Growth in China will redefine patterns of consumption, production, and cultural appropriation domestically and globally for generations to come. As China-based companies shift to a designed-in-China strategy and international companies seek to design for the Chinese market, career opportunities for graduates of this programme will be numerous.

The MDes Industrial Design programme is for graduates or professionals with design or engineering backgrounds, who want to broaden and deepen their design and design research thinking. You will develop an appreciation for and practice cross-cultural approaches towards design and product, service and systems development. Options are available for part-time study for working professionals.

Following this programme, you will develop individual specialism skills while maintaining a generalist, transdisciplinary outlook towards design. During the first semester of this programme, you will advance your competencies in design research methods, transdisciplinary design tools, innovation processes, and design visualisation and communication. In the following two semesters, you will be supervised by academic staff to develop and carry out your own design research project.

Graduates of this programme, as with all XJTLU masters degrees, earn a University of Liverpool degree that is recognised by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

The Department of Industrial Design at Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University was established in 2013 and has academic staff with a breadth of academic and industrial experience, spanning the diverse skills and expertise represented within the field of design.

The department focusses on user-centred product and systems design for society in response to social, cultural, and technical context. We aim to educate a new generation of industrial and product designers who able to understand and participate in China’s ongoing social, cultural, and economic transformation through achieving a balance of creative and technical knowledge and competencies.

The MDes Industrial Design programme offers you a solid preparation for careers such as design practitioners and design managers, as well as for further studies on design-related PhD programmes.

You will be encouraged to take advantage of the transdisciplinary nature of this programme, with an emphasis on development and evaluation of new investigative methods and approaches. Your projects can have an academic emphasis to prepare for doctoral study or be based on a more applied, industry-focused agenda.

Minimum Entry Requirements

UK

Upper second class (2:1) honours

China

• 1st tier universities: 75 percent or above
• 2nd tier universities: 80 percent or above

Note: Chinese applicants are not required to take the MoE postgraduate entrance exam.

North America

3.0 Cumulative GPA (out of 4) or 3.2 Cumulative GPA in the final two years of your undergraduate programme

Other Regions

Equivalent academic qualifications

Academic Background

An undergraduate degree (UK 2:1 or equivalent) in industrial design, engineering, architecture, urban planning and design, or other design-related discipline.

English Language Requirements

If English is not your native language or if you have not studied in English at degree level, you will need to provide evidence of your English proficiency. You should normally possess one of the following qualifications:

• IELTS: 6.5 (minimum of 5.5 in all sections)
• TOEFL iBT: 90 (minimum of 21 in any skill)

In exceptional circumstances, individual cases will be considered on their own merits. You may be required to attend interviews or tests to further demonstrate your English proficiency.

If you miss the English language requirements by 0.5-1.0 of an IELTS band, or a similar number for other English language exams, you can be admitted to the programme after successful completion of our four- or six-week intensive English presessional course.

You can also apply to take the XJTLU English language test in lieu of an IELTS/TOEFL or equivalent. Based on the score, students may be admitted or may be required to take and successfully complete the four- or six-week intensive English presessional course.

Additionally, students may be required to complete English language courses on a pass/fail basis as part of the additional learning activity requirement during their studies at XJTLU.

Core Modules

• Framing design research
• Methods for transdisciplinary design
• Innovation by design
• Advanced design visualisation and communication
• Design research project (over two semesters)

Additional learning activities

The completion of additional learning activities is required to complete your masters degree. Normally, required ALA hours will be distributed evenly across each semester, amounting to 200 hours per semester. Part-time programmes will normally require 100 to 150 hours per semester.