Análisis estadístico.

New Design skills are related to change in European societies. The globalisation process requires new models of learning. Service Design,

copyright issues and professional development are new areas that European

Design education institutions identify as a priority for the future. The aging population of Europe requires the eye of Design to be focused on unprecedented social realities. In that sense Urban Design, Multimedia Design, Graphic Design and Industrial Design challenge the adaptability of Design education departments.

In addition to traditional teaching and research Finnish arts universities have an explicit third task. For social and business purposes they are supposed to have an impact on regional and national development.

Four examples from the University of Art & Design Helsinki in

which art and design students engage in real-life projects illustrate this:

Club ambulant is a yearly Bachelor’s project in Furniture Design where students work together with furniture and/or material production companies to produce a set of pieces of furniture around different themes. Students exhibit works at an exhibition planned and realised by themselves.

Often the exhibitions are presented at larger Design events such as the Milan

Furniture Fair. Keywords describing this project are industrial co-operation, project management and communication of results.

Woodpecker is a project within the Master’s programme in Industrial Design. Students, including five international students, work with mentally disabled children and their parents on an apartment building in which the children can live semi-independently. Keywords describing this project are Design for all, co-operation with non-typical clients, communication of Design to non-professionals, reflection on national policies and practices all over the world.

Arabianart is a Doctoral project, where a doctoral student (architect and artist by background) develops an arts co-ordination system and process for a housing and office area within the city of Helsinki. Keywords describing this project are collaboration with city administration, management of large projects, communication to non-professionals, combination of theory and practice.

IDBM is a Master’s programme bringing together students from Design, Technology and Business universities. They work together in projects where their expertise is needed to produce ideas, concepts and products for competitive high Design industries. Keywords describing this project are: university co-operation, multidisciplinary team-work, working with world-class companies.

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Collaboration for innovation

Design education is not always as far advanced in training new Design skills as one may imagine. The team has placed a clear focus on the need for innovation on behalf of Design studies today. In the experience of University of Arts & Design Helsinki the students are encouraged early in their learning process to start working as designers. Yet, for a long period, professional scenarios are phrased in the spirit of artistic creativity competitions. New business-oriented types of training, where teams collaborate, appear to clash with the student‘s expectation of a project. Creative skills building the prospec- tive scenarios for the applications of service Design demand such new learning models.

The Design department of the Ecole Supérieure d’Art et Design

de Saint Etienne promotes a Global Design package of education. Throughout

the curriculum students tackle different disciplines of Design such as Furniture Design, Industrial Design, Urban Space, Graphic Design, Exhibition Scenography, etc. Learning is developed around a project, using a wide range of resources, materials, techniques, traditional expertise and know-how. Another key issue is the interest in research and innovation in industries leading to collaboration with companies.

The School’s principal vocation is to nurture a fertile environment for creativity. It is a unique institution for Design teaching, because of its physical proximity to other courses. Since 1989 it also offers post-graduate courses in Design

and Research and publishes the AZIMUTS Design review as part of its post-

graduate course. A Dual Design Master’s degree programme runs jointly with the

Saint-Etienne National Engineering School. A professional Master’s programme on Landscape and Urban Spaces is run jointly with the Jean Monnet University and the School of Architecture. It has a global network for student exchange, exhibitions and workshops. Since 1998, the School has organised the Biennial International Design Festival, under the aegis of the Town Council. For this important event on the European Design agenda, the School presents workshops where Designers from all over the world come to Saint Etienne.

The School’s and companies exhibition, organised in 2006, presented a culturally diverse profusion of ideas and commitments of tomorrow’s talented Designers. Projects were selected from fifty international and French schools. These schools have realised their projects working with small or big companies, crafts, industrial groups and with the public sector. The research presented demonstrated how our lifestyles have changed. Researchers underline societal concerns such as recycling, use of solar power, sustainable development, urban renovation and they emphasise the role played by new technologies in transport, medical care, and communication or networks. They also focus on the concern for materials like ceramic, granite, wood or plant fibres. This exhibition tried to explain to the public the change taking place in art and Design schools over the past twenty years. The arts institutions have not only had to question their pedagogy because of the sharper focus on research, but also in the light of the work they have done together with other fields of research, with companies, or with national and international partner networks.

Companies appeal to Design schools either through contests or research contracts. The very idea of collaboration means that there is a mutual

benefit. Both sides get acquainted with the other’s know-how and specificity and

think about ethical codes. The Design biennale made Saint Etienne an important

Design city. Its position became even stronger with the creation of Cité du Design,

which is now located in the old industrial area of Saint Etienne.

C as e S tu d ie s • in te r } ar te s

Only planet is an international students’ programme with the goal to provide Nokia and Design universities with research on local cultural influences on Design. The programme has been conducted as a collaborative project between Nokia and six universities from three continents working with the same brief. Often a Nokia designer goes back to the university he or she graduated from in order to get a sense of what is happening there. Sometimes a Nokia student traineeship leads to recruitment or the university is invited to

collaborate on a project. This was how Only Planet started, initiated by Valérie

Pegon, industrial designer at Nokia Design who graduated from Saint Etienne

and Rovaniemi (Lapland). She was the Only Planet France project co-ordinator

for Nokia Design in Saint Etienne. Rather than doing a hypothetical project, students learned to work with concrete elements (e.g. a brand, technologies, scale of production, specific societal information) and gained insights from a specific business environment. Design education is a quality resource for young

professionals and Nokia Design is always looking for new talent. Project outcomes

are made public to academic and Design communities.