A comparative study of industrial design education across the institutions within the UK and China

Guo, FB

Abstract

This is a comparative study of industrial design education within both China and the UK; the aim of the research is to explore the differences between educational cultures within the design sector, and will address a series of research questions,
which include:
1. distinctions between "design directions" - ie. The existence of
role/aspirational models and the status of design as a profession
2. identification of the combinations of Skills, Knowledge and Creativity (SKC)
required by industry, government, HEIs and students.
3. current distinctions between the SKCs with which students enter HEIs.
4. what is the balance of SKCs students acquire at each stage of HE. Implicit within this are questions relating to:
What order SKCs need to be acquired in.
How they are acquired: i.e. the teaching and learning
environment, curriculum content, and who specifies this, whether it be industry, government or individual institutions
5. how are SKCs measured, and whether this is in terms of the breadth of skills and knowledge, or the quality and depth of SKCs. This can be summarised as to whether these are ideal combinations or trajectories of SKC. This also
raises questions as to whether there is a preferred sequence in which they are acquired, and hence
6. how approaches to design education at tertiary level in China compare with
the UK?
Common units of analysis are established in this field, specifically adapting project, module and programme assessment criteria, which indicate standards of attainment at each student level; these have been integrated within a shared framework, adapted to measure a more complete range of SKCs. A mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods have then been employed - including: i) the use of surveys to establish student attitudes, key requirements
and specific factors related to SKCs, and ii) design exercises/experiments with student cohorts to determine individual ability; the latter are subsequently used to
measure approaches via: The application of creativity indicators to measure students' cognitive styles and ability to innovate.
Design responses to a common brief set across all levels, the results indicating the breadth and depth of design application (as assessed by independent industry consultants).
The results are represented within a conceptual framework; this describes the acquisition and evaluation of skills, knowledge and creativity over time within a three dimensional space - each axis representing skills, knowledge or creativity - the combination of which describes design ability. These imply possible learning
trajectories (or vectors) and intended goals, and are contrasted with industry expectations within each hemisphere, to determine appropriateness.

Citation

Guo, F. A comparative study of industrial design education across the institutions within the UK and China. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2010