Content and structure

CAS Design Cultures – Actively shape society, culture and systems

The CAS Design Cultures offers insights – from local to global – into contexts, living and cultural spaces and allows participants to actively expierence design-oriented mindsets, practices and strategies. Even in the revised program structure from 2025, the programme has a modular structure. Through immersions of varying intensity and duration as well as an in-depth discursive or applied discussion in modules and workshops, individual further training can be put together on strategy aspects such as intercultural competence, systems thinking or participation.

Structure

The CAS Design Cultures is completed over a period of several semesters. The start and end of the programme can be individually determined. Workshops and seminars of varying duration and intensity – usually in spring and autumn – form the heart of the programme; these can be booked individually and combined with various modules. In an individual final project, participants reflect on their personal experiences and challenges in applying design-orientated approaches and attitudes in an unfamiliar context. The seminars, workshops and modules can also be attended separately without completing the CAS Design Cultures.

Target audience

The CAS Design Cultures is intended for people in any function or sector who who want to acquire a designerly mindset and approach and specifically apply and reflect on this in other or future-oriented contexts and cultures:

  • Designers and creatives who increasingly give their design activities a more international focus.
  • People who are curious about applying selected concepts from ecosystems to the areas of collaboration, innovation, team and organizational culture. 
  • Specialists and project managers from all sectors who want to familiarize themselves with international living and design cultures.
  • Managers who wnat to experience the innovative potential of design in selected innovative contexts.

CAS with prospects

The CAS Design Cultures is part of the modular continuing education degree programme, the MAS Strategic Design. This MAS consists of a total of six Certificates of Advanced Studies (CAS). Participants choose which programmes they want to attend and freely select the order. Over a period of three to six years, three CAS programmes and one MAS degree module can be completed in order to receive the MAS degree.

Die Grafik zeigt die Titel der sechs CAS-Programme im Portfolio des Weiterbildungsstudiengangs MAS Strategic Design an der ZHdK.

CAS Design Thinking
Attitude and method behind entrepreneurial and social innovation

CAS Facilitating Innovation
From the idea to implementation – supporting teams and organisations effectively

CAS Design Leadership
Leadership skills for strategic designers and creative leaders

CAS Crafting Futures
Imagining futures, creating spaces of possibility and moving organizations

CAS Design Cultures
Actively shape society, culture and systems

CAS Culture Change (ZHdK/ZHAW)
Mindset for new working worlds – organizational culture as a factor of success

MAS Strategic Design
Simple principles for complex challenges

More information about the MAS Strategic Design can be found here: 
MAS Strategic Design