We train the elite
In the course of the last four years, Design School Kolding has been in contact with more than 500 small and medium-sized companies that have chosen to use design to drive their innovation processes. And the focus on design pays. Not only does design create growth; the results are also directly visible in the bottom-line figures.
Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen elaborated on this fact when she welcomed the participants to the New Year’s Brunch on Friday. On the guest list was also Minister for Higher Education and Science Sophie Carsten Nielsen.
- We want to create growth and design can help us achieve it. And it is our job to make the students ready to face the job market. Therefore, we have created a Centre for Career and Business Development instead of a conventional student counselling office. The new centre will work with the students until they have found employment. However, we also wish to draw attention to the fact that our design programme is elitist, and the goal is to train the elite. The government can help us reach this goal by making sure that we have a separate admission procedure for the MA programme that allows us to focus on the talented bachelors and also increase the admission of talented international students, says Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen.
Minister for Higher Education and Science Sophie Carsten Nielsen had the honour of opening the event. She agrees with Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen that institutions must always consider what they can do to make the quality of their education reflect in the employment rate figures for their new graduates.
- Design adds value to companies and individuals. The ability to combine aesthetics and functionality is important. The economic importance of design is significant and will not decline in the future. Fortunately, Denmark has a long and great tradition for using creative professions to create new solutions. And we have dedicated students that work very hard to be the best that they can be. We owe it to them and we owe it to our society that these young people have a regular shot at a job once they finish their education, says Sofie Carsten Nielsen.
In connection with the New Year’s Brunch, Design School Kolding has published a different type of annual report very much like a journalistic news magazine. The magazine contains a series of articles about the many applications of design. Design of clothes, leg prosthesis, sea weed harvesters and toys. But also of processes. Because design is so much more than you think.
