University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) today announced a collaboration with the Royal College of Art (RCA) to offer one of the world’s first Designing Services and Products with Artificial Intelligence courses as part of their postgraduate degree programmes at UE, with no additional costs.

This 9-week online/offline hybrid course, developed and taught by the RCA faculties and alumni with delivery support from UE, gives students a strategic and applied understanding of the design principles supporting human-to-human-to-AI interactions. This will be used to generate AI ecosystems that lead to the development of AI products and services.

The course blends theoretical and practical units that teach how to deploy AI for fostering innovation through creativity, pursuing career ambitions and, most importantly, for developing a responsible, inclusive, accessible and sustainable strategy to AI innovation through design. UE students will benefit and develop skills by experimenting with AI creatively to support the development of an individual project.

Starting from the winter semester 2021, all new students enrolling onto MA Visual Experience Design, MA New Media Design and MA Innovation Design Management at any of UE campuses will be able to integrate their main degree programme with the Designing Services and Products with Artificial Intelligence course from the RCA, with no additional fees.

UE is committed to promoting the future-oriented development of skills and interdisciplinary teaching formats, in step with actual practice and according to the highest international standards. Thomas Noller, UE’s Vice-Rector International and Academic Development, said: “By learning what possibilities AI offers and how to deal with them creatively, our students acquire core competencies that, in combination with their studies at UE, best prepare them for work in practice.

“How AI innovations can be harnessed in service and product design are questions that have special priority in today’s academic education. I am therefore very pleased that we are now working together with one of the best design schools in our new UE Innovation Hub in Potsdam.”

Dr Laura Ferrarello, MRes Design Pathway Leader at the Royal College of Art said: “We are delighted to collaborate with UE to offer this programme to the students in Germany. With a global society looking for new strategic solutions to tackle and address complex issues, such as pandemics and climate change, this course brings UE students in the RCA’s knowledge and experience in design strategies that use AI technologies to nurture their ambition and motivation, to transform and shape society through their creative talent”.