Progress Track 1

• to provide each student with systematic and methodological support in form of close individual mentorship as well as collective reviews to secure successful development of each student’s individual master project, which represents the vertical vertebra of his/her study programme

• to single out student’s academic needs, motivation and expectations, and provide them with feedback on academic level

• to support and guide student towards development of a coherent personal project portfolio

• to support student in gradually developing and consolidating his/her ideas for the final master project

• through area-specific (“expert”) mentorship, to provide student with professional guidance and know-how particularly aimed at master project production

• through pedagogical (“progress”) mentorship, to stimulate student’s ability to successfully steer through his/her own academic pathway in the programme (selection of Studios, supporting courses in TIP, DIP and SIP supporting modules etc.), reflect upon own learning experience and correspondingly develop the final master project

• collectively within the double degree partnership, to define the entry profile of a year’s cohort (as enrolled both at APU and UNG), foster its development towards an academic community, and coordinate expert mentor appointments within the module, as well as supportive module courselet runs and selections, including Studio topics selections.

Progress Track is a compulsory module consisted of compulsory semester-long course runs (in chronological order), as module implementation stages: Initial Progress Track, Interim Progress Track, Final Progress Track. Initial Progress Track does not have a prerequisite, for the rest, the previous is a prerequisite for the next.

The “progress” mentorship provided by the Progress Track Module leader ensures continuous pedagogical consultancy for each student: progress mentor guides each student in creating his/her own personally tailored pathway of study and choosing the most relevant selection of coursework from TIP, DIP and SIP supportive modules and the coursework from the Studio module, through which students acquire specific skills, competences and knowledge, to complement the Carrier Modules of their choice.

The “expert” mentorship provided by any Carrier Module leader or other (referenced expert) teacher and assigned to each student by the Board of Study ensures continuous professional consultancy, guidance and know-how for each student: expert mentor helps the student develop his/her master project, in relation to student’s Carrier Module of choice.

Progress Reviews (at the end of each Progress Track course run, i.e. end of semester) in form of viva presentation in front of Review Committee and all peers clear and confirm each student’s progress on his/her master project development, confirm student’s choice of coursework from TIP, DIP and SIP supportive modules and the Studio module as well as student’s choice of Master Thesis mentor(s).

Knowledge:
(The student...)
- develops an overview and understanding of competency standards in the chosen area
- understands the purpose of the project paradigm within own creative idea development and realization in the master project
- understands the importance and methods of gradual construction of own author/artist persona through archiving, organising and reflecting own work
- understands the structure, purpose and meaning of the entire academic provision on programme level, within a broader context of other formal, non-formal and in-formal learning experience
- develops an understanding of systematic (project) report-writing and self/project presentation at viva, according to professional standards and academic conventions

Skills:
(The student...)
- critically analyses own competences against standards in the chosen area, and within the broader context of the programme
- critically reflects on own competence acquisition, autonomously plans its strategy and designs possible changes in the framework of the entire academic (as well as non-formal and informal) learning experience
- autonomously steers competence acquisition in the framework of his/her final (master thesis) project, also as related to elective coursework within supportive modules and Studio topics
- develops an individual strategy and acquires skills for sustainable self-management
- develops report-writing, documentation-assembling as well as presentation and argumentation skills according to professional standards and academic conventions, particularly in peer-review contexts

Depending on the Carrier Module of each student’s choice, specific recommendations of the mentors and the Review Committee.

Progress Track Reviews are graded with pass/fail grades with a Plenary Review (in front of all peers and the Review Committee). If student fails both first and second regular review term at the end of a particular Progress Track stage, s/he enrols the following Progress Track (semester 2 or 3) or Master Thesis (at semester 4) with an “incomplete” (conditional) enrolment. If student fails at third regular review term of the “incomplete” Progress Track, s/he cannot undergo the higher-level review (or approach Master Thesis finish) and must repeat the enrolment of the “incomplete” remaining Progress Track course run.

RENE RUSJAN is the programme head and »Contemporary Art Practices« module leader in Digital Arts and Practices BA programme at the School of Arts of University of Nova Gorica. She was the co-founder of KD Galerija GT and Famul Stuart School of Applied Arts and was its programme head since 1994. She initiated and led numerous projects in collaboration of the school and other partner organizations, nationally and internationally.
She received a diploma from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. She works in the field of contemporary art, as an artist in her own projects as well as a co-author in various artistic collaborations. Her work is context-specific and interdisciplinary. Scope: visual, performing arts and intermedia, graphic design, set design, concepting and curating exhibitions and complex art projects; teaching activity in the fields of contemporary art, co-author of several study programmes.

SELECTED PROJECTS AND EXHIBITIONS 2012 – 2007

2012 - Faraway, So Close! (Distance Conversations_012) – intermedia work in progress
- The Same Wind, The Same Rain, Chiang Mai Art Centre, Thailand (residency and exhibition)
2011 - Videovečer / Videovečerja, Videosupper, Galerija Photon, Ljubljana
- Kdor sam do večera potuje skoz svet (Simon Gregorčič), theater set design (with Bostjan Potokar), author and director: Neda R. Bric, production SNG Nova Gorica theatre
2010 - Communication project at Postaja Topolove / Stazione di Topolo, Topolo, Italija
- VideoSupper with Rene Rusjan, Kulturni inkubator, Maribor
2009 - TheOneMinutes Trains, svetovni izbor, Rietvelt Arsenale Venice (v izbor prišla z video deloma Train Taveling – Egypt in Train Taveling – Tokyo), Arsenali Novissimi, spremna lokacija ob bienalu v Benetkah
2008 - WorldOneMinutes Video & Literature, svetovni izbor, Beijing Today Art Museum (v izbor prišla z video delom Wake Me Up if I Fall Asleep), premierna razstava v Pekingu, Kitajska, nato Šanghaj, Lisbona, Zagreb, Paramaribo, Bruselj, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, Amsterdam in Groningen
- Mother:Earth – mednarodna delavnica žensk iz arabskih in evropskih dežel, Wd8 Art Center, Walkensdorf, Avstrija
2007 - Zbudi me, če zaspim, video, One Minute_São Paolo, SCCA, Videospotting
- Connected, Wd8 Art Center, Walkensdorf, Avstrija (projekt: spletna umetnica Cym)
- Čitalnica SCCA 2007/ Reading Room SCCA 2007, SCCA-Ljubljana, Zavod za sodobno umetnost, Projektna soba
- Danes nimam časa za politiko. Danes nimam časa za umetnost . Danes.., Fotografski projekt; Politično (razstava po izboru članov Društva slovenskih kritikov), Velenje
- Pri meni na vrtu – Cikel Štirje letni časi, Vrt na Komenskega 8, DLUL, Ljubljana (samostojen projekt, vanj sem k sodelovanju povabila kolegice umetnice: Natašo Skušek, Aleksandro Gruden, Eleno Fajt, Cym, karierno sodobno umetnico Mileno Kosec, ter svoje študentke, Evo Nino Cajnko, Martino Černetić, Urško Debevc, Saro Lovrec, Matejo Abram in Bojano Križanec)
- Pogledi / Looks - Home '07, Ljubljana work-in-progress, ulična intervencija (skupaj z Boštjanom Potokarjem)
- North-South Postcard diary, Station Nord, Honefoss, Norveška
- U3 trienale slovenske umetnosti, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana (zbornik, z Boštjanom Potokarjem)