Source: EMT n.4 – 2008: bimonthly newspaper of Treviso Chamber of Commerce. By Silvia Trevisan

«It’s a wonderful day»: in this way, Mrs. Maria Luisa Frisa, director of the undergraduate degree in fashion design, opened “Connecting::Collecting” on the 3th July 2008, speaking to the numerous journalists at the opening press conference.
This important event, in its second edition, was characterized this year by 1 exhibition and 1 fashion show; it represents a significant occasion to promote the attractiveness of the economic context in Treviso.

This year, the exhibition was situated on all the floors of the faculty’s building, located in via Papa in Treviso, displaying the works made by students from first to third year’s courses and presenting the activity of workshops and courses.

Mrs. Maria Luisa Frisa underlined how Collecting::Connecting shows the everyday task of teachers, who convey the concept of quality to students: «Our mission is related to the objective this school has from the beginning: that of being a university with an independent, international identity, which could recover the Italian identity».

The director then expressed her gratefulness to Treviso Chamber of Commerce and Unindustria, which contributed to create firm bases for this faculty and allow its constant growth «because – Mrs. Frisa said – it is not realistic for university to believe that today’s training could possibly be suitable also tomorrow; it can’t stop, because it turned out to be the place for experimentation, research, where anything can happen».

Mrs. Alessandra Pegorer, vicepresident of Unindustria and president of the fashion system, highlighted that the association heartily wanted this degree, and the importance of the efficient understanding with Treviso Chamber of Commerce, particularly due to its president, Mr. Federico Tessari.
«Treviso fashion system’s strength is represented – Mrs. Pegorer said – by the multiplicity of sizes among its enterprises, from small to large ones, which carry out market trends on an international scale, in addition to companies in the industrial chain that affect product innovation».

Mr. Marco De Michelis, dean of faculty, described himself as «glad, enthusiast and touched» for the success of this faculty, which was born 9 years ago with the degree in industrial design, visual and multimedia communication. There have always been a collaboration with Treviso Chamber of Commerce and its president, Mr. Federico Tessari, who «prompted us – Mr. De Michelis said – to create this degree in fashion design.

We would like to deal with fashion without denying our being university, but contextualizing our work within the territory: our students experience a training period, in order to educate them on how to interpret the fashion system. This is not general knowledge, but we believe it’s the implementation of thoughts on project quality».

Mr. Federico Tessari, president of Treviso Chamber of Commerce, who heartily wanted this faculty, believes that it could be included among the most important fashion schools.

It’s a degree that is able to face the market, and became an attractive factor of Treviso.
Numbers clearly highlight this: there were 260 applications for 60 available seats, 180 students subdivided in three years, among which 20 are foreign. Mr. Tessari said: «The real competitive advantage of the economic system is human capital, and the Chamber of Commerce – which believes in that – invests, rather than spending, the 42% of its budget in 2 faculties with € 2 million and a half per year. Economic categories within the area have satisfactorily understood the value of this investment».

Mr. Tessari, who hopes there will be a future graduate degree, with training periods and masters, stated that this faculty gives the possibility to create a network for Treviso identity: «We have an excellent manufacturing sector, and we can build the “intelligence of product” recalling the “made in Italy”, through these human resources».

After that, Mr. Tessari announces the project of a real hub of creativity and design, the first in Italy but beyond Italian frontiers.

This investment is aimed at networking innovation knowledge to give value to patents. When students from ClaDis create new products, they can be licensed on a wide, international trade.

Treviso exports € 49 billion and 500 million. The president continues: «The hub of creativity planned by local subjects will include university faculties and network the university activity and the post-university experience, such as PhDs, and training periods to create participation within the economy of knowledge».