Programme summary

Career opportunities

Courses & timetables

Admission requirements

[MDes]

9, 240 2.0
Full-time for a minimum of 18 months or part-time for a minimum of two-and-a-half years
Starts February or July
8 to 20 places each year
Applications are accepted throughout the year, but it is advisable to apply by September (for February start) or March (for July start)
CA2303
Mt Albert campus

NZ$ 5949

International fees

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Programme summary

Are you a professional designer, fine artist or craftsperson wanting to update your knowledge of design theories and research techniques? Undertake an art or design project based on an aspect of your practice to date, and collaborate with other art and design professionals.

Do you work as a visual artist professional designer, or craftsperson? The Master of Design will invigorate your professional practice through completion of a design or visual arts project. You’ll undertake design/visual arts-based research that is framed within contemporary art and design theory, supported by two supervisors, with feedback from external specialists and visiting experts.

Highlights

• Ideal for design and visual arts professionals who want to refresh their professional practice.
• Gives you the opportunity to sharpen your skills and the critical thinking required to enrich your practice.
• Takes place in a multi-disciplinary environment, giving you exposure to a wide range of approaches, practices, and theories, thus easing your transition into a professional environment that requires cross-disciplinary knowledge.
• The chance to focus on a single disciplinary area or topic, while being enriched by insights from other areas.
• Feedback on your developing work from specialists in your field, both from within Unitec as well as from outside Unitec (external specialists and visiting experts).
• Emphasises project work: you make a body of art or design work that is of an advanced standard and based on an aspect of your professional practice to date.
• Supported by strong contemporary theoretical frameworks.
• A collegial environment that allows you to interact with fellow students and friendly staff.
• Part-time study options available.

 

Portfolio requirements 

Applicants may be required to attend an interview, at which they may be asked to present and discuss a portfolio of their design work. They may also be asked to submit a brief description of a proposed project which they wish to undertake for the degree.

They should be ready to discuss their professional history, the ideas within their work, their interests and the area of research by design that they are considering, and their proposed project.

They should have a significant portfolio of professional work that will enable them to reflect critically on their practice.

Need a little more help with your portfolio?

Follow our portfolio hints and tips on what to include, what not to include and how to lay it all out.