The new Bachelor of Arts & Sciences degrees, involving all ten faculties, are aimed at nurturing globally-minded thinkers and leaders able to leverage their interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to address the contemporary and future challenges of our increasingly complex world.
The BASc(Design+) is aimed at nurturing highly effective, adaptive and creative graduates who can lead across multiple disciplinary subjects, and who will become known globally for their distinctive qualities of creativity, analytical ability, critical thinking and innovative problem-solving. Components of the Design+ programme will be taught at HKU by Cesar Harada, following how he has collaborated with secondary schools and universities around the world, which is exemplified in this TED Talk.
#Education #Kids #Invention #Innovation #Impact #CitizenScience
Cutting across traditional disciplinary boundaries, the programme is structured around design thinking as a distinct foundational approach to interdisciplinary studies, innovation and enterprise.
This degree prepares students to be innovators and creative leaders, training students who want to capitalise on both entrepreneurial and creative abilities. Combining insights, theory, research, methods and practices that embrace a combination of design thinking, functional design and process design, the academic focus provides students with a blend of thinking tools that will equip them for the challenges facing all sectors of society.
Curriculum Structure
The BASC Design+ curriculum comprises a 96 credits Design+ Major that seek to develop interdisciplinary skills and knowledge in design thinking and innovative interdisciplinary practices, together with a second major (or two minors) in a disciplinary subject through which students can explore specific interdisciplinary subjects and methods.
| Components | Type of courses | Credits |
|---|---|---|
Design+ Major | Ideas | 6 |
Representation | 6 | |
Contemporary issues in design | 6 | |
Material science and engineering | 6 | |
Data for interdisciplinary innovation | 6 | |
Research for innovation | 6 | |
Law, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship | 6 | |
Interdisciplinary processes and applications | 6 | |
Design+ Studio 1 – Ideation | 6 | |
Design+ Studio 2 – Rationale | 6 | |
Design+ Studio 3 – Process | 12 | |
Design+ Studio 4 – Expertise | 12 | |
Design+ Studio 5 – Capstone | 12 | |
Sub-total | 96 | |
BASc Core Coursesr | Leadership beyond borders | 6 |
Foundations of human knowledges | 6 | |
Basic programming and computer software skills | 6 | |
Sub-total | 18 | |
Electives | A second major or two minors | 72-84 |
Free electives | 6-18 | |
Sub-total | 90 | |
University requirements | Common Core | 24 |
Languages | 12 | |
Sub-total | 36 | |
Grand Total | 240 |
Scholarship
The “F.L.Y.” Scholarship is designed to nurture and support outstanding first-year undergraduate students enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences programmes. Dedicated to groom leaders to answer the needs of our future society, this scholarship programme will provide students access to mentorship, training, and internship opportunities to fully integrate the skills and knowledge acquired within the BASc programmes. Students are also encouraged to implement their ideas and challenge existing boundary with an innovation fund of HK$20,000.
Career prospect
Central pedagogical features of the program (and central graduate qualities), are the abilities to balance analytical forward-thinking approaches to problem solving with solution-first imagination-based problem solving and to assemble and assimilate knowledge from across disciplines and synthesise it into an actionable plan. Students will exit the program with a comprehensive understanding of design thinking methods and processes, and the ability to lead multi-disciplinary project teams to innovate and achieve original and commercially, environmentally and socially relevant solutions to complex problems.
We aim to make Design+ graduates distinctive in both general graduate job markets and in the specialised industries for which their chosen disciplinary courses have prepared them.
Their ability to assemble and assimilate knowledge from across disciplines and synthesise it into an actionable plans will give them a distinct professional advantage.
Postgraduate studies
Internationally, students may continue their interdisciplinary design studies within graduate programs such as those offered at the Royal College of Art, MIT Media Lab, Aalto University, and Stanford University. Professional programs such as Architecture, are available within schools such as the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia universities. Locally students will be able to continue their studies within HKU at the graduate level.
