Graduate Diploma in Design

at Otago Polytechnic - Dunedin Campus New Zealand

This program has industry experiences at its centre with case studies and workplace-based or focused assignments. The practical learning doesn’t stop there as you’ll also complete an internship during your third year. This internship will place you within a real-world business where you’ll need to complete a research project as part of your time with the organisation.

Through this hands-on learning experience, you’ll develop the understanding and skills to work in a range of management environments at operational and strategic levels – not to mention the great industry and business connections you’ll also make!

During this hands-on degree, you'll learn to tell stories through still and moving image, text and interactive media. You'll develop industry-ready skills and use project-based learning to apply them to community- and client-driven projects that have a focus on positive social and environmental change.

Specialise in:

• Graphic design and typography
• Illustration, animation and character design
• UX for game design
• Visual design for games
• 3D modelling and world building
• Game narratives and interactive fiction
• Web design and mobile app design
• Film and photography, or
• Social media content design and strategy.

Develop the technical cooking skills, creative design techniques and innovative business practices you need to become a market leader within the ever-evolving food industry.

Learn specialised culinary techniques, creative thinking skills and innovative practices, and ways to develop innovative offerings with a competitive edge. Your studies also include learning about business planning, brand development and marketing strategy.

This degree will teach you how to become a creative maker, thinker and active agent in a local, national and global context. A qualification in the Visual Arts will allow you to find employment in a diverse range of professions such as practising artist, curator, art educator or researcher. A variety of roles within the digital and film industries would also be possible.

Gain technical, academic and personal skills which will be transferable to a wide variety of fields including education, design, management and marketing. This qualification provides a perfect bridge into further learning as you select from a range of subjects initially and then move into full specialisation, focusing your talents in your chosen field.

People with accountancy skills and qualifications are in constant demand for their ability to plan and record the financial performance of every kind of venture. Amongst other things, you will learn how to prepare budgets, monitor business performance against budgets, determine internal controls to minimise financial risk, and analyse and interpret financial information to inform decision-making.

Gain the skills and attributes you need to tackle junior/trainee, supervisor or team leader roles across a range of hospitality sectors such as restaurants, bars, cafés, accommodation/hotels or catering. Our on-site training kitchen, café and restaurant will provide the perfect environment for you to gain hands-on, practical experience so you can build work-ready skills.

You will graduate from this program as a highly capable individual with a standard of professional practice that will enhance your employment opportunities. You will be able to confidently and competently provide for the needs of your customers. In addition, you will be able to work independently in a variety of hospitality environments with some responsibility for the management and learning of others.

The Master of Fine Arts is an applied research degree benchmarked against national and international standards with a distinct emphasis on art-making and writing.The program is shaped by your proposal and can be completed in one discipline, or across several, and provides a qualification necessary for careers such as tertiary teaching, writing or critiquing, museum or gallery curatorship.

Practising artists will especially benefit from a focused, in-depth research project, culminating in a public exhibition and dissertation, reflecting your knowledge and competence in art practices and theories, and contemporary society and culture.

Whatever kind of career you want to have across photography, video or film – we’ll support you to become industry-ready; developing a portfolio full of your best practice, experience and digital content so you can hit-the-ground-running when you graduate.   

With a focus on self-initiated projects, entrepreneurship and live briefs from real clients, this is basically a mentored beginning to work.

As well as technical photographic skills, we’ll teach you the essential professional and business skills you’ll need to get your practice up-and-running commercially.

This program gives you the opportunity to undertake practical and theory-based guided art research in a structured learning environment. A postgraduate qualification in the Visual Arts can lead to an exciting and diverse range of art professions, and the skills you develop are transferable to a wide variety of employment situations in education, or the arts industry and management.

IT is problem solving. Trouble shooting. Critical thinking. Creating. Designing. Building. It’s working alone or working with people.

This is an applied degree so you’ll learn by doing. You’ll gain the skills and practical knowledge to go straight into a job when you graduate.