The Higher Education Review

For years, the traditional education system across the globe has always favored degrees that focus on the core subjects. Time and again, fostering creativity among students has benefited massively in achieving academic success. However, dedicated creative courses or degrees related to the creative industry are still underappreciated, with universities as well as industries across the globe giving more importance to academic degrees. But, with the creative industry experiencing a rapid boom over the years, the tables have turned, with growing demands being experienced for creative art graduates across all sectors of the economy.

During the 80s, as no educational institution during that time was offering dedicated degrees in the creative domain, a group of industry leaders from the creative domain in Germany realized the need for an educational institution focusing solely on creative programs and started Mediadesign University of Applied Sciences (MDH). Founded in 1987, MDH is a Germany-based leading university offering a range of dedicated accredited design and media courses to students across the globe.

Offering Dedicated Courses in Media & Design
Coming to the courses offered, MDH currently offers bachelor's degree programs in Digital Film Design – Animation/VFX (B.A.), Fashion Management (B.A.), Game Design (B.Sc.), Legal Tech (B.Sc.), Media Design (B.A.), and Media Management (B.A.) as well as Master's degree programs in Design Management (M.A.) and Digital Leadership (M.A.).

All of these courses are accredited by the Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (ZEvA) and are per the European and German qualification frameworks.

Irrespective of their professional and academic background or scores, each of the students is interviewed to further access their creative skills, which helps the university ensure that only the best talents are joining the courses.

Some of the Digital Film Design graduates from MDH are also currently working with leading entertainment studios, such as Marvel and Universal Music, with work experience on various leading Hollywood projects, including the Spider-Man series, The Avengers series, the Transformers series, and many more.

According to Martin Adam, CEO, Chancellor & Director for International Affairs at MDH, “Some programs also require the students to share their portfolio with the admission team. Even the faculties at MDH are hired after a stringent evaluation process. For instance, some of the professors at MDH for Game Design courses have extensive experience of more than 10-15 years in various reputed gaming companies before joining the university and even have their own successful YouTube channels”.

"One of the major usps of MDH has been its brand value, with employers across the EU considering the university as a creative hub"

State-of-the-art Infrastructure
Coming to the infrastructure, MDH has a total of three campuses in Berlin, Dusseldorf, and Munich. While students at the Dusseldorf and Munich campuses are taught in German, the lectures at the Berlin campus are in English. The student community at the campus has been truly diverse, with around 70 percent of them from Germany,

20 percent from the rest of the EU, and the remaining 10 percent coming from the rest of the world.

Apart from the teaching facilities, the campuses are also equipped with all the modern facilities to help the students with their respective degrees, such as VR rooms, green screen rooms, printing workshops, arcade rooms, and many more. The university also provides free software licenses to students for their related courses.

Apart from its strong connection with its alumni network, MDH also has partnered with various other arts & design institutions across the globe, through which, students of MDH can complete the first year of their degree in their home country across those institutions before moving to the MDH campus for the remaining part of the course. The university also provides a 20 percent scholarship on the annual course fee for its non- EU students.

Placement Opportunities & Future Roadmap
One of the major USPs of MDH has been its brand value, with employers across the EU considering the university as a creative hub. Within three to six months post-completion of their degree, most of the students in MDH get a job that too 15-20 percent more than the market standards. “The university also maintains a strong Alumni network that has been part of the creative industry for many years. The alumni network not only helps the students with jobs and internships but also through references”, explains Martin.

Coming to the future roadmap, MDH has further plans to expand its degree portfolio by adding a Bachelor’s program in Immersive Media and a Master’s program in Design & Technology. While the university has mostly been focused on expanding its operation in Germany, it has gradually opened up pursuing the international market and is working further on that strategy.