students
Version 2006.02

Department of Fashion Technology

National Institute of Fashion Technology

____________________________________________________________________
New Delhi Calcutta Hyderabad Chennai Mumbai Gandhinagar Bangalore
 GRADUATION PROJECT GUIDELINES

Objective of Graduation Project

A graduation project (GP) is a research based project done by the students in the 8th
Semester (final semester) in partial fulfillment of their graduation degree of Bachelor of
Fashion Technology (Apparel Production). The purpose of the project is to integrate the
learning of the students of the last seven semesters through research/experimentation in
the chosen area by the applications of technology in apparel manufacturing.

Scope of Graduation Project

Students may take up projects within the scope of fundamental research or applied
research. Fundamental research is an activity designed to broaden scientific and technical
knowledge not directly linked to industrial or commercial objectives. Applied research is
designed for the purpose of producing results that may be applied to real world situations.
The students should emphasize more on fundamental research while they can also
choose an area of applied research.

Therefore, the Graduation Projects maybe any of the following –

1) Projects which studies the relationship and/or applicability of theories or principles
to the solution of a problem which is either organization specific or industry specific.
2) A careful investigation or scientific research into a subject in order to discover facts,
to establish or devise/revise a theory/hypothesis.
3) A survey based research of an industry phenomenon, trend or an issue of concern.
4) Research done with an eye towards making products/software applications that can
be commercialized, or at least made available for practical benefit.
5) Any research which is used to answer a specific question, determine why
something failed or succeeded, solve a specific, pragmatic problem, or to gain
better understanding.

The graduation project is not –

1) An additional Industry placement after summer internship.
2) An opportunity provided to factories to get piece meal work done from students, which
may not fulfill the Department’s GP requirements.

Potential areas of research

The two broad areas that students can work on are Information Technology application for
apparel manufacturing and Technology and Management for apparel manufacturing. Few
Suggested Areas for Graduation Project are:

Productivity Measurement and Improvement Techniques.

Quality Measurement and Improvement Methods.

Implementation of any Production or Quality System.

Product Development Process for new/unexplored products.

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Product/Process Re-engineering

Sizing

Research on new products/technology/processes.

Technical evaluation and/or implementation of MIS/ERP/CAD systems.

Software Design and Development covering various functions in an apparel firm.

System Analysis and Design

Retail / Vendor management.

Merchandising

Human Resource Management

E Commerce

Compliance issues such as social, environmental and technical

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Cluster Development/Craft up gradation

Process automation for productivity and/or quality improvement

To ensure appropriate and balanced coverage of various issues/subjects a prescribed

percentage of projects to be done in different areas. The Centre Co-ordinator should
ensure that the coverage should not only be in terms of above topical issues but also is in
terms of four basic types of research i.e. descriptive, analytical, applied and empirical.

Expected student learning from the Graduation Project

1) It gives the students the capabilities to independently plan and execute projects.
2) Students will be able to put into practice some of the learning that has been taught
throughout the course.
3) The students will be able to use their creative skills towards problem solving.
4) The project will help students develop skills of analysis and integration along with
develop an awareness of existing literature and communicate the same in written and
oral modes.
5) It will provide the student with a transition experience from managing exam based tasks
to more project based tasks.

Expected outcomes/benefits

1) Results of the projects will have practical value and significance for industry and the
institute as a whole.
2) It will help create a bank of knowledge that will add value to teaching and classroom
learning.
3) The outcomes of the projects will aid in developing teaching material, publish papers
and case studies.

Sponsorship of Project

It is desirable (but not necessary) that students undertake project that are sponsored by
interested organizations. The interested organizations could be any one from among the

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following; export organizations, domestic manufacturers, consultants, retail organization,
Information Technology enabled solutions and services, government institutions, financial
institutions, trade bodies, NIFT/respective department etc. Sponsorship of the project entails
that the sponsor will cooperate to provide all necessary formalities to the student(s) to carry
out the project work in the premises, will nominate a suitable executive to function as an
internal facilitator/coordinator to the student and will incur the costs of the project including
it’s documentation according to an agreed budget. Sponsorship will have to be initiated by
the student with endorsement of Departmental Head/Coordinator and formalized between
department and head of the sponsoring organization or his nominee.

Venue of the Project

Students are required to limit their project work to the area of location of the NIFT Centre
or in the immediate region around it. This ensures close monitoring and consistent
guidance by the department faculty. In case of any exceptional circumstances, the
concerned Department centre coordinator shall fix venue with concurrence of Chairperson,
DFT- NIFT. Centre Coordinator would be the final decision making authority in
respect to venue.

It must be ensured that certain percentage of graduation projects be conducted in

in-house laboratory. The percentage will vary from centre to centre and year to year,
which will be decided in meeting every year.

Individual or team projects

Students may execute the graduation project individually or in team. However teams may
not exceed two students. The department reserves the right to change/alter team
composition on merits. The department also reserves the right to direct students to work
on the project individually as per merits. Students should not be encouraged to work in
larger groups as it makes the evaluation of such projects difficult.

Guides

Faculty Guide
He/She will be a member of the department and be overall supervisor of the student’s
work. The guide shall only act as sounding-board to the student and will guide the students
in the technical aspects of the project. Faculty guides will be allotted to each group on the
basis of project area, expertise and interest area of the faculty. Students shall report to the
faculty guide at least once every week during the several stages of project work.

Industry Facilitator / Coordinator

He /She shall be a nominee of the sponsoring organization. He /She shall be a person
sufficiently senior in the organization and facilitate or co-ordinate the students obligations
in the project within the organization. The industry facilitator may not have any
responsibilities for technical guidance to the student.

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Expert Guide
If deemed necessary by the Department an expert guide in the field may be nominated to
provide additional technical support to the student. He/She shall function in close liaison
with the faculty guide. The student will have to report to him as frequently as deemed
necessary by the faculty guide. The expert guide shall not have any obligation to discharge
the main supervisory role which is vested only in the faculty guide.

The expert guide may be from the sponsoring organization or any freelance subject matter
expert/academics mutually identified by the student and faculty guide.

Stages of Graduation Project

Department may form a graduation project research coordination committee headed by

Centre Coordinator and at least two more senior faculty members (having experience of
guiding research work) of the department. if need be visiting faculty may be part of the
committee, in case expertise is not available in-house.

There are four stages to the graduation project

Stage I: Preliminary
1) Search for Topic
Student shall identify suitable topics for the project. For this purpose they shall need to do
extensive reading of literature available (this includes projects done in similar areas both in
NIFT and in other institutes), interact with faculty and industry people. Students should
keep at least three options with them. This should result in a short proposal note on three
topics, which shall be submitted to the department faculty.

Format of the Proposal

- Introduction and need of the topic
- Objectives of the research
- Review of Literature
- Proposed Methodology
- Time Plan & Budget
- Resources Required in terms of sponsorship, organization support,
equipments/infrastructure requirements etc.

2) Feedback on Topics
The committee shall collectively provide feedback on the proposed topics submitted by the
students. Students may be advised not to undertake a specific topic due to certain reasons
like duplication of topic, limitation of reference material on the subject or perceived difficulty
for the particular student in undertaking the project.

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Alternately the committee (all individual faculty also) may have some topic in mind
and offer to the class or directly assign the topic to a student/student group based
on subject of the topic and capability of the student.

DECISION OF THE Committee WILL BE FINAL IN THE SELECTION OF GP TOPIC.

3) Identification of Sponsor, if necessary

This shall be done by the students with departmental concurrence. Student may interact
with prospective sponsors and obtain sponsorships in tune with departmental policy. The
finalization of sponsorship shall be done with endorsement of the departmental head and
formal acceptance in writing shall be obtained by the students from the sponsor and
deposit the same with the departmental head.

4) Submission of concept note

The student are required to prepare a detailed concept note which involves introduction to
the topic to be investigated, spell out objectives of the project with the proposed
methodology to be followed, indicate the plan of work, resources required, budget of
expenses, formal details of sponsors etc.

The department shall fix a suitable date for submission of final concept note which will be
prior to the end of semester VII.

5) Feedback on concepts note

The concept note will be attested by a departmental jury committee. If necessary, students’
maybe interrogated. Acceptance by the jury will convey approval of the concept note and
the authorization to proceed to the next stages of project work.

6) Allotment of Faculty Guide

After approval of concept note, the guide for each project shall be allotted. From this point
onwards the students are required to be in continuous touch with their guide on the
progress of the project. The guide has a role of a facilitator and showing academic
direction than of editing or rewrite the report.
In the case where students carry out project sponsored by one specific organization, it is
required to have an industry guide from that organization to facilitate the work. In some
cases an additional specialist guide may be allotted to a student. This will be in addition to
NIFT faculty guide who will have the main responsibility of the project. Faculty guide and
student group(s) may mutually decide the schedule for meeting.
In case the concerned faulty guide is not available on the scheduled date, groups should
report to any faculty of department and get the reporting form signed.

It is preferable that Stage 1 is completed by the last working day of Semester VII.

The students should report to faculty guide minimum once a week and fill up the weekly
Reporting format (annexure I)

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Stage 2: Planning

7) Literature study
The body of literature studied is based on secondary source of data. Students should use
the library extensively. Review of literature will help them understand the existing extent of
research done on the same topic; understand other research approaches and it will also
help the students to save precious time in not doing repetitive work.

8) Methodology
Students shall review the available body of literature and determine the methodology by
which the project will be executed. Students are required to identify the various research
methods and tools that will be employed.

9) Submission of first 3 chapters of Report.

At this stage students will commence the documentation task by preparing the first chapter
of the report of the study as follows
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Review of Literature
Chapter 3: Methodology

These chapters shall be submitted word-processed on or before a due date.

10) Feedback on Report

The submitted report will be vetted by a departmental committee and improvements if any
shall be communicated to the students who will be obliged to carry out the same. The
Feedback shall be provided within a week of submission date. Student may proceed to the
next stage of work after the approval is conveyed along with the feedback.

Stage 3: Execution

11) Field work

12) Data collection and analysis

This involves the collection and analysis of preliminary data and the analysis or carrying
out actual experiments and compilation of result with supportive discussion and
conclusions.

13) Submission of Draft Report

On a due date draft report along with a synopsis must be submitted duly printed in 3
copies in unbound form for the viva-voce. Students are also required to prepare
presentation for the industry. If the draft report is not found satisfactory, faculty guide many
not allow the student to appear for viva-voce and/or the presentation.

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Stage 4: Assessment

14) Viva –voce

Students shall undergo an interactive viva-voce for approximately 30 mins, between the
student and a panel of experts/faculty members to evaluate the overall performance of a
student at the end of the project. The details of the viva-voce and evaluation criteria are
mentioned below.

15) Submission of Final Report

The students are required to submit two sets of the report in hard and soft copy (2 final
hard bound copies of report and 2 final soft copies on CD).

Suggested Duration of Project

The project may commence towards the end of the 7th semester. Stage I of the
project will be completed before the closing of the 7th Semester. Stage 2 shall
normally commence with the beginning of the 8th term and be scheduled follows.

Stage2 : 7 Weeks.
Stage3 : 7 Weeks.
Stage 4 : 2 Weeks

Final submission of report shall be completed on by end April or Beginning of May. The
exact dates will follow annual academic calendar.

Evaluation for Graduation Project

The graduation projects will carry 18 credit and marks will be distributed out of 200 marks.
The evaluation of the GP is in different stages; continuous evaluation and end term
evaluation with the break up of marks as under. The students have to appear for mid term
review presentation, internal screening jury and finally external jury.

Core C
8.1 Graduation Project
(A) Continuous Evaluation (Internal) (B) End Term Evaluation
SN Evaluation Matrix SN Evaluation Matrix
i) Learning Diary 30 iv) Viva Voce 40
ii) Presentation 20 v) Presentation 40
iii) Documentation / 30 vi) Report / Project 40
Portfolio
Total 80 Total 120

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The internal jury should decide whether the project work is satisfactory and can go to
external jury. If the work is not found satisfactory, the internal jury would suggest
FOLLOW UP work and recommend a re-jury or an independent judgment by the
faculty guide as may be considered appropriate. Re-jury (external jury) will be held
any time last week of July of the same calendar year. In case work is still not found
satisfactory in re-jury (external jury), student/s will have to repeat the graduation
project with next batch.

16) Industry Presentation

Students shall present their project work, finding and conclusions to an industry meet
drawn from sections of local garment industry. The purpose of the industry meet will be to
present the findings of the projects to the industry through audio visual presentation
accompanied by poster exhibition. Charts and any other presentation matter shall be
prepared by the students themselves at their own cost.

Awards for Graduation Project

There are three awards; Best Graduation project – I, Best Graduation Project – II (first
runners up), and most innovative project. Please refer students rule book for further
information.

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 Weekly Reporting Format Date:
Project Title:
Faculty Guide

Progress of work (List substantiate progress in research during previous

week):

Supervisor’s comments

Any major factors that have aided or retarded the progress of the research:

Supervisor’s comments:

Plan of work for next one week

Supervisor’s comments:

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