Indian Institute of foreign trade, popularly called the IIFT, has evolved from being a B-school solely devoted to the business aspects of foreign trade with an international perspective to an all round B school offering a multitude of courses like the general MBA, but yet reattaining its former charisma and international competitiveness. Gone are the days when an organization has to be a formidable champion in the domestic surf to succeed and to leverage respect in the international arena and the IIFT has been in the forefront of this revolution, churning out MBA grads well nuanced in the international aspects of being an administrator.
Established in1963, it has two sprawling campuses, one each in Delhi and kolkata. It was initially established with an aim to provide courses on foreign trade to civil servants. Research on WTO and other related issues are the prime focus of this institute. It has now transformed into a tripod offering MBA(IB), Research and MDP's. The IB part of this course is the focus it still retains on the international aspects, namely foreign trade, of the MBA program. It strengthens this view with a compulsory port visit by all students at least once during their course. Also, it offers excellent opportunities for student exchange programs with reputed institutes of renowned name, few including George Mason, Virginia, USA, Finland, Germany and Tanzania. Students are selected from both universities in a cross exchange programme thus offering valuable cross cultural exposure.
The entrance examination consists of four sections, namely, quantitative aptitude, verbal reasoning, data interpretation and general knowledge. Each section has its own sectional cut off and aspirants are needed to clear the sectional cut off as well as an overall cut off to gain credibility and attend the second round. The second round consists of group interviews and personal interviews.