DIGITAL CREATIVE PROJECTS IN COMMUNICATION

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DIGITAL CREATIVE PROJECTS

IN COMMUNICATION

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Howest is a member of Ghent University Association, which provides high-quality higher education to about 1/3 of Flanders’ student population. We offer degree programmes in Architecture, Healthcare, Business and Management, Industrial Sciences and Technology, Education and Social Sciences, on four campuses in the historical cities of Bruges and Kortrijk, in the province of West Flanders, Belgium.

Over the years, Howest has built a solid reputation in application-oriented scientifi c research, services and continuous education, working with distinguished academic, social profi t organisations and enterprises as partners in Europe, and all over the world. Our students and staff are given plenty of opportunities to go global, thanks to regional, national and international networks, scholarships and exchange programmes. Howest has coordinated highly successful national and international projects, and is an active partner in many others. We constantly develop our course offer in English in order to position Howest as an attractive academic choice for students from abroad, who are looking for an open, vibrant, cosmopolitan and friendly destination .

We warmly welcome students from our Erasmus and overseas partner institutions for an exchange period. At this moment, Howest offers one full degree programme in English, the Bachelor of Digital Arts and Entertainment (www.digitalartsandentertainment.com) as well as 12 English taught International Semesters in 11 different study areas, each of them representing at least 30 ECTS.

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INTERNATIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAMMES IN AUTUMN:

FROM SEPTEMBER TO THE END OF JANUARY

• International Business Management I • Applied Computer Sciences - Fall

• International Semester Professional Development • Digital Creative Projects in Tourism

• Digital Creative Projects in Journalism • Realization in Product Design

INTERNATIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAMMES IN SPRING:

FROM FEBRUARY TO THE END OF JUNE

• International Business Management II • Applied Computer Sciences - Spring • Digital Creative Projects Communication • Digital Creative Projects in Business • Digital Creative Projects in New Media & IT • Visualization and Communication in Product Design

Studying in Bruges or Kortrijk means having several tourist attractions within easy reach: the Belgian coast, the Flemish & Belgian historical cities Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent... And in a couple of hours the train will take you to European cities like Paris, London, Amsterdam, Cologne etc.

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WHAT IS ...

WHAT IS A DIGITAL CREATIVE PROFESSIONAL?

Whether in our professional or personal lives, digital technology is everywhere. Everyone uses it to communicate and organize. The real question is whether we use computers and other tools to their full potential? Do we make them work for us?

A professional digital creative is able to make full use of the existing information technology to plan and organize projects, to keep track of budgets, to organize mailings, as well as generate state-of-the-art communication plans with visuals, sound, and imaging to make any project stand out and be successful.

WHAT IS A DIGITAL COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONAL?

The world is changing fast and so is the way we communicate. We now live in a digital world and the digital natives are your future target group. If you want to stand out creativity is the key. Combine it with digital expertise, to the point communication, an international mindset and a fair amount of guts and you are on your way to become a digital creative communication professional.

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COURSE CONCEPT

Students from different nationalities and backgrounds learn to use information technology to plan, coordinate, communicate, and illustrate professional projects, and put this knowledge and these skills to the test in an integrated project where you will take the role of the communication expert in a multidisciplinary team.

WHAT MAKES THIS SEMESTER UNIQUE?

• An international ‘mix’ of students;

• contacts between Belgian and international students;

• an integrated project during which you will be coached to take up the role of the communication expert in a multidisciplinary team

• the exclusive use of English as the working language;

• the focus on the international dimension in various course units; • the communication focus in digital creative topics.

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COURSE OVERVIEW

COURSE CONCEPT

COMMUNICATION COURSES 18 ECTS

INTEGRATED PROJECT

Learning to overcome cultural differences in communication and group dynamics. You will function as a digital creative communication expert in an international and interdisciplinary team. You will work on an actual project and deliver a deadline-driven result.

9 ECTS

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer behaviour will start with an introduction to consumer behaviour and the consumer society. Consumer behaviour will be studied not only focusing on the individual (e.g. perception and the self, motivation, values and lifestyle, learning and memory, attitudes and individual decision-making), but also on groups and social media. Relevant sociological topics, such as family structures, age distributions, income and social class, and even culture in general, i.e. cultural change processes and cultural differences, will be studied in their relation to consumer behaviour.

3 ECTS

CREATIVITY

Creative thinking is the very basis of problem solving. By the end of this course you will understand that the creative mental process is of the utmost importance when facing challenges in communications. Fully equipped with a toolkit of creativity techniques you’ll learn how to transcend conventional ways of thinking. Dare to leave the trodden paths and come up with innovative, out of the box solutions for problems that 21ste century communications is dealing with.

3 ECTS

PORTFOLIO AND PERSONAL BRANDING 3 ECTS

DIGITAL CREATIVE COURSES 12 ECTS

DIGITAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Managing a project through the different project phases via the use of digital best practices in MS Office tooling (Excel, 0utlook, Word and PowerPoint)

6 ECTS

DIGITAL PROJECT COMMUNICATION

Boosting a project by executing of a state-of-the-art communication plan. Underpinning communication with creative multi-media. Learning to create/upgrade these media (image, sound, video) using Adobe tooling (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, Audacity).

6 ECTS

OPTIONAL COURSE 3 ECTS

English for exchange students in Higher Education

Two-week course (60 hours) prior to the international semester (see further). Spring semester course: Monday 26 January – Friday 6 February 2015

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ENGLISH FOR

EXCHANGE STUDENTS

ENGLISH FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION:

A TWO-WEEK INTENSIVE LANGUAGE PREPARATION

This course has been designed for our incoming and outgoing exchange students in order to provide them with an optimal linguistic preparation for their English study abroad (one semester or year). It is offered as a two-week crash course (a total of 60 hours, Mondays to Fridays) before the start of the international semester at Howest (see course overview). Classes will take place all day, every day, except for weekends.

This course provides exchange students with an intensive training in speaking, listening, reading and writing skills, and is focused on their upcoming academic experience. The diversity of the academic backgrounds of the participants will be taken into account by choosing and covering a wide range of relevant topics.

The course will also function as an excellent networking opportunity for the students who are about to start their study abroad. One field trip will be organised.

We strongly recommend “English for Exchange Students in Higher Education” for students who have not fully achieved the B2-level in English at the moment of application. More proficient students will benefit from the immersion and acclimatisation experience .

This course will always fall under the Learning Agreement and has to be attended for the full two-week period. As the number of places will be limited, we expect students whose attendance has been confirmed to show up in time and to fully participate. There is an extra cost for the handbook and the field trip.

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PREREQUISITES

ENGLISH FOR

EXCHANGE STUDENTS

Minimum 3 successfully completed semesters in a Bachelor programme or an equivalent of 90 ECTS. This will need to be confi rmed by means of an offi cial certifi cate, a survey of completed courses, transcripts of records or a signed letter from the sending university.

The profi ciency level we expect from incoming students is the B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Foreign Languages (CEFR), in reading, writing, speaking and understanding skills. We expect applying students to provide proof of their profi ciency in English in one of the following ways:

• A signed confi rmation letter from the sending university, stating that the applicant’s language skills reach the B2 level and thus are suffi cient to attend courses, participate in different types of classroom and examination activities. (Only valid for exchange students)

• The results of a (free) online language test which can be related to the CEFR B2 level,such as the Erasmus online test, Dialang and Testpodium. The online test must be taken under the supervision of the sending institution. The result sheet needs to be stamped and signed by a staff member of the sending institution. (Only valid for exchange students)

• An offi cial certifi cate or score report referring to the European Framework or from one of the recognized language tests, e.g. TOEFL: paper based 550/internet based 79/computer based 213 or IETLS: 5.5, no partial results below 5.

The following applicants are not required to document their language skills for study at Howest:

• applicants from countries having English as their national language; • applicants attending a full-time degree programme at their home institution

taught in English.

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All students should bring their own laptop, with all necessary and officially licensed software for MS Office and Adobe CC. The course overview above mentions the specific software necessary for the course unit. Howest applies a very strict policy on the use of legal software. Non-exchange students can only attend the international semester as a Postgraduate course and need to have completed at least a full Bachelor degree programme at the time they start the international semester course at Howest.

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PRACTICAL

INFORMATION

TIMING AND LOCATION

The course takes place in the city of Kortrijk, which is located at a short distance of the historic city of Bruges, one of Belgium’s top tourist destinations, and at only one hour from the Belgian coast. The campus can be reached very easily by public transportation, or is a 20 minute walk from the station.

Our Spring semester runs from February 9th 2015 until June 30th. During the two-week

Easter Holiday (06/04/2015 - 19/04/2015) there are no classes. The examination period starts in the beginning of June.

Students who attend the two-week intensive course “English for exchange students in higher education” should arrive in time to start the lessons on Monday morning 26 January 2015. You fi nd our academic calendar in English at www.howest.be/english.

Address of the campus: Howest Kortrijk, Renaat de Rudderlaan 6, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium.

You will need to activate your Maestro card before departure from your country. Detailed info on this in our Practical information section on the website.

TUITION FEE AND ACCOMMODATION

For exchange students sent by our Erasmus and overseas partner institutions this course is

tuition free. Non-exchange students pay a tuition fee of €1000.

The fee does not include course or other materials, nor the cost for cultural visits or study excursions (transport, museum entrance fees …). Those have to be paid on location. Howest has cashless campuses. Payments have to be made through a bank card. Do not forget to

activate the MAESTRO function on it before you leave your country.

A student room in Kortrijk will cost you between €150 and €300 per month. Stuvo Howest,

our student social services, will assist you in your search for accommodation if you wish. You can also look for accommodation via www.kotwest.be, which includes a search engine

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REGISTRATION

REGISTRATION AND DEADLINE

The application deadline is November 30th for study in Spring Semester. For nationals from

outside the European Economic Area we recommend one month earlier!

All applications are subject to approval by the Howest International Semesters team. Send your Howest Application Form to international.offi [email protected]. You can download

it at www.howest.be/application. Please also send your proposal of Learning Agreement.

For more information about the CONTENT contact Isabelle Van Tomme,

the international relations coordinator for our Bachelor of Communication Management.

Renaat de Rudderlaan 6 8500 Kortrijk - Belgium Tel +32 (0)56 23 98 60

[email protected]

For more information about your APPLICATION contact Ms Sophie Dewitte

of Howest International Offi ce

DIGITAL CREATIVE PROJECTS IN COMMUNICATION