(January 22, 2010 ) ORT Strasbourg is preparing to host their first group of Russian students, under a bilateral agreement it signed with the Moscow ORT Technology College just over a year ago. The group of a half-dozen fashion design students will spend a week at ORT Strasbourg in April joining in classes and collaborating with their French peers on a joint project.

Moscow ORT Technology College and ORT Strasbourg are share know-how on teaching fashion design.

This year has been designated the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia by the countries’ governments. The ORT Moscow students will take part in events related to what is a massive cultural and economic project promoting friendly relations. Students will be expected to participate in a joint fashion show with their French peers and the teachers accompanying them will provide some master classes.

“The colleges’ closer relationship is an example of the benefits of belonging to ORT’s international network,” said Doreen N. Hermelin, National President of ORT America. “ORT is about knowledge management in education. We were made aware that ORT Strasbourg wanted to include fashion design in its curriculum, so we matched it with the ORT College in Moscow which, with thanks to our members’ support, has become one of the best colleges in Russia with a highly successful fashion design department.”

While France traditionally has the international reputation for being a center of the fashion industry, ORT Strasbourg is relatively new to teaching fashion design. Indeed, the Russian visitors will arrive in the closing stages of the first semester for its diploma course in fashion, a two-year course which enables graduates to study at the university master’s level. The ORT Moscow College is recognized as the best vocational training program in fashion design in Russia. Its students regularly win city and nationwide fashion contests and enjoy master classes with internationally renowned Russian couturiers. The Moscow ORT Technology College has, therefore, considerable experience that it can share with other ORT institutions throughout the world.
 
The focus on fashion in the colleges’ cooperation agreement is facilitated by the compatibility of their respective faculties, which share similar teaching and resources. For the April visit, French students will host the Russians in their homes, so that the undergraduates have more opportunity to form strong links. The main criteria for choosing students to participate in this exchange are their academic performance, creativity, originality, activity in college life, sociability and superior communication skills.

The Moscow ORT College has 1,400 full time students enrolled in five faculties — advertising technology, fashion design, economics, hospitality and marketing. ORT Strasbourg has 450 students at the high school and university levels. The fashion design program includes practical and creative courses such as French, Philosophy, English as a Foreign Language, Economics and Management, as well as Design and Technology. At the end of their first year, all students must undertake an internship to apply their technical know-how in a genuine work environment. ORT Strasbourg is the first private college in France to offer a three-year bachelor degree course in collaboration with a university.