Best Masters Degrees in Tallinn in Estonia 2019/2020

Admission period for foreigners is open:

The curriculum comprises the following modules:

The two-year Design & Crafts MA programme prepares students for professional practice and helps them identify their own positions as artists — within their communities, society, design field, global economy, natural environment and other contexts. The programme provides students with as many real-world, hands-on situations as possible by giving them access to practising professionals and diverse opportunities. The programme also develops and changes with the students. With each new group, we start with roundtable discussions to find out what our students actually want. What experiences do they value? What is the focus of their interests? What are their professional dreams?

The students enter a common programme but also select a specialisation. Students who study in the Design & Crafts programme remain closely connected with their chosen discipline. Regardless of the specialisation, the MA programme focuses on collaboration. This includes group tasks that cross disciplines so that students with different backgrounds and study experience work together. A significant part of the coursework takes place in the form of workshops (supervised by international lecturers), which aim to break the routine and provide inspiration.... [-]

Interaction Design (IxD) is a rapidly developing creative field. The ongoing evolution of smart consumer technology has increased the need for well-designed intuitive user interfaces and experiences. Be it a mobile app, the front-end of a web-based service or a complex system involving different digital and physical experiences, interaction design is an essential part of it. Interaction designers aim to make users’ encounters with sophisticated information and machinery as simple and pleasant as possible.

Our program focuses on human-centered design. User research, analysis, and testing form the foundation of the curriculum. Theoretical studies are built around practical design projects based on real briefs by companies from Estonia and abroad. User-based, agile design and product/service development methods ensure the sound outcome of the projects.... [-]

The contemporary world is characterised by complexity and rapid change, affecting also the profession of interior architects and spatial designers. The Master's programme in Interior Architecture is based on the principle that a set of design skills, in the narrow sense of the term, is not sufficient for interior architects to be successful in their profession. They also need to understand the broader context and be able to adjust their solutions to changing situations.

Our curriculum is divided into two main segments:

The first (so-called ‘hi-tech’) segment deals with the interaction between spaces and people, and the ways high technology and smart materials help improve that interaction. The second (so-called ‘low-tech’) segment is based on the notion that if we have good knowledge of our surrounding, broader contexts (such as climate, nature, economy and culture) and their interrelationship, rich imagination and primitive materials are all we need to create fresh, quality spaces.... [-]

As events and transformations of the recent decades have forcefully shown, the urban question permeates all major social, economic and political developments of today. The two-year Master’s program in Urban Studies critically engages with the wide-ranging manifestation of contemporary urbanity. What shapes have the processes of urbanization assumed today? How are urban spaces produced?

The program foregrounds the unitary perspective of the city as a physical space, a social space and a space of design. It combines rigorous academic research with intensive fieldwork. The program is situated at the trans-disciplinary crossroad of urban studies, urbanism, and urban planning, architecture theory, sociology, urban ethnography, and geography. Our students have academic backgrounds in architecture, social sciences or humanities. Integrating critical interrogation and experimental practice, the program has a triple focus on social uses, spatial programs, and urban forms.... [-]

The Department of Animation was established at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2006 and since 2007 it has offered a two-year MA in Animation (taught in English). The Animation MA programme is taught by Professor Priit Pärn and Associate Professor Olga Pärn. The main goal of the programme is to successfully educate creators of animated films, providing them with theoretical knowledge and practical skills. The further aim is to contribute to the global development of animation as an art form.

The animation is a thriving medium and developing at a greater pace than ever before. It has become part of mass culture, as well as one of its principal forms. Animation can be seen in digital screen graphics, computer games, music videos, films, etc. The basis for any film – including animated film – is the story. The greatest problem in the film world is the lack of good stories. In most of the world’s animation schools, students are not taught the art of good story writing. This is something that sets our programme apart. We place an emphasis on the story and teach Professor Pärn’s unique methodology for creating film scripts.... [-]