Danish Fashion Going Global - Spandet And Partners

DANISH FASHION GOING GLOBAL 46
16. Fashion Education in Denmark
In order to become more business oriented, Danish design education needs to
become more aligned with the needs of the business world and be more
internationally oriented. A reform was made in 2003 on the design education
including fashion design. The academic structure was changed, and the education is
today built as bachelor and master’s degrees.
The initiatives taken by the government, on this matter, has the aim to enhance the
level of business understanding as well as internationalization of the design
education.
A cooperation between Danish Design School and Design School Kolding has been
established with the aim of enhancing the educational level to match some of the
highest international levels. Part of the internalization of the education should be in a
form of exchange programs and traineeships internationally. Also there should be a
better cooperation with the business world through communication and partnership
This should lead the students to get an insight in the business side of the industry
and it exposes the student potentials to the business world. Finally, there is a
suggestion of an interdisciplinary cooperation between the universities and business
schools and the fashion design schools. This could be done by giving the possibility
to attend courses across the schools.
At the end it could lead to larger and more successful companies and help on the
consolidation in the fashion industry.
These goals cannot be achieved by the government alone. Other stakeholders must
get involved and takes initiatives that can develop the Danish fashion design further.
The brands and companies within industry and the associations in the industry have
part of the responsibility for strengthening the education. The government is
responsible of taking measures to assist the Danish design industry to develop and
enhance their business, and by doing making it more professional.
This is going to be done in different ways such as access to investment consultancy,
training in business skills, knowledge in new technology, etc.
These are part of the government’s goals and on that background the government
has appointed different groups, which objectives are to monitor and evaluate the
development of the initiatives started by the government. The groups will be
represented by people from the design industry, the business world, research
centers, and ministries.