Program / practice / place
Why
MDes?
A 12-month professional graduate program for people who want to work on real problems with design, engineering, creative practice, entrepreneurship, and community partners.
ONE PLACE WHERE THE WORK HAPPENSWOODHAVENKELOWNA, BC
Learn to frame
the problem,
then build a solution.
The MDes starts with problem exploration and stakeholder engagement, not with a predetermined artifact. You learn to understand what is happening before deciding what to make.
From there, the work moves through research, conversation, prototyping, testing, and reflection. The outcome can take different forms, but it stays tied to the people, systems, and conditions involved.
WHAT MAKES THIS MDes DIFFERENT
More than one
kind of expertise.
UBC Okanagan brings critical design thinking, creative practice, engineering principles, entrepreneurship, and community-engaged learning into one 12-month professional program. The degree is jointly grounded in the School of Engineering and the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.
The distinction is the combination: a small cross-disciplinary cohort, faculty from both schools, community and public-sector partners, and a curriculum that moves from stakeholder engagement toward implementation, prototyping, and advanced solution development. The 30 credits include core courses, an elective, and 12 credits of facilitated studio, makerspace, and showcase work.
See the student-facing program guide ↗Research behind
this guide
This guide combines official UBCO sources with original material from the MDes visit: 21 panoramas, five field recordings, four motion studies, and written observations.