The Year in International Multidisciplinary Innovation Programme is an exciting opportunity for current undergraduate students who would like to study at our Amsterdam campus for one semester. This opportunity is open to all current Northumbria students (from a design and non-design background), and is designed to overcome some of the barriers known to deter some students from a period of international study. This opportunity is perfect for students who are seeking to complement their degree and experience with a year of design and creative thinking study.
This is a one-year award for Northumbria students who have successfully completed Level 5 of their undergraduate studies who are seeking to complement their degree and experience with a year of design and creative thinking study. The one-year will involve a semester of taught study in Amsterdam, followed by one semester in Newcastle. Designed with the future in mind, students will gain a range of skills, knowledge and professional attributes that will enhance their remaining studies and strengthen their graduate employability.
The programme offers different modules that develop creative thinking, problem-solving and city-based study and enhances employability through industry contact and professional interdisciplinary connections.
Optional study abroad or work placements are not reflected in your final degree award title as of 2022-23 academic year. However, this can be added upon request for students who are undertaking this process in the 2022-23 academic year. Optional study abroad or work placement opportunities will still be maintained and recorded in your Higher Education Achievement Record.
*Some degrees may not be eligible if professional accreditation does not allow for an overseas break in studies. Please check with your Programme Leader before applying or email the study abroad team.
Current students should submit an enquiry via the 'Help and Support' section of your Student Portal. You are current student if you have recently enrolled or have been sent an email about enrolment. To access your Student Portal you will need to have enrolled on your programme first.
There are two key steps to applying for study abroad; talking with the International Mobility Team and signing up to the applicant portal to submit an application.
One-to-one appointments with the International Mobility Team are now open for students wishing to study abroad in 2023/24. Sessions will run either in-person or online during the following time periods:
To book, students should visit the Graduate Futures page and click the online appointments - book now button. Further details on session bookings and what you need to do before attending a session can be found on the Study Abroad Processes page.
Semester 1 comprises of 60 credits and will be spent at the Amsterdam Campus. You will undertake two exciting modules in Innovative Design Practice and Tools and Multidisciplinary Exploration and Value Creation.
Semester 2 comprises of 60 credits and will be spent at the Newcastle Campus. You will undertake two exciting modules in Design Inspired Research Methods and Creative Cities.
| SEMESTER 1 | Innovative Design Practices and Tools (20 credits) | Multidisciplinary Exploration and Value Creation (40 credits) |
| SEMESTER 2 NORTHUMBRIA | Design Inspired Research Methods (20 credits) | Creative Cities AT5012 (40 credits) |
Multidisciplinary Exploration and Value Creation develops and reinforces the core creativity tools introduced and critically explored in Innovative Design Practices and Tools and enables students to begin to apply them to real-world issues within Amsterdam. Given the analysis of an historical city-challenge, within this module, in creative teams and individually, you will identify a current Amsterdam-based issue or challenge and tackle it in two distinctive ways. Firstly, you will, as a group, identify the subject and then examine and explain, through primary and secondary research, the nature of the challenge and perceived opportunities for positive change. Secondly, you will individually propose, based on research and through the application of creative thinking tools, a viable and worthwhile solution to the identified challenge. Through this study approach, you will gain an invaluable body of experience in terms of working with an interdisciplinary group, composed of both Northumbria University and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences students, to collective tackle a specific social issue, and demonstrate your own practical and creative thinking in proposing a practicable and sustainable solution.
Design Inspired Research Methods builds upon the knowledge gained in Semester 1 and deepens your research skills and knowledge, reinforcing the 40-credit Creative Cities module that you are also studying in Semester 2. In terms of module content, you learn about key approaches to research thinking and practice that underpin creative problem solving and will develop your interdisciplinary thinking and practice. In this regard, Design Inspired Research Methods is a research-rich module that will give you a range of knowledge to strengthen your research ability, but also critical thinking skills, problem-solving aptitudes and personal reflection, which will enhance your further studies when you return to your respective disciplines, it will increase your employability, and increase your confidence for effective postgraduate study.
Creative Cities directly develops from your experience and academic study undertaken in Amsterdam in semester 1 and so enables you to engage in researching key aspects of modern cities in a comparative manner. In this sense, you will compare and contrast key issues that you feel are of importance to city life (cultural, social, technological, policy-based, or environmental) from cities of your choice. Given the nature of the programme, the comparative approach will be based upon the city of Newcastle in comparison with at least one other city (which may well be Amsterdam), but can include London and other cities that that you may have experience of through residence, etc.). Through secondary and primary research, you will develop a proposition that tackles an identified issue of your choosing and then develop a research-based appraisal of how a city can develop and put into place that initiative. You will do this with regard to the efficacy of such an action as evidenced in an alternative city (how Newcastle and London could adopt mobility policies and actions based on Amsterdam’s approach, for example).
Because of this teaching and learning approach, you will gain an invaluable body of experience in terms of considering evidence-based and creative understandings of city challenges. Furthermore, you will understand how potential solutions can be formulated and presented through a comparative and experiential process of analysis. As a result, at the end of the module, you will have clear understandings of the key issues that face cities such as Amsterdam and Newcastle, but also how to propose the ways in which creative strategies employed in one city can be undertaken by another to successfully meet challenges and positively develop
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