On May 16, 2019, a meeting of the Scientific and Artistic Council of the FTF VŠMU was held, at which a decision was made on the school's consent to the accreditation process of the Game Design study program.
Although it may not seem like it at first glance, the success of the vote was on the line, as several members voted by not attending the meeting. Of the 13 directly participating council members, 11 positive votes were needed for approval. Approval for the HD accreditation process received 11 votes...
Overall, the May session, unlike the December session, cannot be characterized as negative and, from an emotional point of view, is only a fraction of how the approval of the Visual Effects study program at the Faculty of Film and Television of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts nine years ago took place.
The sharpness of doc. Katarína Mišíková's argument was blunted in an excellent way by the argument of her former student Mgr. art Maroš Broj, the eloquence of prof. Martin Šmatlák was excellently handled by Ing. Ladislav Dedík, ArtD., the issue of ethics in HD, among others, was excellently handled by Marián Ferko with his argumentation on the subject of Game Mechanics (which took everyone's breath away). Mgr. art. Marián Villaris handled the issue of communication with other studios (which was a specific requirement). RNDr. Andrej Lúčny, PhD. brought the topic of artificial intelligence. Mgr. Mikuláš Florek represented the field of programming with his participation, which was one of the opposition comments from December (and during the May approval it lost its justification for being reminded). Ing. arch. Marek Hollý expressed the unfoundedness of the fear that the school would not want or be able to provide financial subsidies in the future. Mgr. also supported New Year's Eve Buček and the participation of five students who clearly expressed their position with their body language.
This collective performance is comparable to the performance of VFX students. In 2018, they collectively fearlessly appeared before the large senate of VŠMU, then before the small senate of the FTF VŠMU, and with their unity and arguments, they abolished long-standing discrimination not only against AVFX students but also against students from other non-directorial studios.
1. The meeting of the VUR FTF VŠMU in May was preceded by a meeting of the Academic Senate on December 5, 2018 with a positive vote.
Quote from the minutes:
"Before the debate, Professor Jozef Hardoš spoke, who informed the members of the senate about the main aspects of the new bachelor's program in cinematography at the B.Sc. level. Subsequently, Prof. Ľudovít Labík spoke with a presentation of the Visual Effects Studio, as well as the proposal for a new bachelor's program in Visual Effects and Game Design. The presentation was followed by a discussion about what creative components game design consists of, how the FTF VŠMU is prepared to implement this study program, and to what extent communication about cooperation with other studios is prepared. In this area in particular, doubts arose as to the extent to which the newly created study program is able to connect with other study areas of the faculty. Questions also arose about the technological support of the program defined in this way. Prof. Labík considers the technological support to be sufficient, also considering that the software is also available to students in unpaid versions."
After extensive discussion and voting, the guests of the meeting left the meeting and then the voting took place in the AS. Result: 7 members of the AS of the FTF VŠMU were in favor of the creation of new study programs, Doc. Leo Stefankovič was against and Doc. Maroš Šlapeta abstained from voting.
"Resolution: The Academic Senate of the Faculty of Film and Television of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts RECOMMENDS to the Scientific and Artistic Council of the Faculty of Film and Television, based on the submitted proposals, to create two independent study programs at the bachelor's level: 1.) CAMERAMANSHIP, 2.) VISUAL EFFECTS and GAME DESIGN and to send the application for their accreditation to the Accreditation Commission no later than June 15, 2019."
2. The meeting of the Scientific and Artistic Council of the FTF VŠMU on December 6, 2019 ended with a negative vote in favor of approving the accreditation process of the Game Design study program.
Quote from the minutes:
"The VUR FTF VŠMU expresses its support for the effort to introduce progressive frameworks related to new media and game design. However, the VUR is of the opinion that the submitted proposal for the establishment of a new study program Visual Effects and Game Design is insufficiently prepared in its current form in terms of personnel, but above all in terms of content..."
Number of members of the VUR FTF VŠMU 19
Number of members present for voting 15
Number of members who voted in favor of the proposal 14
Number of members who voted against the proposal 0
Number of members who abstained 1
The joint motion for a resolution was approved.
In order to professionally answer the questions posed by the VUR FTF VŠMU, the document in the appendix was prepared: "Answers..."
3. The meeting of the AS FTF VŠMU on April 30, 2019 reaffirmed its positive opinion on the accreditation of the Game Design study program at the FTF VŠMU.
