who want to prepare to study at the Rietveld Academy: a preparatory training year and an orientation year. During the preparatory training year, a student follows lessons at the academy for 3.5 half-days a week. After completing the preparatory training year, it is possible to enrol directly in the foundation year. Another preparatory track for the Rietveld Academy is the orientation year, in which candidates attend classes at the academy for 30 Saturdays a year. After completion of this year, a candidate will still need to apply for admission before he or she can start the foundation year. Preparatory Training on Aruba: Starting on 10 October 2011, the Rietveld Academy will also be offering a preparatory training course on Aruba, which will focus mainly on the Caribbean and on the two American continents. This preparatory course, which lasts for 30 weeks, will be taught by various teachers from the Rietveld's Amsterdam school. This preparatory training year is a preparatory study track for the Gerrit Rietveld Academy's accredited bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and Design, which is scheduled to begin in 2012 on Aruba. 65,9 % of the student population comes from abroad, originating from over 60 different countries around the world. Most of the classes are in English. The Academy's highly conceptual and experimental approach is aimed at research-driven students who consistently strive to research new areas and push boundaries. Particular specialisations are Inter-Architecture; Fine Arts; DesignLAB; Graphic Design; Fashion; Jewellery; TxT (Textiles); Image and Language; Photography; Glass; Ceramics; VAV; and DOGtime. DOGtime, the Rietveld Academy's evening school, offers a two-year foundation programme. This is followed by a three-year degree track, with the choice of the following one of two directions: Autonomous Fine Art, or Interaction, Design, and Unstable Media (IDUM for short). Expedition Academy Students who wish to be admitted to the Gerrit Rietveld Academy are expected to be receptive and self-reflective for the underlying purpose of discussing ideas and concepts. The academy seeks to stimulate these qualities, hereby challenging students to question those aspects important to the individual. For the academy, traveling abroad is an essential facet of this personal development. Common travels engage students on an interpersonal level, as well as in relation to their environment. This in effect becomes the motive for yielding a creative epiphany. Among other destinations, the academy has organized trips abroad in the past years to China, India, Iran, Nepal, Switzerland, Hungary,