PolyU Design

• 1960: Founded at the Hong Kong Technical College; Part-time evening General Certificate courses offered

• 1970: Renamed as Department of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic’s establishment 

• 2005: Multimedia Innovation Center became part of School of Design

• 2017: BA (Hons) in Social Design programme launched

• We nurture nearly 900 students yearly in a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes with some 50 of them being PhD students.
• The School provides a high level, well equipped environment that includes significant research infrastructure with eight laboratories and a variety of first class technical workshops in the Jockey Club Innovation Tower, a landmark building designed by Zaha Hadid. We believe new premises drives new thinking.  

• Research in the School of Design generates conceptual and technical resources that shape Hong Kong’s social and material futures. Research is currently organised under three initiatives of interest;  Social Design (?????), Design Economy (?????) and Design Making (?????). 
• Social Design: collaborative design with communities to improve their lives through participatory, theoretical and critical approaches 
• Design Economy: collaborative design that enhances the role of design in innovation and value creation in the private sector
• Design Making: user-centred design investigations with communities and practices of making, such as the “maker movement,” with technological, organizational as well as sociological facets.

MDes graduates have been successful in securing ideal positions in their chosen field. Some are hired in-house or in agencies as specialists into a wide range of functions in design. Some have broadened their professional fields and took on positions in project management, research and teaching.  Others run their own design firm. Industries that have hired our graduates include fashion, retail, hospitality, financial services, healthcare, toy, consumer electronics, information technologies, advertising, research and development, higher education and also public services. 

Non-local graduates can stay in Hong Kong for 12 months under the “Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates” (IANG) scheme.