Monday, 11 June 2007 | Levent OZLER

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design, Master of Design

School of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University is enriching its renowned Master of Design (MDes) program with two new specialism - Interaction Design and Design Education, together with existing Design Practices and Design Strategies specialism - commencing September 2007.

Interaction Design seeks to enhance human ability and life through the design of innovative, interactive and experiential ideas, based on a synthesis of human thought patterns and habits with technical means. A combination of theory, planning strategies, research, and technical skills provide the foundation for workshops that explore emerging aspects of interaction design, based on human needs and pleasures as well as technological development. Product and communication design specialists will find this a logical step in their professional development.

Design Education seeks to support and disseminate best practices in design education through understanding learning/teaching strategies, critical examination of design education in the context of culture, location, and time, practical experience in teaching, and reflective practice in adjusting teaching and learning performance. A combination of theory, planning for learning objectives, research techniques to foster analysis and study of learning situations, and studio/classroom fieldwork are elements in this specialism. Teachers in Design will find new approaches to teaching and learning from this specialism, while those without a teaching background will discover the structures that support learning.

Full tuition Scholarships are available on a competitive basis for foreign (non-local) students. Scholarships are offered for Design Practices, Interaction Design, Design Education, to encourage outstanding non-local students committed to full time study; you'd notice that there's no scholarships offered for Design Strategies because this is kind of part time mode of study, normally, subjects are conducted on weekends, targeting for local professionals who have work during week days. The scholarship will be offered in the form of tuition waiving (full amount of tuition) while it is not necessary to apply for the scholarship by individual applicants since we shall review all applications and make offers according to their achievements (in terms of academic performance, working experience, portfolio, awards, etc), the decision of scholarships will be made in June.

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