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Eman |
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Replied
on 9/7/2011 |
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Dear all,
Please also forward your reply to my personal email:
emanalashmawi@ymail.com ealashmawi@gmail.com
Thanks!
Eman |
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Eman |
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Replied
on 9/7/2011 |
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Dear all,
Please also forward your reply to my personal email:
emanalashmawi@ymail.com ealashmawi@gmail.com
Thanks!
Eman |
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ltv |
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Replied
on 10/24/2011 |
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i am looking to study masters at interior design at florence and came to 3 institutes that teach this- the FDA, FIDI and SPD. which among these is the best institite? i prefer more of FDA or FIDI. suggestions please. and are the course of these institutes accredited? i need help to decide before i join. thanks.
ltv |
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ila |
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Replied
on 11/23/2011 |
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FDA is a bigger school... FIDI is smaller, so I think the students have more attention and teachers have more time to help them..etc.
ila |
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ila |
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Replied
on 11/23/2011 |
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but both are great schools!!
ila |
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Replied
on 9/16/2012 |
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I have been facing exactly the same dilemma. My fiancé wanted to do Master's program in Graphic Design in one of European universities. We did a lot of research and, in Italy, three schools kept popping up: SPD Milano, FDA and FIDI. However, SPD was twice more expensive than the other two (14 K Euros vs. 7K per year), so, naturally, it narrowed the choice down to FDA or FIDI. Thankfully, from where we live Ryanair flies to Pisa for under 100 Euros roundtrip. So, one day we simply flu to Florence to check both schools out.
At first glance both places seemed to be remarkably similar: websites, programs, costs and many other things looked almost the same. However, in reality there is a huge difference between the two. First we visited the FDA. The school is located on a few floors of a building, just steps away from the Duomo. The secretary quickly arranged for us a meeting with one of the instructors and he was able to answer most of our questions. The main thing we liked about FDA were course flexibility, helpfulness of its staff and the level of informality. Their motto should have been: "If something is possible, then, why not?" For instance, we asked if some courses in the program could be replaced with others or taken on a different level. Obviously, for someone, who has extensively worked with some software for a few years, an entry level course wouldn't be very useful. Or for someone, who is planning to work as web designer, packaging course might not be necessary. And s/he would have rather taken a 3D MAX course instead, which is mostly offered to Interior Design students. Such changes are not a problem at FDA (provided there is no schedule conflict and the space in the class of your choice is available). The "mix and match" approach seems to be welcomed there. That was one of the most important factors for us.
The way different programs (1 year, 2/3 years, and Master's) are set up at the FDA is quite simple: many of the same courses are offered on different levels. In other words, Web Design could be taught to first year students as well as to Masters' (although it would be called "Web design I", "Web design II" and etc.). However, first year folks will be studying the basics, while masters will be learning advanced techniques, which require some previous knowledge on the subject. So, if you are more competent in certain areas and less competent in others you most likely will be able to find a course, which difficulty level matches your skill. Again, as long as there is no schedule conflict and space in the class of your choice is available staff at the FDA seem to be willing to let you switch between the courses/subjects.
Another thing we liked about FDA was their openness and desire to help students. For example, they have a meeting room with computer monitors set up to be facing the visitor. Once you are there, you can request to show you a number of students' projects from some specific course or area and the instructor will not only do that but also will be happy to discuss them with you. FDA also cooperates with a few local real estate agencies in order to find rooms for their students for as little cost as possible. So they actually do a large part of housing search for you. They also try to provide most students with powerful computers to work on their projects. So, while you are more than welcome to bring your own laptop along, you would not necessarily have to do that (could be important for folks on a budget). With graphic files often being hundreds of Megabytes in size the power of the computer you use could be an issue. In short, at the FDA we felt that student' interests were their main priority.
Then we visited FIDI and had a meeting with its program director Marc(o) di Domenico. Despite having Italian last name he seemed to be an American and ... quite a character. His approach (which, I assume, represents that of FIDI) was drastically different from FDA's. For instance, at FIDI you are almost unable to change anything in the program. If you happen to be an architect and have a few years' experience of working with AutoCad then you MIGHT be allowed to skip that class and/or replace it with something else. But if you want to do more changes to your program (like, say, skipping Typography and adding 3D MAX instead), it's simply not allowed. The same applies to taking course of a different level. The motto of the FIDI should have been: "We created the program. It's perfect. If you don't like it in its entirety then go somewhere else"...
The Graphic Design program (we were interested solely in it, so I can't speak about other programs) at the FIDI is heavily focused on printing (posters, magazines ads and etc.). Hence, it includes the subjects, like "Typography", "Photography" and, even, "Videography". If this is something you want to do, then the program MIGHT work for you. But if you want to focus on other things (like web design, packaging and etc.) then, probably, FIDI wouldn't be a place for you. So think hard as to what you REALLY want to study before signing up for any of their programs, because it seems that once you're in there would be no chance to change anything.
What we disliked the most about the FIDI was the feel of some sort of pathetic elitism they were actively trying to create and promote. From the interaction with their program director I got a feeling that the study process of that school was not a typical student-teacher model but rather a guru-follower one. For instance, when we asked how the degrees they award fit into the Bologna system, instead of answering the question Marco Di Domenico started arguing regarding the validity of that system. But this was not what we asked. The same happened on a few other occasions. Every time we asked the question he didn't like he acted as if his beliefs were challenged by some amateurs (us . After 15 minutes of conversation he abruptly ended the meeting and left, claiming that some "hot-shot-nobody-heard-of" designer was visiting the school and that he had to hear his presentation. When leaving, he suggested that we wonder around the school on our own and that if we have any more questions we should try to find the secretary.
Again, most of our impressions about the FIDI came from the interaction with its Program Director Marco Di Domenico. However, I think that his attitude represents that of the FIDI well. For instance, just look at the name of the school. If they were to follow the rules of English grammar it would have been FIID ("Florence International Institute of Design" / "Florence Institute of International Design") or IIDF (International Institute of Design, Florence). Yet, the name is FIDI ("Florence Institute of Design International"), which doesn't make much sense in English but, for some people, creates that feeling of being "special".
Overall, the choice for us was clear. My wife (yes, we got married last summer) is now a student at the FDA and she likes it there. While FIDI might work for some people (especially if you are the "snobbish elite" type I urge you to do as much research as possible before applying. If you could, try to come to Italy beforehand and check the schools out for yourself. Trust me, the money you invest into the plane ticket and the hostel bed on this "check out" trip will be spent extremely well. If you can't come, at least try to call to each school and have a prolonged phone conversation with someone from the staff to get a feel of what's going on down there. Remember, once you're in it will take a year (at least) of your life. You don't want to be miserable all that time. So, do your homework.
GREAKLY |
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Replied
on 5/8/2013 |
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Dear All,
Good day. I'm applying for both schools FDA and FIDI and I found your forum online, I would really appreciate if you could tell me which school you chose, and your experience there.
Thanks in advance, Sarah Allouba
sallouba |
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Replied
on 1/25/2013 |
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Hello, you have been very helpful, I live in venezuela and my daughter wants to study industrial design, we never benn to europe and I am really scared about leaving her there, I wan to kno i FDA was a good school and you helped a lot, I think she is so good for graphic design do you know if she can take courses for that too? I can`t make the trip just to see the school, now i am concerned about the accomodations and the cost of living there, can you tell me something about that? thanks
Patricia
patricia73ve |
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