The Danish Design School was founded in 1875 and has only recently attained the status of a higher education institution. It's consequently going through a period of great change - reconciling it's hands-on, traditional arts and craft background with the theoretical, research-based processes required of it's new academic status. It is also attempting to increase the business opportunities of its students after graduating. Such changes aren't easy: on one side are the demands of politicians wanting to churn out nice chairs to sell to the Chinese, on the other the more farsighted, sometimes abstract goals of an academic design education.
"We have been through a period of being more vocational and oriented to the needs of business," says rector Anne-Louise Sommer. "But I'm trying to steer us on a path that blends our traditional arts and crafts approach with the demands of our new, more academic status. Ultimately we must always have that close link with the business sector and a real societal relevance."
With 700 students, the school is large by Danish standards and demands for place is high, with around 13 applicants for each of the 142 places available each year. In a country where it isn't unusual for students to still be studying full time into their thirties, the average age of the Design School's students has come from 25 to 21 in recent years.
"It is increasingly important to get our students out into the work place," says Sommer. "We are aware that we have a role to play in society. That's also why we have introduced a mentoring programme; students can be a bit unfocused when they leave the school. It's part of our agreement with the Ministry of Culture to emphasis employability more."
