The Department of Industrial Design, College of Art and Design, Beijing University of Technology (BJUT), was founded in 1978 and is one of the earliest industrial design educational institutions in China. The Department of Industrial Design consists of two majors: Product Design (Art) and Industrial Design (Engineering). Through years of teaching practice and exploration, a relatively mature undergraduate and postgraduate training mode has been formed. With the incredible attention of school and college leaders as well as the joint efforts of teachers, BJUT has made great progress in all aspects of work, and the two majors of product design and industrial design have been successively listed in first-class professional construction sites in Beijing. The World Industrial Design Conference Awarded BJUT the TIA Top Ten Industrial Design Educational Institution Award.
Through years of exploration and practice, the Department of Industrial Design has formed a complete training model and distinctive professional characteristics, with a four-year undergraduate degree program and an interdisciplinary cross-integration teaching system. In terms of teaching and training program, it attaches great importance in basic skills training such as aesthetics, modeling, material technology, model making, etc. Meanwhile it also lays emphasis on the theoretical courses such as design history, introduction to design, design methods, design thinking, etc., focusing on a large number of practical courses based on intelligent products, vehicles, furniture, cultural and creative products, commercial design and other course group models. The department aims to cultivate professional industrial designers combining theory and practice and compound talents with innovative design thinking.
The Department of Industrial Design has made remarkable achievements in teaching and research development, and the teachers and students have been awarded dozens of influential and important awards, including the German IF Design Award, Golden Pin Design Award, China Excellent Industrial Design Gold Award, Red Star Award, Good Design Selection, Gold Award of National Tourism Souvenir Design Competition, Gold Award of China Automotive Design Competition, Gold Award of Beijing Gift, Gold Award of Huali, First Prize of Beijing Cultural and Creative Design Competition, First Prize of Beijing College Students Industrial Design Competition, Gold Award of National College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, etc. In terms of longitudinal scientific research, it has been supported by some key projects such as the National Key R&D Program, the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of the Ministry of Education, the National Arts Foundation, the Key Project of the Beijing Municipal Social Science Fund, and the Beijing Design Capital.
Through decades of teaching, it has cultivated a large number of outstanding graduates, who seek for further study in famous universities at home and abroad, including Academy of Arts& Design, Tsinghua University, ART Center in US, Royal College of Art, St. Martins College of Art, Coventry University School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Polytechnic University of Milan and etc. With regard to the employment, the graduates have undertaken important design positions in major well-known companies throughout his career, including Audi, Volkswagen, Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei, Haier, BAIC, BOE and etc.
The faculties have been growing, with a total of 23 teachers, including 3 professors, 7 associate professors and 14 lecturers. Teachers graduated from Academy of Arts& Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Polytechnic University of Milan, Jiangnan University and other well-known universities. Teachers have got important awards such as China's Top Ten Outstanding Young Persons in the Design Industry (two), Guanghua Long Teng Silver Medal, Beijing 100 Leading Talents in Science and Technology, Beijing "Four Batches" Talents, China's Top Ten Outstanding Industrial Designers, and Beijing High-tech Leading Talents to win honors for the school. In recent years, it has reached industry-university-research cooperation with many well-known enterprises such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Nissan, established the China Service Design Development Research Center granted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, comprehensively improved the scientific research and practical ability of students and teachers, and won the Beijing Excellent Graduation Design Thesis, Beijing Education and Teaching Second Prize and other achievements.
In 2018, the former Department of Industrial Design of the School of Architecture and Planning of Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) was merged into the Department of Industrial Design of the College of Art and Design, while the former one was established in 1993.Through years of development, it has formed the distinctive characteristics in product system design, interaction design, service design and other directions of teaching and research, and has cultivated a large number of outstanding students. The merger of these two industrial design departments has formed the complementary advantages of the majors of art design of liberal arts and the science and engineering design, and promoted the expansion of faculty and enrollment scale. Now it enrolls 40 undergraduate students every year, majors of art and science and engineering students take up a half respectively, and the new industrial design department has become an innovative department that takes both arts and sciences into account and deeply integrates art and technology. Combined with the achievements in many aspects, the industrial design major is representative in China and also becomes a first-class undergraduate major in Beijing. All faculties and students of the Department of Industrial Design will continue to work hard and forge ahead in teaching and scientific research, cultivate outstanding design talents, and serve the construction of the four centers in the capital with excellent results, and strive to realize the Chinese dream.
