Project Description
Serbia creates opportunities
Education in creative industries
Since its establishment, Serbia Creates team has been seriously and dedicatedly dealing with the issue of improving education in the creative industries.
Project description
Since its establishment, Serbia Creates team has been seriously and dedicatedly dealing with the issue of improving education in the creative industries. Cinematography, audio visual and video game industries are one of the priority areas according to the Research and innovation strategies for smart specialization, which implies a strategy based on national or regional priorities that aims to build comparative advantages through connecting research and innovation forces with the needs of the economy.
The National Platform Serbia Creates is an initiative to create programs for new specialized departments for performing arts and audio-visual arts in high schools throughout Serbia. These departments represent the way in which the education system tries to respond to the needs of the development of culture and art, but also enable students to develop creative thinking with the application of new technologies and a responsible attitude towards the preservation of cultural heritage. The Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade provided great support to the Ministry of Education in creating the curriculum.
Art departments were introduced in nine high schools:
1. Philological High School in Belgrade
2. Gymnasium “Laza Kostić” in Novi Sad
3. Second Kragujevac high school
4. Gymnasium in Kruševac
5. Gymnasium in Pirot
6. First Niš High School “Stevan Sremac”
7. Gymnasium for talented students “Deže Kostolanji” in Subotica – teaching in Hungarian
8. Gymnasium in Požarevac
9. Gymnasium in Šabac
The enrollment quota for this program is 20 students per gymnasium and every year it is filled, and the interest is increasing. Every year, the number of high schools with these specialized classes and the number of registered students increases.
This program enables students to respond to the exceptional demand for such personnel on the labor market immediately after graduation and get a job in the field they were interested in or, if they have the desire and opportunity, to continue their education at a university.
Serbia creates recognized the quality and development potential of the initiative of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts to establish a new study program: Visual effects, animation and game art and supported its rapid accreditation. The new study program is designed as a four-year study program with a volume of 240 ECTS within which students will be trained to create in the fields of animation, visual effects, video games and interactive media. In the first year, all students attend classes together, getting to know the development of all three areas to which the program is directed (animation, visual effects and game art), creation in programs for two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer image generation, as well as the basics of dramatic and visual arts. In the second year, students are guided and, based on their affinities, choose the Visual Effects module, the Animation module or the Game Art module. Within the study modules, students have lectures closely related to each of those specialized areas, but they also have common mandatory lectures in the field of dramatic and applied arts. The third year represents the continuation of studies by modules, learning advanced techniques and the most modern methods of creation in the chosen field. In the fourth year, students carry out complex joint work under the mentorship of professors, by assuming roles in the team that are characteristic of the field of their module. During the last year, students are taught teamwork, work organization, product placement, as well as ethical principles of professional behavior. The companies 3Lateral and Mad head games, as well as a large number of professionals from different companies from Serbia and the world, directly participated in the creation of the curriculum. The company EPIC Games, which is the world’s leading company in the field of interactive arts and 3d technologies (Unreal Engine), recognized the quality and development potential of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts and decided to award the Faculty the prestigious EPIC MegaGrants for the development of this program.
The quality of the program is evidenced by the fact that at the end of 2022, 7 companies, as well as individuals (Playrix RS, Two Desperados, Mad Head Games, Bunker VFX, Playstudios Europe, Digital Asset Tailors, Supercluster Creative Tech Serbia, Aleksandra Gegović and Nikola Šobajić) donated money and material resources in order to provide students with even better working conditions.
The Cabinet of the President of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the national platform Serbia Creates, the Ministry of Education and the Digital Serbia Initiative initiated the launch of the Master 4.0 program for creative industries, which connects the world of technology and the world of art.
This program was created through the close cooperation of the University of Arts and the Faculty of Mathematics in Belgrade and the University of Kragujevac on the one hand, and more than ten companies on the other, and aims to train the staff necessary for the further development of the domestic video game industry. This branch of creative industries is recognized as the industry with the greatest potential according to the Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specializations. Among the 45 subjects are those in the fields of digital art, narrative techniques, game development, interactive computing and business skills.
Also, the goal of this program is to create additional value through connecting higher education institutions with the economy, lecturers from abroad and international faculties that are leaders in this field.
These programs brought together 13 higher education institutions from three state universities and more than ten successful software companies including 3Lateral, Mad Head Games, Two Desperados, Nordeus, Ubisoft and others. In addition to professors from domestic faculties, the master’s program foresees the engagement of lecturers from foreign universities (USA, Spain, Australia, Croatia), as well as from the aforementioned companies, who will, in addition, provide mandatory internships for all students for a duration of at least two month, and the expectation is that students will soon find employment after completing their Master’s.
The Cabinet of the President of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Education initiated the renovation of the buildings of the art faculties in Belgrade, specifically the Faculty of Music, the Faculty of Applied Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts.
For decades, these faculties faced challenges in order to organize classes, considering that the premises were in a very bad condition. The reconstruction and extension of these three art faculties is part of larger investments in the construction and renovation of our faculty buildings throughout Serbia, which represents the largest undertaking in terms of investment in faculty infrastructure in recent years and will refer to a total of 16 faculties, in which a total of 135 million will be invested euros.
Faculty of Music Arts
The new building of the Faculty of Music will be located in Dorćol, between Marina Dorćol and the Port of Belgrade, within the “Line park” project, in Dunavska street in Belgrade, in a building with an area of 24,500 m2. In addition to the fact that students will be able to spend time in the park and near the river, they will also have the opportunity to perform part of the repertoire outdoors, as well as attend a course at the new Department of Dance.
The conceptual solution for this facility has been adopted and can be viewed here.
Faculty of Applied Arts
In Karađorđeva Street, where part of the Faculty of Applied Arts is located, a location has been reserved for its expansion near the future building, on the site of the former Đumrukana. The total area of the building will be 10,000m2. This project will significantly increase the number of students who want to attend some of the courses at FPU, as well as the number of jobs. The whole concept is based on the maximum fitting of the building into the historical core of the city, but also on the fact that, given its purpose and the number of users, it adds new values to the existing values and makes the space additionally recognizable.
The conceptual solution for this facility has been adopted and can be viewed here.
Talent programs
The Republic of Serbia has an exceptional export potential and an opportunity to promote our country as a regional leader in these areas. As the market demands an increasing number of experts in these fields, in cooperation with partners and the Ministry of Education, we strengthened our high school education by establishing specialized departments for students with special aptitudes for stage and audiovisual arts. So far, such classes have been established in high schools in nine cities: Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Kruševac, Pirot, Niš, Subotica, Požarevac and Šabac, and their number is increasing every year. A special visual effects, animation and game art study program was also established at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, which will educate students to create in the field of animation, visual effects, video games and interactive media. In addition, Master 4.0 – a program that will connect the world of technology and the world of art was created through the close cooperation of the state universities in Belgrade and Kragujevac on the one hand, and more than ten companies on the other hand, and aims to train the staff necessary for the further development of the domestic video industry – games.
Master 4.0
Upon completing the Master for Creative Industries, graduates swiftly transition into the professional workforce, securing meaningful employment in their chosen field.
Gaming at FDU
Currently, 13 students are enrolled in the Department of Visual Effects, Animation and Game Art, out of 75 that applied.
Nine High Schools
The program enrolls 20 students per high school, and every year the number of high schools with these specialized departments, and the number of students, increases.
Three locations
The renovation of art faculty buildings in Belgrade includes the Faculty of Music, the Faculty of Applied Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts.
Faculties that shape the future
We will promote the importance of improving and strengthening the capacity of university education through the project to rebuild the buildings of art faculties in Belgrade, specifically the Faculty of Music, the Faculty of Applied Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts.
