Objectives
Education is a strategic issue for the global fashion industry. Companies operating globally must be able to connect to a global network of fashion educators. Top companies must be able to find global top talent. The mission of the Education & Training Committee is therefore to help further fashion education and technical training worldwide and to act as a forum that enables knowledge exchange between companies involved in the apparel chain and fashion universities and colleges. The IAF offers educational institutes and their students a unique access to a global network of apparel companies. The IAF International Student Awards are an important instrument in carrying out this mission. It is an effective way to visibly attract top talent and connect them to top global apparel companies. The choice of categories that the award is made up of and the criteria used to award the price serve as signals from the industry to the educational institutes and the students. As the industry is represented in the jury the prize communicates what the industry thinks students should excel in.To run the student award program the IAF has started a co-operation with the Fashion Education Network (part of the FashionUnited group). The main asset is their online network of educational institutes and most importantly of over 4000 students.
IAF International Student Awards | Information flyer
Parameters
- Awarded to students enrolled at the time of receiving the award in a top level fashion technological institute.
- The award is given in threecategories: Design, Product Development and Branding.
- The students must demonstrate that they are the best in one of these three work fields. The form which this demonstration must take will be decided by the IAF Education Committee, within boundaries broad enough to leave room for creativity.
- Invitations to apply for the award are sent to schools, but also directly to students.
- The schools support the selection process by making a pre selection among their own students that have applied for the award.
- IAF and Fashion Education Network will set up a publicity campaign surrounding the IAF International Student Award. Schools that are IAF members will be specifically named in this campaign.
- The IAF education committee will form the jury for the IAF International Student Award. This means that expertise in the three workfields (Design, Product Development and Branding) must be represented in the IAF Education Committee.
- The prize will consist of a 3 to 6 month paid internship.
Selection Process
- The IAF Education Committee writes an instruction for students applying for the award to follow
- FEN and IAF place the invitation to apply for the award in their network
- FEN and IAF start the publicity campaign surrounding the award
- FEN receives the applications, groups them by school and sends them to the schools for them to pre select one of their own students per category.
- The Jury receives the applications of the nominated students and picks one winner per category and writes a brief justification for awarding the prize.