Course details

Summary

Are you a highly motivated artist or designer looking to enrich your creative practice? The Master of Design offers you the opportunity to undertake a self-directed art or design project in a topic of your choice to create a body of work at an advanced level. You will work in an intellectually stimulating environment, with guidance from expert supervisors and regular presentations to visiting critics.

Programme overview

The Master of Design is a research only degree with no taught components. It is extremely flexible and operates on the basis of mutually agreed supervision sessions and regular progression workshops.

Highlights

• Create a significant body of new work, build a portfolio, improve your job opportunities and refresh or re-orientate your career.
• Undertake research and training in contemporary contextual and theoretical frameworks and practise based methodologies.
• Work in an evolving multi-disciplinary environment with exposure to a wide range of approaches, practices, and theories..
• Get advanced feedback on your developing work from specialists in your field and visiting critics.
• Hone your communication skills through critique sessions and written components.
• Undertake research and training in contemporary contextual and theoretical frameworks.
• Learn from experts – our lecturers and supervisors include notable artists, designers and educators.

Portfolio requirements

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

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

You should have a significant portfolio of professional work that will enable you to reflect critically on your practice.

CAREER OPTIONS

• Artist
• Art director
• Art/design educator
• Art/photography educator
• Curator
• Graphic designer
• Photographer
• Product designer
• Production designer
• Performance designer
• Service designer
• Visual artist
• Visual communicator

Entry criteria

1. Achieved one of the following:

• A recognised Bachelor’s degree in a discipline relevant to your proposed project, with an average grade of B- or higher in all Level 7 courses
• A recognised postgraduate diploma in a discipline relevant to your proposed project, with an average grade of B- or higher

2. A significant portfolio of professional work which enables us to critically reflect on your prior practice

3. 8 credits at NCEA Level 2 in English (4 in reading, 4 in writing).

English Language requirements:

• Have achieved NCEA Level 3 and New Zealand University entrance
• NZCEL (Academic) (Level 5)
• IELTS score of 6.5 with no band score lower than 6.0
• TOEFL (pBT) Paper-based test score of 590 (essay 5.5 TWE)
• TOEFL (iBT) Internet-based test score of 79 (writing 21)
• CAE, or CPE with a score of 176. No less than 169 in each skill. OET at Grade B in all sub-tests
• Pearson Test of English (PToE) Academic with a score of 58 with no score lower than 50