Abstract:

The present debate on changing paradigms in contemporary economy is focusing more and more on multidisciplinarity as a key attribute of new millennium leaders. The shift from industrial economy to knowledge economy already underlined the necessity for a new vision on organizations’ hierarchy and process management. More and more parallel, transversal and open processes are characterizing the most innovative companies giving place to new professionals able to cope with different competences and often merging technical and design skills with managerial skills.

Fashion, as a typical new old economy sector, producing hybrid products whose value depends on the intangible content of knowledge they build up, through specific processes and services, requires a multidisciplinary approach to manage the constantly increasing complexity of creative, productive and management processes that shape the contemporary fashion industry. According to this, not only the organizational models has changed but also the educational systems are required to evolve to answer to the market’s emerging needs and professional roles.

Referring to that multidimensional perspective, the Milano Fashion Institute (MFI) represents a unique initiative on the educational level to address those challenges. MFI is a consortium set up in Milan in 2007 by three Milanese universities, Bocconi University, Cattolica University and Politecnico di Milano, to guarantee the disciplinary richness needed by fashion and to provide a new cognitive and operational approach to higher-level professionals. It is devoted to postgraduate education in the fashion field and it refers to students with diversified background, from Humanities to Economics, not necessarily related to fashion. This unique partnership has already experienced a new educational model, not simply integrating different fields of knowledge, but also setting up a peculiar learning environment.
The paper aims to present in detail the Milano Fashion Institute educational model, highlighting its specialized interdisciplinary approach and demonstrating its application into the practice, through a project case study.

Keywords:

Multidisciplinary Education, Higher-level Education, Fashion Business, Creative Process Management.