Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT)

Mission Statement

GDUT, short for Guangdong University of Technology, is one of the most renowned universities in Guangdong province, China. Its School of Art and Design aims to become one of the best design schools in the country and to gain international recognition. The school places great emphasis on combining technology, culture, and innovation in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way. Its mission is to educate and train design professionals and researchers who can contribute to the development of China and lead the way in innovative industrial practices. The school also seeks to promote better education in China, integrate different resources to create better living standards, and help transform Guangdong from a manufacturing hub to an innovative industrial region on the global stage.

International Role

The GDUT School of Art & Design is a well-regarded and active member of several international networks. It serves as a link between international design and education, and Guangdong (Canton) in China – which is the world's largest manufacturing base. Our goal is to create an integrated platform for design research, education, technology application, and industrialization at an international level. We have collaborated extensively and intensively with numerous high-level academic and design organizations in the international sector. We have cooperation agreements or visiting professor agreements with Aalto University in Finland, the Illinois Institute of Technology in the United States, Konstfack in Sweden, Nagoya City University in Japan, and the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. In addition, we have cooperative relationships with ICSID (the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design), Ornamo (the Finnish Association of Designers), OKM Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, Finland Design Museum, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, European Academy of Design, Nordic Forum for Design History, International Committee for Design History and Studies, and many others.

National Role

The design discipline of Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT) started in the 1980s. Today, the School of Art and Design is one of the biggest schools in China, ranking at the top 3% overall in China, and producing over 800 qualified designers and artists every year. It has been awarded the "key disciplines" of Guangdong Province and has also been authorized as the "Industrial Design and Engineering Research Centre of Electronic Related Products" and the "National Practice Education Base of Arts". The South China Institute of Industrial Design (SCIID), which is a part of the school, is the first design platform in China for education, research, and industrialization. It is highly supported by the government, and together with other schools of GDUT, gathers resources from different disciplines and industries, and has contributed significantly to the development and upgrading of local industries. Through SCIID, the GDUT design school has extensive cooperation with industries and has contacts with more than 3000 companies around Guangdong and China. It is also the "Model Enterprise of Guangdong Province, Industrial Design". The school has partners in the field of education, such as Tsinghua University, Tongji University, Zhejiang University, and in the industry, such as Samsung, Mitsubishi, Lenovo, ADtranz, SIEMENS, Avarte, DANONE, iriver, TCL, Midea, ECHOM, ALPHA animation, China National Electric Apparatus Research Institute (CEI), KELON, etc.

Main Focus

Education in Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT) is a combination of teaching, researching, and application. With the superiority of aggregating resources locally and internationally, GDUT built a good environment for breeding new professionals. The university keeps working to build an education and practice system with multi-level, multi-channel, and diversification, to optimize the positive interaction between the university and the industries, to provide a better environment for student growing, and to cultivate a great amount of talents to support the developing of Guangdong and China. Base on the multidisciplinary background of GDUT, the School of Art and Design encourages interdisciplinary learning and crossing boundaries research following the 4E principle, ecological, ergonomics, economic, and aesthetics. Under the design discipline, the school is mainly constructing the four sub-directions, industrial design, architecture and environment, clothing design and engineering, new media and visual communication.