Pptdesign: The synergetic relationship between Universities and High Schools

The essay presents the results of POTDESIGN educo/produco I EDIZIONE developed by the University of Florence. The POTDESIGN program, aimed at students of participating universities and students of the last two years of secondary school course, was presented in 2019 as part of POT-Piani di Orientamento e Tutorato /Orientation and Tutoring Plans funded by the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research, and has been configured as a network of the degree courses in Design of Italian Universities. The programme, coordinated by the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", in fact saw the participation of most of the three-year study courses in Industrial Design (L-4) up to, during the development of the program, to their entirety. The program has been promoted by the Italian University Conference of Design as an important opportunity for collaboration and comparison between the degree courses in Design of Italian Universities, and as a field of experimentation of working methods and projects capable of involving secondary school students orienting them towards university studies and, at the same time, able to support the study path of university students enrolled in study courses in Industrial Design. Within the University of Florence, the initiative, involved university tutors in the management of didactic-laboratory activities to be carried out in 5 high schools (Institute I.S.I.S. Da Vinci, Artistic high school of Porta al Prato and Sesto, Artistic high school Alberti-Dante and the technical institute Salvemini) and within the Design Campus. Participation in this competition had a didactic-educational purpose on the themes of requalification and environmental sustainability. It gave high school students the opportunity to learn about the design and the university environment, and also allowed undergraduate student to practice skills acquired during their studies.