According to the process in previous years, students preparing for art study abroad at this time began to prepare summer study plans, such as arranging intensive portfolio project courses, or booking some background improvement projects and internship plans. But at present, the time of returning to school in some cities has not been determined yet, but the summer vacation has been greatly reduced. Conventional background improvement projects, such as overseas summer schools, exchange projects, enterprise internships, etc., need to "go abroad" and take at least one or two months, which objectively becomes difficult to achieve. So, how can the program of improving the background of studying abroad rely on the high-quality background to improve the "survival" of the program?
Background improvement is an indispensable part for art students studying abroad. In the application season with uncertain prospects this year, a high-quality document can fully prove the students' comprehensive artistic literacy and potential, which is a favorable proof of the gap between them and other competitors when applying to famous schools. For this year's special form, how can we break through the display of time and space and better prepare for background improvement?
How to rely on high-quality background to improve the "survival" of the project of studying abroad application background improvement?
First, we list the forms of background improvement projects, and then analyze which can be realized under the current situation, which can find other alternatives, as well as the criteria for judging the gold content of the project.
Form of background improvement project
The background improvement project is usually difficult to define and quantify specifically compared with the visual collection of works and the standardized scores of the quota. However, if it is oriented by the results of the application materials, it is usually presented by personal statements, resumes, letters of recommendation and other documents. Its purpose is to cooperate with other application materials to more comprehensively and completely show the students' past, present Future capabilities and potential.
Therefore, when selecting background improvement projects, we can consciously make systematic supplements according to our own advantages and disadvantages. The background improvement projects that can be selected according to the purpose can be roughly divided into five parts:
1. Academic projects based on institutions and professional fields;
2. Cooperation internship project with enterprises/brands/designers;
3. High competitive competitive events;
4. Social practice projects showing multi-dimensional capabilities;
5. Cooperative projects or courses with high-quality project outputs.
Affected by the epidemic, many overseas colleges and universities have cancelled summer schools and summer programs this year. In addition to the reduction of preparation cycle, we can no longer choose many conventional programs. Therefore, for most students, the condition for choosing the above five forms of background improvement projects is that they can meet the online/remote form on the premise of ensuring the same results.
Consider background improvement projects
The recent "online trend" has paved the way for many projects to be carried out online, including online classes in overseas universities, online art exhibitions, and some recently emerging online workshops and art public welfare projects. The space for students to choose is still very large.
However, since many projects are "emergent" in response to this year's special circumstances, we still need to consider more about the gold content and project results. So next, we will analyze the investigation points of different projects specifically for different projects:
Online academic projects
Online academic project is the most common and convenient background improvement project at present. Almost every training institution or overseas university has launched similar courses. Generally speaking, professors from overseas universities play a leading role in teaching and carry out short-term professional teaching based on classes.
Because there are so many choices, students should be more careful to choose the project courses with the maximum advantages according to their own needs. The criteria for judging such academic projects should return to the essence, and be assessed from three dimensions: teacher team, curriculum form, and results and benefits.
The common problem with this type of project is that the teaching cycle is short and there are many students. It is difficult for overseas professors to ensure the learning achievements of each student in the teaching process. In addition, according to the proportion of teachers and students, there are even fewer students who can really obtain recommendation letters. Strictly speaking, it is not suitable for academic promotion projects in today's special period.
Under the current special circumstances, we need to expand the content quality projects while reducing the time, so that we can complete a substantial upgrade on the basis of common academic projects. In consideration of this demand, the Natural Light Teaching and Research Center has also adjusted its teaching plan and launched a "two teacher" class in cooperation with professional courses.
First of all, from the teaching team Central Saint Martin College of Art and Design Led by popular department heads of CSM, LCC and LCF, they are taught together by senior art instructors with overseas backgrounds;
The form of the course is exquisite small class. The purpose of the 2-month period is to directly produce high-quality portfolio projects. The dual teacher 1V1 follows up the course progress to maximize the guarantee of each student's learning achievements and maximize the probability of obtaining the recommendation letter of famous teachers.
Compared with traditional online academic projects, the "double teacher" classroom has achieved the highest allocation in three dimensions of teachers, content and results, and fundamentally controlled and guaranteed the teaching quality. Combining the convenient advantages of online teaching, the application success rate has doubled!
Cloud Art Exhibition/Competition
In daily teaching, we also often encourage students to participate in major art exhibitions. Natural Light also actively promotes cooperation projects with major international events through various resources, such as the annual ONE SHOW, Huawei Nova Short Video Competition, Pinsi Cup, etc. Participation in art exhibitions is not only the best proof of professional ability for students, but also through cooperation The form of competition inspires students to have more positive enlightenment.
However, affected by the epidemic in the first half of this year, major art exhibitions were cancelled or postponed one after another, and some art institutions are also actively promoting the transfer to online mode. With this opportunity, students can actively participate in online art exhibitions or art competitions.
Conforming to the trend of cloud based art exhibitions, Natural Light will also launch an immersive VR art exhibition online in April, the International Education Resources Open Month, which will be co planned by professors from overseas art schools.
Planning for the fifth anniversary of natural light - Community Art Exhibition
In addition, we will also invite members of the admissions officer of Natural Light Overseas Alliance and students to watch the exhibition online. From home to abroad, from classical art to contemporary art, from street culture, minority subculture, to global hot art topics that attract worldwide attention, overseas professors will act as your full-time "interpreters" to explain the global art treasures online, Comprehensively improve artistic quality and harvest creative inspiration.
Public welfare practice project
The collection of works shows the students' professional ability, while the literature materials reflect the students' educational background and more diverse interests under the social attribute. Overseas art schools are increasingly paying attention to the social influence and public welfare value of art, so it is also a very important bonus to reflect the applicants' sense of social responsibility and artistic participation in the documents.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic this year, people from all walks of life have been making efforts to fight against the epidemic, and also let us see that the art class has gathered strong spiritual strength and passed on love and faith through various forms. So at this stage, students can also participate in social public welfare projects as much as possible.
For such projects, the first priority we choose is to focus on the dimension of art and design, followed by the social significance of positive energy. If we can produce substantive works, it is the best choice.
Natural Light Summer Design and Construction Workshop - "Echo Valley
During the epidemic, Natural Light launched the "ONE School Public Welfare Project", combining with admissions officers, professors, designers and artists at home and abroad, to deliver art knowledge and energy to students at home through online.
At the same time, through extensive cooperation with other enterprises and institutions, it has also promoted some online public welfare projects, such as the collection of charity auction works to fight against "COVID-19" launched with Yachang Art, and the transformation of Shenzhen's urban villages. Such projects, in the name of public welfare, cultivate students' sense of social responsibility and the sense of mission of design to be best presented through substantive works.
recommendation
The recommendation letter is the most hard core and direct embodiment of all background improvement materials. The types of recommendation letters are divided into academic and social practice. Academic letters are usually provided by our academic related teachers or professionals, and the other letter needs to be written by interns or work related professionals to prove our learning potential in other areas. Generally, the more top colleges and universities require the more valuable recommendation letters.
In recent years, colleges and universities have become more and more strict about the requirements and authenticity assessment of recommendation letters. Those recommendation letters that clearly mark prices, are too "routine", or even "write on behalf of others", are themselves very risky, and are not really proof of background improvement.
In order to obtain highly convincing recommendation letters, we need to establish a real academic relationship with the recommenders. Natural Light is the only institution in the art study industry that has an overseas admissions officer alliance. It has always insisted on providing students with a variety of participation platforms and opportunities, so that students can have access to these resources and masters, so as to obtain their guidance, And get a recommendation letter.
This month, Natural Light launched the International Education Resources Open Month, which gathered more than 20 overseas admissions officers, professors, and well-known designers to cover the current situation with eight major activities Art study abroad planning , connect the art education classes of overseas colleges and universities, comprehensively improve students' artistic literacy and strive to promote academic access to highly valuable recommendation letters!
The application for art study abroad has always been a long-term preparatory process. Every step and every material needs to be strictly planned, and they are inseparable. We should be good at using the materials and opportunities around us to improve and show ourselves as much as possible, so that we can stand out and excel in the face of the unified and comprehensive review standards of colleges and universities!
To sum up, we summarized the form and direction of selecting background improvement projects in special periods. As the application materials as important as the collection of works, the focus of our selection is actually based on our own needs. If students have limited preparation time, they can directly choose academic types with substantive work output; If you want to impact the top schools, the high quality recommendation letters and social practice projects are also an indispensable part.
In addition, the quality of the program itself is also the focus of our assessment. Natural Light will also continue to integrate and upgrade our superior resources, link more brands and colleges based on the online platform, bring more resources and practice opportunities to students, provide you with high-quality background improvement projects, and give you strong support with a sense of security in this application season of difficulty upgrading!
More articles on the background improvement project of studying abroad are recommended:
Study abroad background improvement project, 100 projects in 5 days, official certificate and recommendation letter, go to St. Martin for summer vacation
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