Source: SCF, International Cooperation Office
On Sept. 7, the presentation ceremony of Shanghai Magnolia Award was held, in which Helena Hyvönen from Finland, the Vice Academic Dean of Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation (hereinafter referred to as “SCF”) was honored with the 2016 Shanghai Magnolia Award for her outstanding contribution to fashion and innovation education as well as the development of Shanghai fashion industry. Vice President Liu Chunhong, together with officials from International Cooperation Office and SCF, attended the ceremony.
Zhang Xiaosong, Director-General of Foreign Affairs office of Shanghai, presents the badge and certificate to Prof. Helena
As the master of international fashion and innovation, Prof. Helena has enjoyed high prestige worldwide in textile design and artistic education. She has been appointed as the Rector of University of Art and Design Helsinki, the Dean of School of Arts, Design and Architecture at Aalto University, and the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at SCF of Donghua University. Helena has been committed to the global development of sustainable design and cultural education of environmental protection fashion. She believes that design should serve the society and has integrated this idea into the cultivation of international fashion talents in Shanghai and Finland, making great contributions to Shanghai’s international construction of innovative design education as well as the city’s international exchange. In 2010, she was presented First Class Knight of the White Rose of Finland by the President of Republic of Finland.
Since 2014 when appointed as the Vice Academic Dean of SCF, Prof. Helena has explored proactively the new system and mechanism construction of Sino-foreign cooperative education and focused on the complete teaching system building of fashion industry chain to devote herself to the fashion discipline construction, expansion of international cooperation and future development and planning of SCF. Through cooperation with the University of Edinburgh, SCF has preliminarily completed the basic construction of fashion design major and environment design major, and entered into cooperative agreements with several top institutions in fashion education such as London College of Fashion (LCF) of the University of the Arts London and ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Netherlands. Helena attaches great importance to the blending of theory and practice and under her efforts SCF has co-established practice bases with more than 20 first-class international enterprises in fashion design. The combination of cooperation with international enterprises and utility of local fashion resources results in the formation of project-based teaching characteristics with industry-university-research integration. Students from SCF have won multiple awards in international design competitions.
Prof. Helena is introducing the characteristics of fashion and innovation education to students and parents
Prof. Helena is giving instruction to students in design
Prof. Helena hosts Fashion Colloquia Shanghai
Prof. Helena expressed her thanks to Shanghai government and people for the recognition and encouragement, and is thrilled by the progress and prospects of the international platform for fashion innovation education established by SCF. She said, “It’s a great honor for me to win the award. It’s not only an affirmation to my work, but a high recognition for the achievements made by the teaching and research team of SCF, Donghua University. We will continue to make great efforts for the development of Shanghai fashion education and fashion industry.
Shanghai Magnolia Award is one of the high honors presented by Shanghai Municipal Government to foreign nationals in recognition for their outstanding contribution to the city’s economic construction, social development and external exchange. Altogether 50 foreigners from 19 countries have been honored with this award in 2016.
