During our redesign of the MA Curriculum in Design at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, we re-visited the T-shaped skills model and propose the Y-shaped designer as an answer to the discipline’s expansion into other disciplines than design.
The model proposes an additional link that connects a professional’s disciplinary root with the «horizontal» demand of collaborating across disciplines. In our MA Programme, we therefore shifted towards a post-disciplinary curriculum that focuses on building up «connective competences». competences that enable designers to connect and collaborate with professionals beyond the design domain.
The model has been widely discussed at conferences such as the CUMULUS Conference in Paris. Some of the early resulty also have been published in the Canadian Journal of Education and Learning and can be downloaded on the Journal’s website
