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Mission Statement
The School of Design and Innovation was established 26 years ago as the first school in Israel accredited to offer an academic degree in Interior Design. The School of Design and Innovation at COMAS thrives in an interdisciplinary academic atmosphere which is unparalleled in the field of Design in Israel.
The school offers an undergraduate program in Interior Design, with specialization in Spatial Visual Communication, and an MA in Design for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The educational programs are based on collaborations with the leading industries, organizations, institutions, and authorities in Israel and abroad.
The School serves as a model for academic entrepreneurship, generating new platforms based on the tight link between academia, practice and the industry. We prepare our interdisciplinary design students to meet the creative and leadership challenges in the local and global marketplace. This groundbreaking model enables students to work on real life projects and grapple with contemporary industry challenges and has received accolades in Israel and abroad.
Study environments and unique activities
The school offers unique working platforms in which students gain practical experience in real projects, from dealing with clients to building a set of plans, budget management, and schedule management:
The Designers Clinic – a social platform that uses the power of design to create positive change in the quality of life of disadvantaged communities.
The Office – a platform in which students participate in professional projects with the school’s graduates.
The Hub – an academic space in which students receive support and academic empowerment via individual and group learning with teaching assistants.
International activity – a student exchange program, international, enriching, and empowering workshops, international competitions, and more.
International Role
The school of Design and Innovation is a player in the international realm. The School collaborates with design schools and design studios around the world, including exchange program and workshops. The areas of cooperation include all areas of knowledge, faculties, centers, departments, institutes, programs or research considered to be mutual interests and which can contribute to the development and deepening of joint activities between institutions.
These collaborations include: undergraduate and graduate exchange programs; exchange of faculty members and researchers; collaboration between lecturers and researchers; promotion of events, conferences and seminars; research and development; mainly from Europe; summer workshops held overseas; participation in international competitions such as the Solar Decathlon; participation and hosting of international conferences such as the Use-Re-Use Biennale in Venice.
1. Paris College of Art , Paris France
2. DIA – Dessau International Architecture Graduate School, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Germany
3. ELISAVA , School of Design and Engineering – Barcelona, Spain
4. STRATE, School of Design, Paris, France
5. IED Istituto Europeo di Design – Milano/ Barcelona / Madrid / Roma
6. Willem de Kooning Académie – Rotterdam, The Netherlands
7. Rotterdam University of Applied Science – Rotterdam, The Netherlands
8. School of Form- University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poznań, Poland
9. UDEM – Universidad de Monterrey
10. Carim Rashid’s studio in New York
11. FIDM in Los Angeles, USA
Annual Design Workshops
Each spring, we offer a selection of intensive week-long multidisciplinary design workshops, taught entirely in English by specialists from outside Israel. In addition to lectures and classroom activities, the workshop week may also include excursions, tours and exhibitions, and each workshop culminates with a project presentation.
The goal of workshops is to involve students in a unique design experience that would not otherwise be possible within the regular curriculum. Such an experience contributes to students' new creative knowledge.
National Role
The School of Design and innovation maintains a far-reaching network of partnerships and collaborative projects with local authorities, government agencies, municipalities, universities, nonprofits and businesses. We believe that initiating and promoting partnerships with external organizations and institutions is essential, as our students will be establishing their careers with them. The partnerships are well integrated in the curriculum, as academic courses or external projects. In them our students work hand-in-hand with alumni.
The results of these partnerships, be they products, services, technologies or ventures, enable companies to gain innovative and practical strategies that are uniquely tailored to their specific needs. Furthermore, they provide our students with the opportunity to gain an insider's view of the market and potential employers, to work with real clients, and to incorporate elements from the business and entrepreneurial world into their projects. As a result, upon graduation, their resumes are far more impressive.
Main Focus
Our main focus in education is our interdisciplinary approach to design, which relates to design as a human-, community- and environment-centered process. Development of an innovative curriculum is a core tradition of the College of Management Academic Studies, which offers an academic environment uniquely shaped for design. We used this approach in establishing our programs of Interior Design, Spatial Visual Communication and the MA in Design Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Furthermore, we are guided by the precepts of entrepreneurial academics. The concrete meaning of this philosophy is our commitment to the development of new platforms based on the integral connection between academia and practice. They operate in an environment of real problems, real parameters and concrete constraints, without losing the ability to think outside the box. Our entrepreneurial spirit is reflected in our two laboratory platforms that work according to this model and form the infrastructure of the School of Design. The models of learning in the laboratory are nonhierarchical. Our primary goal is to prepare the students optimally to join and lead the dynamic labor market. We believe that this goal can only be achieved through actual design work and not by simply learning about design. That is why we have developed a learning format based on practice – project-based learning. By working in laboratories with our governmental, industrial and organizational partners, students benefit from the powerful opportunity to play an integral role in the planning and design of real projects, enhancing their professional resume with two years of accomplishments and gaining a competitive advantage in the labor market.
Faculties and Departments
The applicant is the School of Design, College of Management Academic Studies (COMAS).
Bachelor Level Programs
Undergraduate degree in Interior Design – Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) – 4 year program (165 Credits)
The program trains interior designers with an academic background, who meet the complex requirements of design projects, including theoretical, visual, technological and entrepreneurial aspects. The study program is based on real projects carried out in collaboration with industry, thus enabling students to build up a professional portfolio during their studies. Students are trained to excel in design, to be familiar with and skilled in the use of the latest technology, and to develop environmental and social awareness to change the face of the profession.
Fields of study: The program offers diverse and unique fields of up-to-date innovative studies, options include Interior design for short- and long-term hospitality spaces, retail and commercial interior design, Eco & sustainability for interior designers – 'Green' Building, exhibition stand design, technologies for interior designers VR and AR.
Admission requirements: Entrance exam including practical exercise and personal interview.
Spatial Visual Communication – Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) – Period of study: 4 years
This pioneering program offers a significant advantage to graduates taking their first steps in a design career: spatial visual communication and interior design combined in one comprehensive degree. The aim of this unique track is to train multidisciplinary designers who have the ability to integrate visual information, to express ideas and create experiences through intervention and involvement in spaces in terms of physical and graphic visual language. The study program is based on real projects carried out in collaboration with industry, thus enabling students to build up a professional portfolio during their studies.
Fields of study: The program combines content from visual communication (graphic design) and interior design, and offers unique fields of study including: spatial branding and identity; spatial orientation, mapping and navigation; broadcast design; virtual space and information design; interactive media and interface design; applications design and more.
Admission requirements: Entrance exam including practical exercise and personal interview
Master Level Programs
Master program – (M.A.) Design for Innovation and Entrepreneurship – 1.5 years (3 semesters + summer)
Innovation is the greatest springboard for business success and social change, whether regarding a product, business initiative, service or technology. Innovation can transform the business and entrepreneurial world, provided two languages are spoken fluently: the language of design and innovation, and the language of business. To be an innovation leader you need to be creative and this is a very important art of the program. This M.A. program shapes its students into leading entrepreneurs and innovation leaders through art, music, poetry and more, exercising the muscle of creativity is essential.
The program trains students to lead processes of characterization, planning and management of complex situations through theoretical and practical knowledge in marketing strategies, the global ecosystem, and new business and design trends. The program is based on study through involvement in real projects in unique laboratories for design, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Student tracks:
The student as an entrepreneur-Realize the dream, from idea to practice, through developing business models and meeting employers and accelerators
The student as a collaborator-Transform design and creativity through collaboration with leading industry players, developing new projects based on innovation and entrepreneurship
The student as a consultant -Bring a new culture of innovation through consultancy in companies and organizations
Admission requirements: An undergraduate degree with a grade average of 80 or above, interview and the successful completion of a creative strategy workshop.
Research Activity and Main Areas
Research within the curriculum
The School of Design and Innovation emphasizes project-based research. Some of it is embedded in the curriculum, for example, in the fourth year, the final project relates to age-driven design and the question of how to relate to in innovative projects. The research is conducted in partnership with JDC Israel.
Inclusive Design for the 3rd Age: Age in the City
Every design decision has the potential to include or exclude users. Inclusive design emphasizes the importance of understanding user diversity when approaching the design of mainstream environments. By meeting the needs of those who are excluded, inclusive design improves the experience of environments across a broad range of users.
Inclusive design offers a highly integrative approach when designing for the 3rd age. Rather than narrowly designing for the elderly, inclusive design focuses on the unique needs of ‘3rd age’ users to offer new insights into the way we interact with the built environment across all ages. It can be applied at the scale of a service, product, as well as at a larger scale of interiors and urban spaces.
By developing the methodologies, tools and areas of research using inclusive design we aim to identify new opportunities to deploy creative, responsive approaches to the needs of the third age urban residents that address the needs of the age as a continuum of designing for living in the city. Our aim is to explore the questions of designing for the "3rd Age,” as an embedded part of the design process for everyday interactions, services, and communities as a platform for urban living in the city.
Research within laboratories
Urban Strategy, Innovation and Technology (USIT) Lab – This laboratory probes strategic and technological innovation for the urban environment in the city of today and the future. In the lab, students engage in practical and responsive design of services, products, strategies and applications to respond to the challenges posed by the dynamic urban environment, while never losing sight of the principles of social responsibility. The lab initiates academic research and works in conjunction with professionals, members of the community and industry.
The lab is located in the School of Design and Innovation, and it is an integral part of the master's program.
The values of the USIT Lab resonate with the values of the COMAS School of Design and Innovation: creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, social and environmental responsibility, diversity, and cross-disciplinary applied research. We highly value collaborative culture and believe in real-world problem solving and projection.
The USIT Lab’s areas of activity foster urban community problem-solving, experiential teaching and project-based learning with diverse constituents.
Subject Areas for Exchange Students
We have an exchange program with institutions around the world such as Elisava (Spain), University of Coruña (Spain), Paris College of Art (France), Universidad Adolfo Ibanez (Chile) and Willem de Kooning Academie (Netherlands). Additionally, we have a special international program in Israel for students from around the world. The program includes a Design Semester, Design Internships and Annual Design Workshops – all conducted in English.
Application Deadlines
Preferably up to a 6 month before the beginning of the semester
Teaching Languages
Hebrew & English
Semester Dates
Cost of Living Per Month (Studying and Living)
Students coming in the frame of a student exchange with one of our partner Institution are exempted of tuition fee. Monthly expenses are thus evaluated to around 1,500 Euro
Students coming outside a student exchange frame will bear the cost of the tuition fees in addition to their monthly expenses.
