The University of Art and Design Helsinki began as the School of Sculpture in 1871, and since 1987 has continuedto function as TAIK in its present location, the Arabia factory. The largest project in the unversity’s historywas the Media Centre Lume which was completed in 1999. The Media Centre Lume is comprised of students andresearchers of film and TV, design for theatre and new media.
Fields of study at TAIK include design, motion picture, audio/visual communication, art edu-
cation and the arts. The Bachelor’s degree (Arts and Design) is three years in duration and the Master’s degree is in an additional two years.
TAIK is the largest art school in Scandinavia, with about 1.700 students, 14% of which are international students, and 400 teachers. Every year around 2.600 students apply for entry to the university with only 9% being accepted. The University has agreements with 130 European institutions and 30 international institutes. Besides foreign student exchange programmes there is also a variety of intensive courses, trainee schemes, seminars and study projects created for international experiences. The University employs many overseas professors, instructors and researchers who mostly operate from the Media Centre where the Master of Arts is taught entirely in English, as well as in the Design Faculty in areas of Industrial Design and Design Management.
MEDes at TAIK
The MEDes partnership is with the Department of Industrial and Strategic Design. However, MEDes exchange studentsare free to take courses with other departments in the university as well.
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