Admission to MFA in Interaction Design
Eligibility
A Bachelor's degree or equivalent first-cycle qualification comprising of at least 180 ECTS or a corresponding qualification from an internationally recognized university. Specific entry requirements are: 60 ECTS in the field of Design + Portfolio. Proficiency in English equivalent to Swedish upper secondary course English B/6.
Application
Application is made in two steps, registration and uploading of portfolio together with letter of motivation. You can only apply to UID programmes in the first admission round, autumn semester at University Admissions. This means that UID programmes are not open for late applications. Please note that communication about your admission process will be handled through your University Admission account, which you create when you register.
1) Register
Register your application via universityadmissions.se when the application opens. Follow the instructions and upload required supporting academic documents. Important: You need to keep your personal application number for further steps (an eight or nine digit number).
2) Submit documents
Portfolio requirements
- The portfolio should contain 8-12 samples of your work, showing your present creative and aesthetic design experience and capabilities on professional and/or academic level. You can include videos, photos, sketches, 3D renderings, graphics, or interactive presentations to demonstrate your design skills and perspectives.
- For each work sample that you include, provide a short text (10-20 words) describing the content and context of the presented work and what it presents about you as a designer. In group projects, specify what your contribution was.
- Keep the presentation of each work sample to one page each and select the parts that best presents your strengths. However, one or two of the presented work samples should be described in more detail over 3-4 pages, with particular attention to presenting the design process.
- A maximum file size of 100 MB is allowed, but we recommend that you upload files around 20-50 MB for easy handling.
Letter of motivation requirements
- In your letter of motivation, please explain what drives you to pursue a degree from the Masters in Fine Arts in Interaction Design programme at Umeå Institute of design.
- The letter of motivation should be maximum one page (A4 size).
Submission format
- The portfolio must be uploaded as a PDF.
- The letter of motivation must be uploaded as a PDF.
Submission deadline
We strongly advise applicants not to wait until the February 1 deadline to submit their portfolios and motivation letters, as interviews are conducted continuously throughout the application period. An earlier submission of documents also gives applicants the time to upload additional material in case any documentation is missing.
Assessment criteria
The material you provide will be assessed along the following metrics:
- Personal design stance in relation to social/societal contexts
- Orientation towards interaction design and digital developments
- Experience of people-centred design
- Capability of critical and reflective thinking
- Design process: Creativity, design thinking and problem-solving capabilities
- Basic experience of building physical and/or electronic mock-ups and models
- Form development; expression and coherence in design craftsmanship
- Experience of collaborative work in education or/and in design
- Overall communication skills (visual and textual)
Selection process
The selection process based on the applicant's submitted materials is done in two parts.
- First part: 20-30 applications are shortlisted by the recruitment group.
- Second part: Applicants who are shortlisted to the second part of the selection process will be contacted for an interview.
If admitted
If you are accepted to the programme, please visit the Migration Agency website to inform yourself on practical visa and residency details. This does not apply for Swedish citizens.
Further questions?
Please contact us, by writing an email to uid-enquiries@umu.se.
Key Facts
The programme is taught in English.
About 10-12 students are admitted to the programme every year, plus 2 exchange students may be accepted for one or two semesters.
Tuition fees are covered by Swedish government grants for EU citizens. Scholarships are available for non EU students.
IMPORTANT DATES
16 October 2023
Application opens
At universityadmissions.se
15 January 2024
Last day to register at universityadmissions.se, deadline at midnight CET.
1 February 2024
Last day:
- To submit your supporting academic documents at University Admissions.
- To submit you portfolio and letter of motivation via the UID web. Deadline at midnight CET.
- To confirm of your EU/EEA citizenship status in order not to have to pay application or tuition fees. If you are EU/EEA citizen, read more here.
- For the application fee of 900 SEK to be received by University Admissions in order for your application to be processed.
21 March 2024
Notification of the selection results is sent out via 'University Admissions'
Latest update: 2023-10-11