Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT)

Mission Statement

GDUT is one of the most important universities of Guangdong province. The school of art and design is aiming to be one of the best design schools in China and be remarkable internationally. It focuses on humanities and functionalism. It emphasises the combination of technology, culture and innovation, integration of multidiscipline and resources from various fields, and sustainable development and environmental protection. The mission of the school is to educate advance design professionals and researchers who can contribute to the development of China; to seek for a better way of education in China; to lead the application and cooperation of local technology achievements; to integrate different resources to create for better living; and to promote the change of Guangdong area from the biggest manufacturing base to the great innovative industrial region internationally.

International Role

The GDUT School of Art & Design is a trusted and active member of various international networks, and it is a bridge between international design and education and Guangdong (Canton) of China, the biggest manufacturing base in the world. We are building an international level integrated platform for design research, education, technology application and industrialisation. Now we have extensive and intensive collaboration on related aspects with many high level academic and design organisations in international sector. We have cooperation agreements or visiting professor agreements Aalto University in Finland, Illinois Institute of Technology in US, Konstfack in Sweden, Nagoya City University in Japan, and Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. We also have cooperation relationship 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, etc.

National Role

The design discipline of GDUT started from 1980s, now the school of art and design is one of the biggest schools of China. More then 800 qualified designers and artists graduate from the school every year. It’s awarded the “key disciplines” of Guangdong Province and also authorised as the “Industrial Design and Engineering Research Centre of Electronic Related Products”, and “National Practice Education Base of Arts, China”. The first design platform of China for education, research and industrialisation, the South China Institute of Industrial Design (SCIID) is a part of the school. It’s highly supported by the government, together with other schools of GDUT, gathers resources from different disciplines and industries, and has made great contribution to the development and upgrading of local industries. Via SCIID, the GDUT design school has extensive cooperation with industries. It is the “Model Enterprise of Guangdong Province, Industrial Design”, and it has contacts with more 3000 companies around Guangdong and China. Our partners form China education field include: Tsinghua University, Tongji University, Zhejiang University, etc. Partners from industry include: 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.