The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - School of Design

Lovely way of integrating multidisciplinary students that take up real-life clients and challenges from local to global.

The diversity and board perspective allow the student to look into the world from how to understand the different culture within a different context, design thinking that leads to the creation of meaningful values, appropriately use technology as an enabler, how to plan in a business environment.

This program is project based. You can not only learn from daily lecture but also from the classmates, the projects from the local and international company clients. Also, the professors here are very professional and nice.

As a designer, who has two years work experience in an Internet company, what IDBM gives me in this year is a new way and new perspective to think and solve problems. It is very helpful for my future career.

This course provides a framework for coping with the dynamic and complex business task entailed by deeper study, and motivation to brush up on the related design thinking tools. Really interesting course and a perfect starting point for someone who wants to step into the business world with designer backgrounds. The interdisciplinary backgrounds of tutors and students also can inspire each other for an open-minded view.

With its geographical position in bridging the East and the West, the Program of Urban Environments Design allows its students to develop their design strengths with a uniquely international cultural awareness at both professional and social levels and encourages me to enhance my urban strategy knowledge and identity system thinking, which focuses on strategic breakthroughs and practical design with a wide range of objects. The ellectives from other programs has also created many successful cases in the fields of publishing, design, space and exhibition. Its efforts in promoting different culture exchange and it’s wide range of impressive projects and research from graphic to space design gives me a lot innovative ideas and concepts to understand the relationship between culture, design and business.

The course title says it all, Design Strategies. The core subjects were pretty good and allowed us to see value in design more than ever. The different design tools have also allowed me to create more design explorations more than ever in my practice.

What makes this whole experience unique and one-of-a-kind is that I am a practicing architect and have two offices in the Philippines of which I fly in between to manage both and at the same time flying back and forth Hong Kong. Imagine flying four times in a week in three different cities. And cap it with the projects we work on at school! This wasn't easy but it was very challenging and the fact that it was made me even want to push it.

Some subjects do not demand so much, others did, so it is good to ask from previous years' classmates their thoughts about the electives you wish to take so you can gauge the work load you will be expecting from work too. One should be able to balance both work and school well and not have both work and school have the same amount of work to do. Check your onward schedules and expected work load prior to deciding which subjects to take in a particular semester.

This has definitely given me a new direction in my practice and together with a new train of thought even while I was in school mid-way through. Definitely, I am expecting a good change and improvement on my practice from what I have learned from school and can definitely see a lot of applications at this point and most probably in the future.

A space I will definitely miss most is the studio provided. It has the perfect spot for you to either work on office-related stuff or down to your school work. Very conducive to such work and socialise with the rest of the classmates and student from the program in different year levels.