MBA in Design Strategy

The groundbreaking MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts prepares the next generation of innovation leaders for a world that is profitable, sustainable, ethical, and truly meaningful. This unique program unites the perspectives of systems thinking, design and integrative thinking, sustainability, finance, entrepreneurship, and generative leadership into a holistic strategic framework.

Every course connects these themes so that students develop deep, practical experience in managing today's interconnected markets. Students learn not only how to create innovative products, services, and policy, but, more importantly, how to help organizations develop new business models for the future.

Create socially responsive, culturally relevant, and technologically appropriate lasting value

This full-time, two-year MBA program has a flexible structure (five once-a-month, four-day weekends of instruction and interaction each semester) which allows students to commute from all over North America. The program encompasses 60 units of instruction, combining 20 full-time residencies of in-person instruction with 6 units of online interaction over a 2-year period.

Each semester, students develop individual and team solutions to a variety of economic and social challenges using design techniques, including customer-centered research, prototyping, critique, and iteration, as well as business metrics. Solutions are evaluated according to how well students serve customer and market needs, as well as organizational and stakeholder value. Optional sponsored projects allow students to work with local businesses and non-profits. In addition, students may take advantage of graduate-wide electives.

The MBA in Design Strategy has dedicated studio space on CCA's San Francisco campus, the location of its nationally recognized design and architecture programs. Students have access to wood and metal shops, and model-making, welding, and rapid prototyping studios (featuring a 3D prototyping machine and laser cutters), as well as media studios for editing digital media, film, video, and sound.

With two campuses in the San Francisco Bay Area, CCA sits in the heart of one of the world's most fertile innovation centers—and a leading hub of sustainability and social change. The Design MBA program leverages this proximity to build close ties and partnerships with industry-leading companies and consultancies throughout the region, as well as nationally and internationally.

CCA’s MBA in Design Strategy is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).