Where Do We Stand in the World of Higher Education?

Lecture-type classes and projects are taught and carried out as part of prospective partnerships with business clusters. They feed on our interaction with research labs run by universities and top-tier institutions.

Inauguration de l'antenne de L'École de design à Qingdao en Chine, septembre 2008.

Enhancing Curriculums with Research

Turning design into a true science

The designers’ innovative approach to projects is more and more acknowledged by industrials, tertiary service providers and all professionals willing to change the world. Our field of action is faced with many great challenges, not the least of which is the need to gain recognition in the world of research and to be acknowledged as a true research discipline.

“Putting the artistic and technical knowledge and questions derived from human sciences and management into practice by carrying out projects.”

Mindflow par Toni Da Luz

Design education traditionally lies in transferring hands-on knowledge that reaches beyond university teachings and un

iversity scientific norms. However, over the past few years, traditional patterns were greatly shaken up by the emergence of new design professions born from the digital revolution. International research initiatives have been implemented to make design into a science. The research method they go by is called “project-research.” Higher education players are more and more concerned with bridging the gap between theory and practice. Learning to handle projects by actually handling projects – the very keystone for design institutions – implies taking in the issues inh

erent in the interaction between theory and practice. Artistic and technical knowledge, the knowledge and questions derived from human sciences and management are put into practice by students as they carry out long-term projects. This chemistry is the very key to creativity, the only way to acquire the ability to handle the complex methods underlying the design process. Teaching objectives (which know-how and knowledge must the student acquire? Through which methods?) are part of a project-induced dynamics that gradually takes shape in several steps that will each raise new questions and face students with fresh choices they shall justify.

The “research-project” method

The research-project method is grounded in the great emphasis put on projects in all design school curriculums. Followers of this method do not only consider design as a profession. By implementing this method our institution aims to take a research stance based on scientificity criteria that will enrich design education and the economic fields where design applies.

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