UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 31 OCTOBER 2019
Our Faculty of Arts, Design and Media has celebrated 15 years of running its top-up degree programmes in BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design and BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design at the School for Higher and Professional Education (SHAPE) in Hong Kong.
These were the first BCU courses validated for delivery in SHAPE, starting from the 2004/05 academic year. The partnership has since been expanded to include courses such as BA (Hons) Fine Art, BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture and MA Design Management.
Dr Panch Suntharalingam, course director for both courses in 2004/05 and now the course director for MA Design and Visualisation, said: “Both courses have a long history of student successes. The courses have produced world renowned designers and influential educators who now work in some of the top consultancies and influential design industries worldwide.”
Students from the Hong Kong franchised course have competed for and won major prizes on the international briefs set by the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA), which attract entries from 25 countries across five continents. For example, Product and Furniture Design student Kenneth Lee was presented with the Eden Project Award and £1,250 for his entry, ‘50/50’, submitted as part of the global RSA Student Design Awards 2015/16 in London.
Both courses provide exciting and diverse opportunities within the creative industries. All courses have been designed with international employability embedded within the curriculum, and we have worked closely with industry to ensure that our courses will equip our graduates with the key skills required to succeed in industry.
Half of the content of the Product and Furniture Design, Interior Architecture and Design, and Landscape Architecture courses delivered in SHAPE are taught by our staff from the School of Architecture and Design, here at BCU in the UK, making the course a flagship for the faculty overseas.
Pictured: The 2004/05 cohort