Designskolen Kolding
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Designskolen Kolding is a University-level school that teaches design. It is located in the town of Kolding in eastern Jutland, Denmark. The school offers a 5-year education in Graphic Design, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interactive Media, Fashion and Textile Design.
Designskolen Kolding is one of two Danish design schools organised under the ministry of Culture, the other being Danmarks Designskole in Copenhagen. A majority of professional Danish designers have graduated from one of these two schools.
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[edit] Degrees
The schools' education is organised in three parts, and generally follows the educational philosophy of the Bauhaus movement:
- part 1, the foundation year, teaches the basics of color, composition and form to interdisciplinary groups of students.
- part 2, lasting two years, teaches the basics of the discipline.
- part 3, lasting two years, offer students the opportunity for specialization and culminates with a graduation work.
Completion of part 2 is considered the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree and completion of part 3 is considered the equivalent of a Master's degree.
[edit] Method
Designskolen Kolding has a relatively small staff of regular teachers, and relies instead on guest teachers from art, industry and other educational institutions. With the exception of the foundation year, education is typically organised into courses or workshops of between one and six weeks of length, led by a guest teacher, where students work on a product or project. A flexible curriculum means that the contents of a degree varies from year to year.
Teamwork and interdisciplinary projects are a characteristic of the school's education. The school co-operates extensively with other educational institutes in Denmark and abroad, with the City of Kolding, and with local industry. The school is located near design-driven companies such as Lego and Bang & Olufsen.
While philosophy, art history and ethics are taught as part of the schools theory curriculum, the schools education is for the most part oriented towards craft and conceptual work.
[edit] Tuiton fees
As with all state-owned universities in Scandinavia, Designskolen Kolding charges no tuition fee. Students are however expected to pay a workshop fee of roughly DKK 1000 (EUR 120) per term.
[edit] Openness to foreign students
The language of education is in theory Danish, but since many guest teachers are from abroad, English is often used in lectures.
The school accepts exchange students, guest students and foreign applicants as regular students.
[edit] Reorganisation
Designskolen Kolding is currently undergoing reorganisation in order to achieve status as a university in the Danish educational system. This will lead to the school offering BA, MA and PhD degrees, and an increased focus on research.
In 2002, the school's course in ceramics design was closed down. While students who began before this will graduate from Designskolen Kolding, no new students are admitted to the ceramics course.
[edit] Admittance
At present, admittance is decided on the basis of a portfolio, an entrance test and an interview. Admittance is open to all students who show talent and potential in their chosen field of design irrespective of previous education.
With re-organisation as a university, however, it is likely that applicants must have completed a high school education and that their marks from high school will have an impact on admittance.
In recent years, the number of applicants has been fairly large and only a small percentage have been admitted as students.
