From March 20 to 24, 2023, a group of teachers from the Faculty of Design visited Birmingham City University with the support of the Erasmus+ academic mobility program. The group included the teachers of the Department of Art and Fashion Design Kalyna Pashkevych, Doctor of Engineering, Professor, Iryna Davydenko, Associate Professor, and Halyna Kokorina, PhD in Technological Sciences, Associate Professor, teacher of the Department of Multimedia Design Vadym Batrak, Associate Professor.
The program of the visit was extremely intense and included the exchange of experience in the training of fashion designers. The colleagues from Birmingham City University (BCU) familiarized our teachers with the peculiarities of teaching methods of special courses, and also invited them to lectures and master classes, in particular, Nataliya Rozhin “Main points of the Erasmus+ exchange project: Ukraine and Great Britain 2019-2023”; Karla Hamer “Methods of research on sustainable fashion”; Sabin Lettmann “Project development for less mobile population groups based on sustainable fashion”, etc.
As part of the visit program for the students and teachers of Birmingham City University, the following lectures by KNUTD teachers were given: "History of fashion and modernity: understanding the relevance of historical costume" by Halyna Kokorina; "Madeleine Vionnet: features of clothing formation and approaches to the reconstruction of Couturier Madeleine Vionnet’s models" by Iryna Davydenko.
Lectures by KNUTD teachers for BCU students
KNUTD teachers also held the workshops: "Techniques and methods of constructive modeling of women's clothing. Details" by Kalyna Pashkevych; "Techniques of costume reconstruction using oblique cuts and the work of couturier Madeleine Vionnet" by Iryna Davydenko, "Creating modern forms of clothing based on the reconstruction of Ukrainian folk costume" by Halyna Kokorina; "Methods of fashion illustration" by Vadym Batrak.
Workshops of KNUTD teachers for BCU students
The tours to BCU’s workshops and classrooms, including a sewing workshop, a 3D printing and laser cutting laboratory, embroidery and weaving workshops, and a fabric dyeing and printing laboratory, were interesting.
Workshops and classrooms for the training of fashion designers at BCU
One of the events was a visit to the exhibition of works by BCU students, which became the basis of collaboration between the students of the educational programs “Textile Design” and “Fashion Design”.
Visiting the exhibition of works by BCU students
As part of the visit, a joint Sustainable Fashion seminar was organized on March 23, 2023. KNUTD teachers also had the opportunity to get acquainted with the Art School and Jewellery School of BCU.
At Birmingham City University, bachelor and master students of the Department of AFD are currently studying under the academic mobility program. It is a pleasure to follow the success of our students. KNUTD students accompanied the teachers, shared their own learning experiences, and conducted a tour of the University and the city of Birmingham.
KNUTD students studying at BCU under the academic mobility program
The academic staff of KNUTD were involved in the assessment of master's theses completed as part of the preparation of master's theses; they got acquainted with the assessment methodology, the peculiarities of preparation of qualifying papers, and the general organization of the educational process at BCU.
Participation of KNUTD teachers in reviewing BCU master’s works
During the meeting, prospects for the development of cooperation between KNUTD and BCU were discussed. Based on the results of the visit, the academic staff of the Department of Art and Fashion Design prepared proposals for improving the system of training students and made changes to the work programs of the educational components of the “Clothing Design” educational programs at the bachelor's and master's levels.
Communication with the colleagues from BCU
We are grateful for the support of the project curator from BCU Nataliya Rozhin, as well as the teachers Jasbir Kaur, Kateryna Chrichlow, Sergiu Bechian, and Sabin Lettman for their experience and communication in improving the training system of fashion design specialists.
22.04.2023
