Objectives
Bioproduct design and material knowledge respecting traditions.
In the Degree Programme in Bioproduct Design, traditional knowhow is combined with modern material, planning and manufacturing skills according to the life cycle approach.
The use of wood, wood-based and renewable materials will increase in the future. The objective of responsible design is to respect environmental values; develop new products responsibly. During the studies, you become acquainted with the use of wooden materials, respecting ancient science and utilizing modern technologies. You learn to use the possibilities offered by renewable materials in product design.
The studies give you good preconditions to operate in design and product development tasks and to develop your own competitive ability and knowhow in the field of design. You operate as an expert of product design and ecological environmental construction in multidisciplinary professional teams and in international networks.
Degree programme description
Bioproduct designer specializes in product design and productization.
Your professional knowhow is based on various product design and design method skills and on strong material and method competence. Cultural knowledge forms the basis for a comprehensive understanding of design and products. You learn to implement your plans in the material and technology-based workshops.
In the art studies, you will practice and learn to develop functional visual solutions for the design field. During the visualization studies, you learn to use digital visualization programs and sketch by drawing.
During the method studies, you learn to acknowledge the users, model your design and justify your choices. In order to operate in the world of work, you have to know the characteristics of the creative economy and develop practical skills to work as a design entrepreneur.
The degree programme is composed of 240 ECTS credits and includes the following modules:
Core competence 135 ECTS credits
• Professional design 15 ECTS credits
• Languages 15 ECTS credits
• Workshops 15 ECTS credits
• Application of art 15 ECTS credits
• Visualisation 15 ECTS credits
• Methods 15 ECTS credits
• Creative economy 15 ECTS credits
• Practical training 30 ECTS credits
• Bachelor’s thesis 15 ECTS credits
Complementary competence 105 ECTS credits
• Wood material knowledge 15 ECTS credits
• 3D modelling and manufacture 15 ECTS credits
• Sustainable economy 15 ECTS credits
• Reseach, development and innovation (RDI) project 15 ECTS credits
Implementation of studies and flexible learning tracks
Learning tracks
Xamk offers its students an opportunity to pursue studies flexibly to suit their various life situations. Students can choose between three learning tracks: the scheduled track, the independent track, and the blended track.
Scheduled track
You will attend instruction and guidance sessions as specified in the schedule. Your study routine is determined by the scheduled group sessions and self-study assignments.
Independent track
You can speed up your studies by choosing independent ways of completing assignments, such as online studies, or courses from the schedule of another group. Independent learning assignments require more self-study of the subject field compared with the scheduled track. You can also complete courses independently even if you are otherwise following the scheduled track. In this case you can attend classroom instruction according to your personal needs. However, you are required to complete the learning assignments independently.
If you have acquired prior learning in the subject field of a course – whether through work experience or through studies – you may receive full or partial credit for the course through the recognition of this learning (if you have no certificate to present, a demonstration of competence is required). If you are granted a partial credit, you need to independently complete the parts of the course that were not covered by the accreditation.
Blended track
If you are working in a company or an organization in your field of study, or in a project hosted by the university of applied sciences, you can complete all or part of a course or module in your workplace or within the project. You need to contact the course teacher at the beginning of the course and agree on a development assignment that you will perform for your workplace or for the project. In order to achieve the learning outcomes, your work must involve the subject matter of the course and you must learn to master it both in theory and in practice. You are required to prove your learning by means of a demonstration of competence, the form and extent of which are determined by the learning goals of the course.
Career opportunities
After graduation, you can work in wood product design, planning and expert tasks, and in teaching, study and product development tasks of the wood product industry.
You can act as a bioproduct designer in multidisciplinary teams in cooperation with experts of the field, in private or public sector projects and development activities, or as an entrepreneur in your own design company. The studies give you the opportunity to follow the career path matching your own interests.
You could work as:
• bioproduct designer
• wood designer
• creative product designer
• designer
• product designer
• woodworking specialist
• ecodesigner
• entrepreneur
• innovator
• project manager
• R&D manager
• development manager
RDI and cooperation with world of work
In the bio product design, it is cooperated inside the polytechnic with the separate education fields and cooperation educational institutions and companies in the native country as well as a people space in the networks. There are also regional partner agreements with the companies and experts who utilise design.
The education of bio product design is carried out in cooperation with the companies. During the studies, you participate in the different in which you carry out assignments, which are related to the theme of the study module in cooperation with student colleagues and actors of the field.
You can perform the practical training and/or you can do your Bachelor’s thesis in the different R&D projects, which create the dissertation and in the working life cooperation.
Your task can be doing different preliminary studies and carrying out of assignments as a part of the expert group. In the curriculum, there is a study module, which is a part of the R&D operation of different themed current subject matters at the final stage of studies.
For example during the cooperation with Bioproduct Technology and Fiberlaboratory located in Savonlinna new product applications can be developed from the recurrent materials.
Learning environments
There are planning studios suitable for different design assignments and several computer classes equipped on up-to-date software for the visualisation, 3D modelling and documentation at the Kouvola Campus.
Xamk polytechnic’s material based material workshops offer a functional learning environment. The workshops have been equipped with a functional modern machine stock. You can carry out the 3D modelling and manufacturing in the learning environments already during the studying until as products, scale models and prototypes. The hardware cover basic wood workshop, plastic workshop and metal works to the computer controlled manufacturing methods of the studio, such as to laser cutting, to output and CNC manufacturing of bio-based materials.
You practice modern 3D software and devices in use for the scanning, 3D output, laser cutting and CNC manufacturing. You learn the 3D modelling up to the deepen know-how from the basic to advanced know-how. We use 3D planning software, which are generally used in the design field.
