The project Practicing Design is promoting the work based learning and development of transversal and entrepreneurial skills in the design education by testing and developing a set of innovative trainings. The aim of the project is to find new and innovative design education practice in order to bridge the gap between education and professional working and to upgrade designers' skills necessary for the better socio-economic outcomes. The main project output is Design Training Course that foster the development of transversal skills and promote the take-up of practical entrepreneurial experiences. This course can be implemented in a curriculum of Design Faculties or as a VET course through sectors' associations and organisations in the context of life-long learning and up-skills of young professionals. The Design Training Course will be developed through the exchange of good practice between 8 regional partners' organisations from 3 countries coming from the field of education, business and sector alliance in order to improve the quality and efficiency of design education and make it correspondent to the social and economical needs of the design sector in the region. The project expert team involves range of experts from partners' organisations like professional designers, design managers, design and economy professors from design academies and faculties, business managers, PR experts and marketing and sale managers that will carry out project activities. The professional design sector in partners' countries do not have developed quality VET systems and analyses show that design professionals don't have the necessary entrepreneurial skills to run a successful business and that they don't have the necessary skills to communicate effectively with the business sector. To address these needs the project is developing activities to: enhance the business and entrepreneurship skills of designers; support designers in engaging with business; encourage designers to engage in continuous professional development and up-skill. Regional Higher Education Institutions share the similar problems as the European ones: students emerging from design higher education institutions do not always possess the necessary skills for employment. To address these needs the project is developing activities to: integrate development of transversal and entrepreneurship skills into education course; encourage collaboration projects between design students; make internships in industry and design agencies as a part of design course. So the project objectives are: - to enhance the quality and relevance of the learning offer in education and training by developing new and innovative approaches - to reinforce links between education and training with the world of work - to promote take-up of innovative practices in education and training by supporting personalized learning approaches, collaborative learning and critical thinking, OER, open and flexible learning, virtual mobility - to promote structured inter-regional and cross-border cooperation - to improve the capacities of organisations active in the fields of education, training and youth in the areas of organisational management and quality of learning provision - to promote entrepreneurship education to develop employability and new business creation The result of the first phase of the project activities will be Study Rethinking Design Education consisting of 3 analyses of educational shortage in regional context. On the base of the Study that detected skills and knowledge needed for employability and not provided by design curriculum the project team of experts will develop guidance framework for the second output Design Training Course that is addressing these skills mismatches. The Course will be developed through series of training workshops with experts relevant for the needed topics and group of design students as to course meets learners' needs. Envisaged impact of the project and longer benefits on the participating organisations are that they can implement the Design Training Course and enhance the quality and relevance of the learning offer in their education and training organisations. Also this project offers them a possibility to be relevant stakeholders in international discussions about rethinking education topic and be able to collaborate in more international projects. The project will promote the rethinking and take-up of innovative practices in education and training on the national and regional level thus raising the awareness among all stakeholders and public about needed enhancement of the quality and relevance of the learning offer in education and training and the needed links with the world of work
The project Practicing Design is promoting work based learning and development of transversal and entrepreneurial skills in the design education by developing and testing an innovative training programme. The aim of the project is to find new and innovative design education practice in order to bridge the gap between education and professional working and to upgrade designers' skills necessary for the better socio-economic outcomes. The main project output is Design Training Programme that fosters the development of transversal skills and promotes the take-up of practical entrepreneurial experiences. This programme can be implemented in a curricula of Design Faculties or as a VET course through sectors' associations and vocational organisations in the context of life-long learning and up-skills of young professionals. Practicing Design project is an international collaborative venture of three European vocational design organizations: Croatian Designers Association (Croatia), designaustria (Austria), Public Room (Macedonia); two educational institutions: VERN’ University of Applied Sciences (Croatia), Faculty of Art and Design, European University - Republic of Macedonia; two business companies: Prostoria d.o.o. (Croatia) and Zavar d.o.o.(Macedonia). The project involves range of experts from partners' organizations: professional designers, design managers, design and economy professors from design academies and faculties, business managers, PR experts and marketing and sale managers. The professional design sector in most Balkan countries does not have developed quality VET systems, and analyses show that design professionals don't have the necessary entrepreneurial skills to run successful businesses or necessary skills to communicate effectively with the business sector. Regional Higher Education Institutions share the similar problems as the European ones: students emerging from design higher education institutions do not possess the necessary skills for employment. The final output of the first phase of the project is the theoretical and empirical study Rethinking Design Education. The main purpose of this study was to detect skills and knowledge needed to improve employability that are not provided by existing design curricula. Through identification of the main challenges facing the design practice and education in the 21st century and through empirical research of the existing skills discrepancy in design curricula in Croatia, Austria, and Macedonia, the study provided guidelines as a framework for the second output of the project – Design Training Programme 1.0. The idea behind Practicing Design Training Programme 1.0 is to help young design professionals to overcome the lack of experience of working on real projects within production industry. It creates the educational opportunity that addresses the problem of lacking business skills and practical design skills through a simulation of professional, real life design practice. In this way the training programme helps young design professionals to include necessary communication and business components into the corresponding phases of the design process. Therefore, the training programme integrates the development of cross-disciplinary and transversal knowledge, skills and competencies related to design, entrepreneurship, social, business and management topics. At the same time, the programme serves as an educational platform for the managers of production companies, who will through a participatory and inclusive process, gain knowledge about the main phases of a design process, developed through the training programme content and the mechanisms of its realisation. The impact of the two-year project and its long-term benefits for the participating organisations are that they can implement the developed Design Training Programme as a new product, which can enhance the quality and relevance of their educational offer. In the long run the project enables the mentioned organisations to position themselves as relevant stakeholders in international discussions about design education. Among other achievements, the project helps establishing a framework for regional cooperation between Austria, Croatia and Macedonia and is addressing the strategic regional policy objectives of SEE 2020 strategy for job creation and development of the creative economy in the Balkan countries, www.rcc.int. Since design sector has growth potential in the context of growing creative industry the objective of increasing efficiency of design education and of delivering the right skills for employment must play a key role in design education. Thus the project is addressing the challenge of building design skills for the 21st century.