Deadline: April 30, 2015
Bern University of the Arts
MA Communication Design
Fellerstrasse 11
3027 Bern
Switzerland
www.hkb.bfh.ch
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The Bern University of the Arts welcomes applications for the MA Communication Design. It offers you an individual course for design and design-research projects with a high degree of social relevance in the fields of Design Entrepreneurship and Design Research, as a full-time student (over three semesters) or as a part-time student (over five semesters).
Design with a social impact
Professional design has undergone a major change. Since its means of production, its basic knowledge and its methods have become accessible to a larger public, the economic value of traditional services in communication design and product design has been decreasing. At the same time, designers today are developing innovative solutions for socially relevant problems. The MA Communication Design will support you in grasping the complexity of such issues, in interpreting them, and in finding answers in a results-oriented fashion, by letting you bring together knowledge from diverse fields to use in your project.
One student, one project
The MA Communication Design is focussed exclusively on your project. This affords you sufficient time to develop a socially relevant design question or research question, and to develop an innovative solution that will increase your chances of achieving an attractive career. You apply with an idea for a product, a service or a research project. You will be aided in finding both your idea for your project and an appropriate supervisor by the commission whose task it is to determine your aptitude for the course. The commission will also help you to put together your curriculum according to the specific needs of your project; you will design your curriculum according to the specific needs of your project, choosing appropriate courses from the MA Communication Design, the Division of Design and Fine Arts, the MAS Signaletics—Environmental Information Design and other courses of the BUA and the Bern University of Applied Sciences.
Here you can choose between two specific options:
Design Entrepreneurship
On the Design Entrepreneurship track you will conclude your studies with a concept for a design-based product or service that you can make into the basis of a subsequent entrepreneurial career. With your final project you will apply for design support or start-up support to found your own company. The part-time course (over five semesters) is designed for students who would already like to apply their knowledge directly in the practical field during their studies, or who have begun working after completing their first degree and would now like to expand their abilities, to specify their business idea or improve their career possibilities without having to interrupt their professional activities.
Design Research
On the Design Research track you will conclude your studies with a plan for a research project that you will carry out in your subsequent academic career. With your final project you will apply for research support or for admission to a doctoral programme, in particular at the Graduate School of the Arts of the University of Bern and the BUA—an institution that is unique in all of Switzerland. The part-time course (over five semesters) is designed both for students who, in parallel with their studies, would like to work as a research assistant in a project of one of the BUA Research Areas, in particular in the Communication Design Research Area, and for students who would like to develop a research project alongside their current work as a designer.
Application
To apply for the Master of Arts in Communication Design of the Bern University of the Arts, please follow the link to our application. Here you can apply online until April 30 for the autumn semester 2015.
The Head of Studies will be happy to answer your questions about your application and can advise you in the development of your project idea. Please contact us by e-mail and make an appointment for a personal consultation; this can be carried out either in person, by telephone or by Skype.
