Vakalo Art & Design College

The Vakalo Art & Design College is the first private educational institution of Applied Arts in Greece, founded in 1958, offering higher education programmes of study in design along three specialisation pathways (Graphic, Interior and Digital Design), at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Its mission is to provide a thorough education to form designers with a high level of understanding, creativity and technical skill, capable of distinguishing themselves in the field of their chosen career. The Vakalo College has always fostered a spirit of design education imbued with humanist values as well as the creative possibilities of current digital technology. The College is committed to striving hard to counter adverse economic conditions by developing programmes that offer not only good employment prospects but also, and more importantly, a solid learning background for a sustained edge in the market.

Nature

The Vakalo Art & Design College is a private educational institution of Applied Arts in Greece, offering higher education programmes of study in design along three specialisation pathways (Graphic, Interior and Digital Design), at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
The Vakalo College has consistently held a top position in the field of design education in Greece throughout its 60 years of operation, and enjoys a good name both at home and abroad.

It takes pride in being the school that first introduced design programmes of study in this country at tertiary level education, in 1958, based on both the local and international experience of its founders, and in successfully maintaining its status as a leader in art and design education. Its long line of alumni, with distinguished careers both in Greece and overseas, bears testimony to the school’s contribution to contemporary design culture.

Mission and Philosophy

Its mission is to provide a thorough education to form designers with a high level of understanding, creativity and technical skill, capable of distinguishing themselves in the field of their chosen career.

The Vakalo College has always fostered a spirit of design education imbued with humanist values as well as the creative possibilities of current digital technology. The College is committed to striving hard to counter adverse economic conditions by developing programmes that offer not only good employment prospects but also, and more importantly, a solid learning background for a sustained edge in the market.

Programmes

The named programmes of study validated by the University of Derby (UK) offered by the Vakalo are as follows:

• Undergraduate: BA (Hons) Design in Graphic, Interior Design and Digital Design
• Postgraduate: MA Visual Communication in Graphic Design, Typography, Illustration & Book Design, Web Design and Visual Communication Studies
  MA Architectural Design in Interior Design, Landscape Design, Spatial Design, Theatre Design and Architectural Design Studies

The Vakalo also offers shorts courses in the context of Lifelong Learning Schemes in Visual Arts, Stage Design, Photography, Digital Design applications, Comics and Interior Design applications.

Facilities/Resources

The College operates in its privately owned facilities in central Athens comprising (i) a main six-storey building, which houses studios, lecture rooms, library, reading room, administration offices, gallery, and cafeteria; (ii) a printing and engraving studio with an adjacent workshop supporting three-dimensional constructions, and (iii) computer labs.

Staff and Student Experience

Since its founding the Vakalo has employed prominent artists, designers and theorists to teach and manage its programmes of study. The College always employs highly qualified and experienced staff who form a closely-knit team of dedicated teachers, selected on the basis of shared values, principles and aims.

A wide range of education backgrounds (Greece, UK, France, Germany, Italy, USA, Holland) contributes to an open-minded and cosmopolitan outlook.

A large number of current staff are UK/US higher education alumni, and are qualified to teach in English as well as in Greek. Staff members have been awarded prizes and distinctions, both national and international, and all are practicing professionals with distinguished careers. All members of staff are accredited lecturers of the University of Derby and hence qualified to teach English HE programmes as well.

National and international competition prizes have been frequently won by Vakalo students, including several world-class awards, while a series of cultural institutions, non-profit agencies and commercial firms have sought collaboration with the Vakalo for various promotion, publicity and cultural projects.

See More: www.vakalo.gr