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_Bachelor of Design Innovation

In 2009 the School of Design introduced a new three-year Bachelor of Design Innovation (BDI), with three specialisations in Culture+Context, Industrial and Media. This new degree structure gives students a greater variety of recognised qualifications and a much greater opportunity to configure their course of study to their individual interests and intended careers. The first year of the BDI programme provides students with a basic grounding in design strategies and skills with the opportunity to complement the core courses shared across the three specialisations with electives and/or 'minors' specific to their chosen specialisation.


The BDI is the first degree within the University to offer a "minor" that allows students to do another specialised area of study within their degree programme. Further, the BDI is breaking into new territory by offering a minor in Interaction Design. This is a relatively new field concerned with shaping the users' experience as they interact through physical and virtual realms with intelligent objects, smart environments and each other. The three-year BDI undergraduate degree will lead into a two-year Master's degree in Design Innovation (MDI), pending approval from the New Zealand Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP). The BDI will inspire and open students' minds to the exciting new world of career possibilities that design presents, while the MDI offers students the opportunity to focus their studies and take them to internationally competitive levels of professional practice in thought and action.