Start of the semester: Rector welcomes you all!

Dear New Students,

Welcome to KADK! Embarking on an education that will shape your future and career path is a very special moment. We are here to welcome you and are as equally excited to meet you, as I am sure you are to meet us.

You will be part of a large and diverse academic environment, which includes not only your own base here on Holmen, but also the School of Conservation on Esplanaden in Copenhagen and the Glass and Ceramics programme on Bornholm. I hope that KADK's multidisciplinary academic environment will be a challenge and an inspiration to you, and that you will take time to explore the academic national map we all share.

You are starting your education at a time when society is very much preoccupied with how we can best equip you for a future in the labour market. And there is no doubt that, even early on in the course of your studies, you will start to think about, and be conscious of your career track and professional opportunities. You should constantly think about what you want out of your studies and how they can help shape you and your future working lives and careers. You are here to learn and study subjects in depth so you can make use of your very special talents.

It won't take you long to become part of your new educational environment, as you become rooted in your future course of studies and your institute, where you will meet researchers, practitioners and teachers at the drawing board, in the workshop and at lectures. The education you will receive here is all about: science – where you can benefit from the latest research and the strengths of systematic methodology; art – where you will learn to design for all the senses and develop empathy for users; and practice –  where throughout your studies you will encounter the reality you will one day work in. The three approaches are unique to the programmes at KADK. It is not our aim to educate you for a market, which has already decided precisely what it needs. We want you to be the ones who show the way. We want you to acquire the creative powers to generate new markets, new contexts and social experiences that will benefit, and bring happiness to people, society and businesses.

Start of the academic year on 1 September 2015.

We will open the academic year on 1 September 2015 at 11.00 am in the Great Hall. This year we will open with a panel debate about the place of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in society – involving committed participants from the business community and industry. I look forward to welcoming you together with returning students, staff and collaborators.

I hope that you will approach your studies with curiosity and open-mindedness, that you will allow yourselves to be surprised and challenged, and that you will make use of your personalities. We need graduates, who have a personal and committed approach to their subjects, and who understand how, not only to involve themselves in the environment that KADK represents, but also to expand it.

A warm welcome to you all!

Lene Dammand Lund

Rector