From their very first semester, students take a deep dive into the worlds of Design and Business. On the design side, you’ll plunge into the history of design and obtain basic industry skills before learning visualization and representation techniques. Your design knowledge will be put to the test in the Design Studio both semesters. On the business side, you’ll get a taste of each of the fundamental disciplines in this field: business mathematics, accounting, people skills, finance, business law and management tools. These foundations will set the stage for the next four years.

With a strong knowledge base in the worlds of Design and Business, it’s time to build on the basics. In their second year, students capitalize on the business degree by exploring more specific topics in courses such as Marketing, Financial Reporting, and Micro- and Macroeconomics. In the design program, you’ll discover the field through the lens of humanities, familiarizing yourself with Psychology and User-Centered Design; Sociology and Culture; and Sustainability. Design Studio continues this year, with the first semester focusing on Visual Design and the second semester looking at Product Design.

The third year is all about solidifying students’ understanding of both fields and how they interact. Students will study advanced business topics like Statistics and Data Analysis; the Global Economic Environment; Organizational Behavior; and Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The design program gets specific with courses such as Ethnography; Typography, Layout, and Presentation; and Interactive and Digital Tools. The theme of this year’s Design Studio is Spatial Design—a particularly relevant topic in the world of business innovation.

This year, students have more say in their academic journey. Pick the electives that interest you most—study abroad, complete an internship… the choice is yours. Courses in the Design program will give you a big-picture perspective, with topics such as Design Methodologies; Processes and Design Theory; Design Narratives; and more. On the BBA side, courses get even more advanced: Business-Driven Information Technologies; Human Capital Management; Venture Creation and Planning; and Operations Management. In the spring, you’ll explore Research Techniques, a transversal skill that will prove useful no matter your career path.

The fifth and final year brings interesting courses like Contemporary Design Trends, Fabrication Technologies, Supply Chain Management and Strategies for the Multinational Corporation. In the IE Module, you will solidify your understanding of how the fields of Design and Business Administration fit together. You’ll also take on your final Design Studio topic, Strategic Design.

In the final semester of this Dual Degree, students will show everything they’ve learned in the past four and a half years in their Final Projects (one for each program). They will also compile a Design Portfolio to show off everything they created throughout their studies.