The integration of art and design, creativity and professionalization

Abstract

This chapter describes the importance and integration of innovation in today's art and design education, leading to radical changes in the curricula of the universities of fine arts. Modularization replaces not only the old system of master classes but opens the individual choices of subjects to a system of projects. Adding to this, the installation of nonconsecutive curricula integrating science and art as well as co-operative curricula between classical universities and art institutions offer new horizons in both creative as traditional industries and sciences. Another step is the installation of In- and At-House-Institutes acting as professional links between education, management and politics. All of these elements that have been developed within the past decade are described on the example of the Saar University of Fine Arts (HBKsaar) which was the first Fine Art University in Germany to be fully modularized. Creativity has, at last, gained high importance as a key issue of industrial and economic development, and the professional education in this field will acknowledge the creative entrepreneurship in both arts and design.