A HOLISTIC FRAME OF PRODUCT-SERVICE DESIGN MASTER PROGRAMMES IN PORTUGAL
Year: 2018
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Peter Childs, Stephen Green, Ashley Hall, Aran Dasan
Author: Dias, Ana Cristina; Almendra, Rita Assoreira
Series: E&PDE
Institution: CIAUD | Faculty of Architecture – University of Lisbon
Section: Design and Engineering Education Practices
Page(s): 116-121
ISBN: 978-1-912254-02-6
Abstract
This paper presents a holistic overview of higher education in Portugal on Product-Service Design area. It is part of a PhD research focused on boosting the knowledge transfer among academia, markets and society. The purpose of this study is to share the results of the documental research fulfilled that began with the mapping of the master programmes currently available in our country to then make the horizontal and vertical articulations of each one. The analysis culminated in an unbiased mapping of different teaching-learning profiles and their proximity to the external agents. This systematic review allowed us to identify, summarise and confront evidences that led to a second study, at a later stage, in which we mapped the scientific production in this area of knowledge. In a global critical appraisal, we can understand that some curricula need to be revised, since they do not include scientific areas that are considered crucial to the training of a designer, namely management (of ideas, projects, business, teams, etc.) or the contact with good research practices that instils in students a set of principles that allow the structuring of a project, managing to go deeper in defining the problem and, consequently, generating more complete and innovative solutions. Since the master's degree is a cycle marked by specialisation, the student should have the opportunity to create his own programme, thus it is necessary more flexibility in the choice of some courses.
Keywords: Design Education, Design of Products and Services, Master programme