Designing one’s own cross-disciplinary study programme at the Zurich University of the Arts, beginning in 2023/2024

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With its new Major-Minor programme, ZHdK is preparing its students for an interdisciplinary, connected, agile working world. (Icon image: Workshop performances of “Disko” by Wolfram Höll. Bachelor in Theatre, at “Theater der Künste”.) | Quelle: Djamila Grossman, ZHdK | Download

In future, students at ZHdK will be able to expand or consolidate their Major individually from a choice of almost 90 newly created Minors, some of which are cross-disciplinary. With this new programme, the University of the Arts is responding to a need for students to develop a specific profile for tomorrow’s world of work. Depending on the combination they choose, students can either gain access to skills and expertise outside their core area of study, or use specialised Minors to delve even deeper into their chosen subject.

Diverse, open, sustainable

The students will thus benefit from the disciplinary diversity that ZHdK offers under one roof. Through entering into a dialogue with students from other disciplines – from design to film, fine arts, music, dance, theatre, transdisciplinarity and art education – they will both broaden their horizons and also gain important experience in interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge transfer. Cross-disciplinary Minors in topics such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, and gender and diversity will open up new fields of knowledge.

“This forward-looking model will give our students a freedom of choice in educational offerings that will be unique among European universities of the arts. They will assume responsibility and decide for themselves whether they want to broaden their knowledge or deepen it”, says Karin Mairitsch, President of ZHdK. “We also want to encourage them to think outside the box and to lay the foundations for their individual development in a manner that is sustainable, open and creative”.

Strong networks and individual supervision

As one of Europe’s leading universities of the arts, ZHdK possesses an ideal network, both in Switzerland and outside it, working with renowned partner institutions across all disciplines. Much emphasis is placed on excellence, personal space and a discursive engagement with socially relevant topics. Individual supervision by lecturers and excellent infrastructure offer students at ZHdK an ideal environment in which to develop themselves and their skills in a practice-oriented manner.

Future-oriented in thought and deed

In ten years’ time, graduates of ZHdK will be working in professional fields that we don’t even know about today. But it is already clear that diverse, individual and interdisciplinary expertise will be in demand in the future. The new Major-Minor programme will begin in the 2023/24 autumn semester at Bachelor level, then one year later at Master level. The current study model will be phased out in parallel with the introduction of the new model. On the website zhdk.ch, you can find an overview of the Majors and Minors, with suggestions for prospective students regarding suitable combinations, based on their skills and interests. The registration phase for the Major-Minor programme will close in February or March 2023, depending on the discipline.

Prospective students will get an initial overview at the ZHdK Information Days from 21 to 25 November 2022.