Jeep-Ferrari
My companion, Arnold Rubinshtein, the director of an educational agency, has long been trying to find something that would make studying in Italy more popular. So far, he has mainly had to deal with lovers of the Italian language (or Italian men?), to whom he wholeheartedly recommended his favorite partners and one of the best language schools in Italy, Linguaviva. But Italy is not just about the language, which, admittedly, is not the most widespread or in-demand in the world; there is much here worth learning. Music, architecture, cuisine, and even business—the Milan business school SDA Bocconi is recognized as one of the best in the world. And, of course, design. We were particularly attracted to automotive design, offered by the Turin branch of the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), whose successes are known far beyond Italy. So our first stop was there.
At the school, we were met by a "guide"—a recent graduate of the IED automotive design faculty, Alexey Tsapliy. He arrived two and a half years ago from Kyiv, successfully completed the last two years of the institute, and now works at one of Italy's most famous design studios, Bertone, while simultaneously pursuing a master's program at the Milan Polytechnic University, Politecnico di Milano.
Alexey had been interested in cars since childhood, and he used to put his fantasies about the car of the future on paper, in drawings. But he never even dreamed of the profession of car designer due to its lack of prospects in domestic conditions, and besides, where could one study that here? Back home, Alexey graduated from the Institute of Physical Education, got married, worked as a manager in a commercial company for several years—earning money, and you know for what? Not to support his family, but to finally realize his dream abroad. He had several educational institutions in mind—in England, the USA, France, and Italy. The choice fell on the Italian IED because of the optimal price-quality ratio. Alexey wrote a letter to the institute, attached a portfolio, completed the assignment they proposed, and was successfully admitted directly to the second year.
"I set off to study in Italy knowing only a couple of words in Italian," Alexey says. "That was precisely why the Italian embassy refused to give me a student visa. The course was already paid for, and the school confirmed several times that the language was part of the curriculum; moreover, I had signed up for intensive Italian courses back home. Nothing helped. And when I had already decided to give up the idea and retrieve my documents from the embassy, I finally got the visa.
When I arrived, the first class I attended was ergonomics—a rather difficult subject that even Italians don't fully understand, and here I was with virtually zero knowledge of the language. It was a shock. At first, it was very hard, but gradually I got into it: I picked up some things at the institute, some on the street, studied a lot on my own, but the main thing was that I knew I had to become a great car designer; otherwise, why had I come here?"
IED offers two types of programs—diploma and postgraduate. The first lasts three years and is equivalent to a basic higher education, although it does not grant a corresponding degree. The postgraduate master's program is designed for one year. Like any professional school, IED is more focused on practice, preparing students for future work. Therefore, the main thing here is not theory (although plenty of attention is paid to it), but real projects—what students do with their own hands, and above all, the final project.
The final project in each course is prepared with the participation of a sponsor company. The company places an order, and graduates realize it. This does not mean that their creations go straight into production, but the most interesting and talented ideas are used one way or another, and their creators receive job offers.
Last year, when Alexey was finishing school, the client was Ferrari. Accordingly, students developed concepts for sports cars applicable in everyday life. In Italy, especially in Turin, where the entire automotive industry of the country is located, it is quite typical to see the shark-like snout of some Alfa Romeo or Maserati suddenly emerge from a crowd of Fiat Puntos and tiny Smarts. Even subcompacts like the Nissan Micra here come in sporty versions. So the Ferrari jeep modeled by Alexey as his thesis is not at all a utopia: who knows, maybe in a few years sports SUVs will appear.
Incidentally, besides sponsoring IED diploma projects, last year Ferrari announced an international competition "Ferrari: new concepts of the myth" among students of car design schools worldwide. Twenty works from four leading schools made it to the final—IED (Italy), Coventry School of Arts and Design (UK), Center of Creative Studies (Detroit, USA), and Tokyo Communication Arts (Japan). As a result, two of the four prizes were awarded to students of the Turin Institute of Design. Moreover, IED is the only educational institution in the world that has participated in the Geneva International Motor Show for three consecutive years. This year, the concept car Lancia-Haizea was presented there, designed by students of the master's program RSP in Transportation Design, among whom, by the way, was a Russian woman, Liliya Vasilyeva. Particular attention in this model was paid to two aspects—safety and speed. For instance, moving seats were invented that, upon impact, automatically move backward, protecting the driver and passengers. And the special shape of the body and chassis allows for high speed with virtually no wind resistance while maintaining stability. It flies like the wind itself, confirming its name (Haizea in Bavarian means "wind").
Interesting projects are also being implemented in other courses. For example, graduates of the Industrial Design program were tasked with developing miniature models of household appliances for travel. The client was Whirpool. As a result, washing machines, microwaves, refrigerators, etc. appeared, all measuring 25x25x25 cm - imagine small chests that wash, cook, and store food on the road. It is possible that they will soon be on sale. In other words, IED is a factory of ideas that shape the future of the things around us.
After graduating, Alexey could have gotten a job at one of the car companies, but he chose the design firm Bertone, which works for different clients. 'It's more interesting: every time you have new projects,' he says. 'Today you design for Fiat, tomorrow for McLaren, the day after for Honda. Constantly new style, new model, new ideas - your eye doesn't get blurred and there's no stagnation. True, the work is more intense, often urgent orders.' Alexey was lucky: he, a foreigner, was hired despite the high competition among local designers, and he was helped to get a work visa and overcome all bureaucratic formalities. But still, Italy is just a transit point for Alexey. After working here for a year or two, he wants to try his luck in another European country, maybe France or Germany, where car designers are paid more and career prospects are more attractive. Still, Italy remains Italy: here connections and acquaintances still decide a lot, and business, especially in the fashion and design industry, is often a family affair where all leading positions are held by relatives. Such is the mafia.
Fashion Laboratory
The Turin Institute of Design recently moved to a new three-story building: all three floors contain lecture halls and classrooms, the basement houses laboratories for practical classes, and the attic is a recreation area. But even this space is no longer enough for IED. Its students and graduates are now participating in the development of a new campus project. A large area on the outskirts of the city has already been allocated for it. Finally, IED students will have their own dormitory (currently they rent apartments). The new campus will serve not only educational purposes but will also become a design center for Turin, hosting exhibitions and conferences. Construction should be completed by 2008, when Turin will become the 'capital of design' for a year.
It must be said that the recent Olympics greatly revitalized the city. Now they are thinking about holding international-scale events annually - after all, they need to somehow use the built palaces, arenas, stadiums, and hotels.
The automotive design course is, of course, the most famous, popular, and in demand at the Turin branch of IED. But besides it, they teach fashion and textile design, interior design, industrial and graphic design, as well as advertising and marketing.
The Milan branch of IED specializes more in fashion and graphic design - each has its own building. And this is also understandable: Milan is the capital of fashion and the headquarters of the Italian press. So both budding fashion designers, marketers in the fashion business, advertisers, and graphic designers have a place to apply their talents here.
In Rome, fashion design and apartment interior design, as well as industrial and graphic design are also taught, but here they have their own special courses. These are primarily accessory, footwear, and jewelry design, scriptwriting, video and multimedia design.
IED courses cover all areas related to fashion, design, visual arts, and media, as well as marketing and management in these fields. There are four faculties - ModaLab, Design, Arti Visivi, Comunicazione - within which there are many programs and courses, some of which we mentioned above. Besides Italy, IED branches are located in Spain (Barcelona) and Brazil (São Paulo). Most programs, especially the basic three-year ones, are taught in the language of the country, in our case, Italian. For foreign students, a mandatory preparatory language course is provided, which starts a little earlier and then runs parallel to the main studies. You can also prepare in advance in Italian at IED's partner school - Linguaviva/Linguadue (branches in Milan, Florence, and Syracuse): they have developed a special program for continuing education in Italy and, in particular, at IED (read more about Italian courses in Italy in the next issue of 'Zagranitsa').
Master's programs can be attended in English (simultaneous translation is provided). There are also a small number of English-language courses 'specially for foreigners,' attended mainly by Americans and Britons. If the goal is to do an internship in Italy and immediately return home or go to another country, then you can study in English. But if you want to settle in the country or at least get to know it better, so to speak 'feel' it, meet locals, make useful connections, then you need to learn Italian. Within a year, as the experience of our students met at IED shows, you will be chatting as well as the locals, even if at the beginning you only knew 'ciao'.
Every year, IED together with its partner companies allocates several full scholarships for study. Foreigners can also apply for them. In addition, master's program students have the opportunity to work part-time at the institute itself. For example, Lana Akulich from the Milan branch became something of a course curator, and for this she was allowed to study for free. Lana chose the course in marketing and management in fashion. Although she believes that it is still better to study design at IED. But the business course, in her opinion, is too general, theoretical, and not intensive enough. She tries to compensate for the shortcomings of the program through her own activity: Lana goes to fashion shows (by the way, students of the ModaLab faculty also regularly organize their own fashion shows with invitations to important guests from this field), exhibitions, writes for fashion magazines, tries to enter the fashion world where she would like to work.
Miracle of Polytechnic
Those who already have a basic education in architecture, industrial and engineering design are awaited in the master's programs of the Milan Technical University Politecnico di Milano. The cost of tuition is low - about €800 per year.
In general, Politecmco di Milano is the best technical university in Italy (founded in 1863) and one of the leading universities in the world in the fields of engineering, architecture and industrial design. Of course, like any university, it also has programs for first higher education for a bachelor's degree (Laurea), but first, it is difficult to get into them and obtain a visa, second, they are in Italian, and no preparatory programs for foreigners are provided. Another matter is master's courses. Here conditions are created especially favorable for students from abroad. The programs are taught in English (while an Italian course is included in the program for free), foreigners are allocated places in the dormitory, each one is assigned a curator. And most importantly: 100 full scholarships (covering both tuition and living expenses) are distributed annually in the master's program, 40 partial (€4 thousand per year), plus 23 scholarships are given to students of the advanced department Alta Scuola Politecnica (here master's degree studies last not one year but two, only the smartest are admitted, and the diploma has special weight in the market) and 20 to future doctors of science.
At the same time, candidates are not expected to have any supernatural abilities. English at the level of TOEFL 170 is sufficient, the average diploma grade for admission to Alta Scuola Politecnica must be 4.5 (according to the Russian grading system), and to the regular master's program - even lower. In addition, a recommendation from a teacher (employer) is required. But first, you need to go through the preliminary enrollment procedure online - Рге-Арply online. This must be done before April 30 on the university website //www.polimi.it. And don't forget to indicate that you are applying for a scholarship!
For those who do not have a basic education in the specialty, there are Master Level 1-2 programs, but they cost different money - €10 thousand per year, and scholarships are not provided there. Another plus of regular master's programs is that they work in close cooperation with specialized companies and real business. So education and research are not abstract but purely practical: as in IED, students of Politecnico prepare projects commissioned by enterprises and thus lay the foundation for their future careers. By the way, the university has seven campuses, located not only in Milan but also on the border with Switzerland in Como and Lecco, which allows expanding the boundaries of cooperation, attracting customers, partners and employers from other European countries.