Design School Kolding

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The school was established in 1976. Design School Kolding is an independent institution under the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The school trains designers at undergraduate and graduate levels.
Design School Kolding has just short of 380 active students and several Ph.D. students, including an industrial Ph.D. Every year, the school admits around 90 new students. The school also offers a Master’s program in design management in collaboration with the University of Southern Denmark.
Together with the University of Southern Denmark and several companies, including LEGO and Bjert Invest, Design School, Kolding runs the initiative D2i - Design to innovate. It aims to teach SMEs how design can be used as an innovation method. Design School Kolding also houses Invest in Denmark and the Danish Design and Architecture Initiative, DDAI, which focuses on the international marketing of Danish Design and Danish Architecture.
The school cooperates with a wide range of international universities and design institutions, including two outposts at foreign universities: one at Tongji University in Shanghai in China and one at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. The objective is for all students to acquire at least 15 ECTS points abroad, corresponding to half a semester.
Design School Kolding strives to be a leader within design research in Denmark. The school has been accredited since 2010 and therefore researches at the highest level with particular focus on the values of sustainability, social inclusion, and cultural diversity. It is essential to the school that the research contributes to its teaching – and vice versa. The Cross Faculty Department is responsible for ensuring the proper integration of research into day-to-day teaching.
Danish design is more than beautiful, exclusive products. We enrich a long democratic tradition in which designers and users find sustainable and inclusive solutions playfully.
Talent is the essential material we work with. We carefully assess the applicants’ potential before we admit them. We do everything possible to develop and challenge their talent through theory, reflection, and practical and interdisciplinary projects. However, first and foremost, we engage them in experimental, practical workshop activities where the hand and the mind come together in functional and aesthetic design.
We are a locally based learning environment that works internationally and at the university level. By attracting talent and close partners from around the world, we provide our students with skills and contacts to engage effectively in a global labor market.
Design School Kolding has two final projects represented in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Since 2012, Design School Kolding has exhibited at the world’s leading design fair, I Saloni in Milan.
The school’s students participate in many international competitions and exhibitions, which has meant that students from Design School Kolding have often won awards, including The Golden Fur Pin and Designers’ Nest.

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