the United Kingdom
University of Wales Trinity Saint David| The award | How you will study | Study duration | Course start | Domestic course fees | International course fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MA | find out | 3 semester | find out | 0 | 0 |
| MDes | find out | 4 years | find out | 0 | 0 |
Course Overview
The MA Product Design programme is about pushing the envelope of Product Design by educating the next generation of visionaries and implementers, who will embrace, reflect and address environmental, economic and social-cultural challenges through the medium of creative dialogue. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted, allowing the students the freedom to challenge conventions through cross collaborative experimentation and lateral thinking, with a goal of harnessing design ambiguity into a tangible outcome. You will explore the nature of human & product inter-relationships through self-expression and design focus by challenging the current conventional approach and proposing new paradigms for the design of innovative and sustainable products, systems or services. The modules will challenge and develop your critical design thinking and philosophical stance, acting as a platform for reflection in your development as a design.
This programme is delivered in the newly refurbished Alexandra Road building in the Swansea Arts Quarter, and during the course of your studies you will be supported by specialist staff, leading professionals and practicing artists through lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. We have exceptional traditional and digital facilities, housed in spacious purpose-build workshops. Through these, we encourage creative freedom within all of our students and support you in challenging conventional thinking and established practices and facilitate new technological advances across a broad range of disciplines. We have found that through collaborative experimentation and innovative design thinking our students are able to produce work that meets the challenges and respond to the demands of the 21st century. This ensures that the course delivers a qualification and experience that is highly relevant to the changing needs of the industry.
Key Features
The MA Product Design programme within the Contemporary Dialogues portfolio offers an exciting and innovative re-thinking of Postgraduate provision that reflects the strategic thinking of Swansea College of Art. The portfolio facilitates migration between diverse thematic disciplines, exploring new ideas and conceptual approaches to allow young artists and designers to confront the issues that face society today and into the future.
The portfolio's ethos of collaborative dialogues through material practices provides an innovative model of design, fine and applied arts education. This development allows students from all pathways to experience and share creative practices and innovative mind-sets through inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary dialogues. This ethos is enhanced within each programme to stimulate 'collaborative' practices and experimentation across a broader spectrum of specialist fields, developing graduates with the contextual awareness, creative thinking and technical skills to operate at the forefront of their discipline.
During the course of your studies you will be supported by specialist staff, leading professionals and practicing artists through lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. We have exceptional traditional and digital facilities, housed in spacious purpose-build workshops. Through these, we encourage creative freedom within all of our students and support you in challenging conventional thinking and established practices and facilitate new technological advances across a broad range of disciplines. We have found that through collaborative experimentation and innovative design thinking our students are able to produce work that meets the challenges and respond to the demands of the 21st century.
Facilities include:
Modules
Core Modules
Professional Accreditations
The programme is not accredited by any single professional body. The programme team encourages students to participate in the work of professional bodies such as the Chartered Society of Designers and the Royal Society of Arts. The programme also benefits from close collaboration with industry through annual live projects. This flexible relationship with industry and the professions allows students to engage with events and projects from a broad spectrum of external bodies.
International
Erasmus
During your time with us you will have the opportunity to study abroad with the Erasmus exchange programmes currently running with Universities in Norway, Barcelona and Sweden.
Study Abroad
Students can also take up the opportunity to study a semester in the USA and Canada.
For more information please click here.
Course Tutor(s)
Assessment
The three main modes of assessment used on this programme are: studio projects, written assignments and seminar presentations The taught modules in Part 1 are assessed through a combination of these modes of assessment. Part 2 is assessed through the submission of either a practice biased project & report or a theoretical dissertation of not more than 15,000 words.
Assessment at postgraduate level is reflected by your ability to reformulate and use relevant methodologies and approaches to address problematic situations that involve many interacting factors. It includes taking responsibility for planning and developing courses of action that initiate or underpin substantial change or development, as well as exercising broad autonomy and judgement. It should also reflect an understanding of the relevant theoretical and methodological perspectives and how they affect your area of study or work.
Career Opportunities
This programme is written from an employability enhancement perspective, creating the platform for students to embrace the spectrum of commercial and cultural opportunities available, encouraging real life engagements, networking and other activities.
One of the guiding principles and enhancements of this programme is a commitment to flexible learning, with creative flexible learning and teaching relationships and discourses in order to make sure that the student's individual needs and projected career opportunities are at the centre of their activities. This flexibility and concentration on individual needs and opportunities within learning is placed primarily at the service of employability.
Students will be encouraged to embrace professional networks and create links with enterprise - locally, nationally and globally, as well as connect with external agencies and organisations. Additionally the postgraduate programme has great potential to contribute to the commercial, academic and applied research aspirations of the University and its desire to contribute knowledge to the field of innovation, product and transportation research and development.
Further Information
'PTES (Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey) 2015 - 100% Satisfaction?
To keep in touch with day-to-day life in the School you can follow us on Instagram: #discoverdesignproduct
Product, Automotive & Transport Design Prospectus:
http://issuu.com/trinitysaintdavid/docs/industrialdesign
Swansea College of Art Video: https://youtu.be/4vihnej8WiQ
For further information please contact the Course Director.
Related Courses
Contemporary Dialogues Portfolio
Additional Costs
Our students have access to a diverse range of equipment and resources, which in most cases are sufficient to complete their programme of study. We provide the basic materials necessary for students to develop their practical work within our extensive workshop and studio facilities. However, it is likely that art and design students will incur some additional costs to extend their investigation of their personal practice. For example, purchasing their own specialised materials and equipment, joining in optional study trips, and printing.
Entry Criteria
All students that enrol on the programme will have a great desire and drive to explore Product Design for our future needs. It is expected that the typical student would be familiar with the core skill set for implementing and disseminating their design opinion. Students at this level need to be curious, broad-minded, open to new challenges and seriously self-motivated, with the ability to be an inventive problem-solver and lateral thinker with a 'can do' attitude. In addition applicants would be expected to demonstrate the intellect and emotion to propose change with regard to transportation infrastructure and the individual needs.
The major benchmark entry requirement will be a 2:1 or higher undergraduate degree. This will enable the student to progress to an interview.
Mature students may apply with their portfolio and/or previous academic/industrial career taken into account. There is also a procedure for the Recognition of Prior Learning. International students will have to prove proficiency in the English language to the required IELTS level 6 as well as the above.
Any candidate with a successfully completed research degree will have to prove that their intended Master's study is in a different field. The programme is open to applicants of any discipline who have an interest in forming a new discourse with an Art, Craft, Design & Media subject in order to open up a new dialogue ie architecture/photography.
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