Italy is a popular international study destination not just due to its high multicultural ambience, but the country has 17 universities ranked among the world top 500. Also, Italian Universities offer more scholarship opportunities to Indians compared to other countries, along with letting international students access the student services as Italian students. Also, continuing on this very pursuit of delivering high-quality teaching at a reasonable education fee, Domus Academy is striving relentlessly to withhold the standards set by Italian Institutes, with a vision of supporting next-generation designers to change the future.
Founded in 1982 in Milan as one of the first post-graduate design schools in Italy, Domus Academy is a place where the designers of the future can experience educational brilliance. A place that hosts an open and interdisciplinary environment to work on visionary projects with avant-garde companies, Domus Academy supports talents in developing the mindset to find creative solutions in future scenarios. Currently, more than 50 nationalities are represented in Domus Academy and 93% of the students are International.
“We believe that a multicultural community offers the best environment to exchange ideas and enrich students’ knowledge of design”, shared – Giorgio Lospennato, the Managing Director of Domus Academy. Continuing on his above statement, he added – “We encourage students to keep an open mind, which will eventually lead them to see and explore a diversity of options, inspirations and concepts with a global perspective”.
Rooted in design approach
Since its beginning, Domus Academy has gathered leading professionals, thinkers and educators to shape a lively and visionary creative hub and inspire next-generation talents. The faculty members are always available in person, email or call for suggestions or clarifications responding to any doubts that might arise during the in-depth research. Thanks to advanced online educational platforms and the support from the faculty, Domus Academy managed tooffer both face-to-face learning and high-quality remote educational experience.
The academic offering consists of 11 Academic Master’s Programmes recognized by MUR (Italian Ministry of University and Research) covering four main areas: Design, Fashion, Experience and Business. Moreover, students have the opportunity to gain a Double Award Master’s including both the Academic Master degree accredited by MUR (Italian Ministry of University and Research), a Master of Arts (90ECTS) accredited by the British system and issued by Regent’s University London. Domus Academy is also widening its postgraduate offering, introducing the Master of Arts Programmes in Design Innovation and Fashion: Design, Art and Technology.
“We believe that working on projects is the best way to learn, where learning means seeking and investigating ideas for future scenarios, which is at the core of Domus Academy. This is the starting point to support the creative process and decision making to foster innovation in every context.” exclaimed Giorgio Lospennato. This is the reason why 90% of the curriculum is based on cross-disciplinary workshops. Many of the most innovative design solutions are created by bringing different design tools, skills and perspectives together. Students share their design vision with their international classmates across disciplines and learn to combine their ideas in unique and fresh expressions.
Beyond the classrooms
The 13-building campus present at Domus Academy offers all the students a variety of facilities and services in order to ensure a smooth learning process. Students in the Fashion Design programme can access the Fashion Lab to make models and prototypes. Additionally, the infrastructure also consists of fully equipped sewing machines, mannequins, irons, sewing tables and other tools, as well as different kinds of leather and fabric, the Lab is where your designs take shape.
The Domus Academy Design Lab is the place where students can work on models and projects that are required as part of their programme. The Lab is equipped with hi-tech machinery and tools and a wide range of materials, so designers get all the resources they need to grow and shape their ideas. To support the 4000 students from over 50 countries studying on the campus, Domus Academy offers courses at different levels to help international students improve their knowledge of the Italian language.
In the past years, Domus Academy has maximized and empowered its IT infrastructure to allow students to have the best learning experience both remotely and in presence, thanks to hi-tech digital educational platforms. In addition, each Master’s Programme has a dedicated directory on the Domus Academy server containing learning materials and a personal folder for each student. The school also provides numerous workstations loaded with the latest releases of major software programmes.
Industry-academia brilliance
Due to its proximity to the professional design world, Domus Academy has developed an extensive network of connections and relationships with many of the most prestigious companies and studios such as Accenture, Alessi, Artemide, Cisco, Danone, Driade, Ducati, Flos, Google Italia and several other top tier companies. Therefore, while gaining practical knowledge, students at Domus Academy also grow their network of connections.
Students have compulsory curricular internships within the Master’s course. The Career Placement office takes care of this by following each student individually. The Domus Academy Career Service Office organizes the “Career Gym” sessions, a series of dedicated lectures to give students guidelines and tips to get ready for the job market. Adding a point on the onboard Career Service Office present at Domus Academy, the Managing Director shared – “Our Career Service Office also promotes the “Career Days”, consisting in company presentation and recruiting sessions on campus or online with professionals, HR consultants, which are a great opportunity to get in touch with companies across various industries”.
Jointly with many industrial giants, Domus Academy emphasize in-depth design, leading students to focus on the most urgent contemporary and future challenges. In this way, students are in the front row to anticipate future needs, propose groundbreaking ideas and exploring new territories.
While acquiring a deep knowledge of what is happening in the world of Design, Business, Fashion and Experience, students learn to address crucial challenges to create impressive and innovative solutions. To mark the results Domus Academy students achieve during their research, leading industrial names such as AKQA, Danone, Ducati, Google, Midea, Mytheresa, Reebok, Rossana Orlandi have granted prizes and recognitions for their outstanding projects and ideas.
Loans and scholarships
Committed to give next generation of talents an all-round endorsement/ support, Domus Academy offers scholarships for all of its Academic Masters and Double Award Masters. Students willing to take on the challenge can apply to the following competitions: the project-based competition or the portfolio competition. Candidates can apply for a scholarship worth up to €5,500 for the portfolio contest or €9,000 for the project-based contest.
Giorgio Lospennato – Managing Director
A Management Engineer with significant experience as an International Leader in the Education sector, Giorgio Lospennato is also part of the Board of Directors of ALMA, the School of Italian Culinary Arts, and of Galileo Global Education Italia, the international leading group for Education. He is responsible for developing and executing strategies that meet current and future plans of Domus Academy. Previously, he worked as Chief HR Officer of Galileo Global Education Italia and as HR Vice President for Laureate International Universities in Italy, Germany, and Cyprus. He was also in charge of developing organizational plans and launching, in collaboration with companies, new formats supporting talents. He also gained experience in relevant international companies (Eni and Accenture).