Jointly delivered by Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, the Design for Global Challenges Online Short Course is a two-week multidisciplinary programme designed for undergraduate students currently studying at a university in China with an interest in learning how to tackle world challenges through service design.
Students experience the benefit of being part of a leading research community with rich interaction between students and academics. Lectures and workshops are delivered by leading academics from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art including:
Professor Peter Childs - Keynote Lecture: Creativity & Ideas Generation - Imperial
Dr Nick de Leon - Keynote Lectures: Service Design
Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad - Interactive Workshop using the Triple Diamond Model of Design-Led Innovation: Discover, Define, Design, Develop, Develop, Distribute
The service design group projects are supported by RCA student facilitators who provide expert guidance on design thinking, team-building and presentation, as well as sharing their personal experience of MA study in the UK.
Students joined from Chinese universities including: China Art College, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Southeast University, Southern University of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and Zhejiang University.
What students learned:
“The project emphasised interdisciplinary cooperation. This has given me a better understanding of social entrepreneurship and greatly enhanced my competitiveness in further education and career path.”
“I learned how to work effectively as a team, brainstorm creative ideas and present them, and most importantly, I gained a belief and determination to solve global problems.” Xinchen Wu, studying Textile Design and Industrial Economy at Donghua University
"Enthusiastic, encouraging and professional teachers will lead you to develop your abilities and create your own projects by sharing a wealth of knowledge." Luo Mubai, studying Industrial Design at Xi'an Jiaotong University
“The Imperial-RCA Global Challenges Course is a truly engaging and dynamic experience, the insightful academic environment and the exposure to international perspectives are unparalleled. The teams from both Imperial College and RCA are amazing and well co-ordinated, they were cooperative and very supportive. A hearty thanks to the teaching faculty for such a well-designed interdisciplinary curriculum and activities. We were delighted when we found out that nearly every surveyed student said they would recommend this programme to a friend!”
“It is a joyful experience collaborating with the RCA on these online short courses. The RCA team are professional and enjoyable to work with. The collaboration has enhanced the delivery of this programme with both institutions sharing expertise, best practice and knowledge. We’re looking forward to many more successful collaborations to come.”
“We are in an era of dramatic change, at the threshold of a very different world. This course enables students to explore current global challenges in climate change, global health, cyber security. In small groups they work together to propose an innovative idea to design a service that could tackle one of these areas which they pitch to a panel of experts at the end of the course.”
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Custom short courses
Please get in contact with us if you would like to discuss developing a custom programme or short course with the Royal College of Art:
Peter Christian, Head of Executive Education
Hattie Allen, Executive Education Manager
