Manchester School of Art launches Design Academy

MANCHESTER School of Art have joined forces with Design Council and three other UK universities to capitalise on the UK’s world-leading position for design education.

Along with the London College of Communication at University of the Arts London, Norwich University of the Arts and Nottingham Trent University, the School of Art will launch “Design Academy” – a new programme for UK design students.

The new initiative, supported by Creative & Cultural Skills, was created in consultation with key industry and education figures. The six month consultation revealed a growing need for more designers that can support and manage innovation within industry, and help it to respond to evermore complex challenges. In addition, as there is a greater level of understanding and acknowledgement of the strategic role of design in organisations, so too is there a need for designers to think and work strategically.

The Design Academy’s syllabus aims to address these needs head-on, improving student employability and versatility so that the UK will benefit from a more diverse design workforce, with designers working in a greater range of industrial sectors.

Giving designers an “edge”

Design Academy will complement existing design courses and give students an additional ‘edge’ by exposing them to material often not encountered until master’s level programmes.

Each year, the module will tackle a major societal challenge that Design Council is currently working on. In its inaugural year, the focus of the programme will be Design for Care.

Design Academy launched today to an audience of leaders in design education, industry and Government at New Designers, the annual show for UK design graduates, at a reception hosted by the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN).

Joe McCullagh, Head of Design at Manchester School of Art, said: “In many ways, the Design Academy is a welcomed and timely initiative. The academy will help to give new insights and working processes that really place our students with the new skills, thinking and approaches that are required when addressing current design challenges facing our lives today. Importantly, it will enable our students and staff to take a more radical and fully considered design approach, specifically to societal challenges such as Design for Care.

The academy will also provide a rich network of possibilities for design and design education. By bringing together diverse groups of people from different sectors within a model of collaboration, the academy will enable the creative development of new significant relationships and works.”