The new international Master’s degree in service design, the Service Design Strategies and Innovation (SDSI) announces a call for student applications. Admissions will be open during June 1-20, 2021.

SDSI will prepare students to become versatile service innovators who can enable change in public and private organisations through strategic design, management and creative leadership. It is a new double degree programme with a focus on interdisciplinary studies and cross-specialisation in design, business, technologies and social sciences. SDSI emphasises the development of leadership skills, which support students becoming change facilitators who can contribute to innovative, effective and socially responsible service organisations. Graduates will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to be prepared for an uncertain future. They will know how to identify and satisfy unmet needs in a wide range of sectors. They will execute leadership roles in organisations in the private and public sectors, spearheading change processes, envisioning the future, managing multidisciplinary teams and overcoming innovation roadblocks.

On the role of service design in shaping the future, says Kristaps Banga, Innovation Lead at Accenture Latvia: “We need storytellers. We need people with empathy who can actually put themselves in the situation of the customer, and have an understanding of the full user-experience cycle, starting from production and development, through the whole experience, involving business partners, ecosystem partners, and the end user.”

The programme partners include the Art Academy of Latvia, University of Lapland, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Estonian Academy of Arts, Kuldīga Municipality and Kuldīga Artists’ Residence. Graduates will be awarded with a Master’s double degree – Master of Design from the Art Academy of Latvia and Master of Art and Design from the University of Lapland. The study process includes study periods abroad to Kuldīga in Latvia and Rovaniemi in Finland. The study year 2021 / 2022 will be organized mostly on-line, with four on-site weeks (once in two months) during the 1st study year. Study fee is 8000,00 EUR per year, and EU / EEA citizens and permanent inhabitants of the European Community are offered an opportunity of state guaranteed study loans and student loans by SWEDBANK LATVIA (more information – www.swedbank.lv/private/credit/loans/study).

More information about SDSI structure, course content and faculty is available at the SDSI website www.sdsi.ma.
For questions, please, contact the SDSI Head of Programme, Ilze Kundziņa at ilze.kundzina@sdsi.ma