Top Schools in Industrial Design: Lund University

Lund University

Founded in 1999, the School of Industrial Design at this huge Malmo-area university is designed to be “globally relevant without loosing its Scandinavian roots.”

Discipline: Industrial Design
Location: Lund, Sweden
Undergraduate: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design
Graduate: Master of Fine Arts in Industrial Design

Number of students: 150
Number of faculty: 15

Strengths

Students get a diverse and interdisciplinary generalist design education, which the school feels is the best springboard for future specialization

Overview

Founded in 1999, the School of Industrial Design at this huge (41,000 students) Malmo-area university is designed to be “globally relevant without loosing its Scandinavian roots.” Students gain industry skills, even at the start of their studies, through numerous professional affiliations in academic and business spheres. Classes (held in the Ingvar Kamprad Design Centre, built with financial aid from Ikea) seek to bridge aesthetics and technology, with facilities including aerosol, mechanics and virtual reality labs. The program has a coveted 20-year-old working relationship with NASA, giving students coveted access that involves an annual field trip to Johnson Space Center in Houston. Students have also participated in the Concept Kitchen 2025 (unveiled by Ikea at the Milan Expo in 2015) and In Our Office (a collection exhibited during Milan Design Week in 2016). Masters classes are taught in English.

Notable alumni

Isabelle Olsson of Google Hardware, Mehrdad Mahdjoubi of Orbital Systems, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin of Hövding