Master in Lighting Design, MSc

Master in Lighting Design, MSc is one of 12 English-taught Industrial Design programmes at Master's Degree level in the register, offered by 5 institutions. 10 of them list an annual fee for students from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland, from EUR 6,700 to EUR 9,000; this programme lists EUR 7,455 a year. 10 are recorded as free for EU, EEA and Swiss students.

The Master's in Lighting Design at Aalborg University teaches you to work with natural and artificial light at the meeting point of architecture, media technology and engineering. It is a two-year, English-taught degree based in Copenhagen. The programme builds on Danish and Nordic traditions of light perception, using the aesthetics of light and the physical and technical properties of materials to create quality of life and well-being.

What you study

The programme is cross-disciplinary and international. You work with daylight, illumination and artificial or electric light, and with the interplay between the physical elements of light, lighting technologies, digital media, context, human factors and design methods. Courses are named on the programme page. In the first semester you take Lighting fundamentals, Meaning of light: Light and space, and Rendered light simulation/CGI. The second semester includes Evidence-based lighting design, Light and context, and Intelligent lighting design. Third-semester courses are Design experiments, Academic writing, and User experience design for service interaction. The fourth semester has no courses and is dedicated to your master's thesis, written individually or in small groups.

How the programme is organised

Teaching is in English and centred on problem-based project work. Each semester has a theme. First semester: "Seeing the light", where you develop competences in designing with light within architecture and design, science and media technology. Second semester: "Creating with light: Interactive lighting", where you solve a problem functionally, technically and aesthetically. Third semester offers three routes: an internship or project with a company, an exchange stay at another university in Denmark or abroad, or project-based work under the theme "Lighting design innovation". Many students choose the company project. The fourth semester is the master's thesis. All bachelor students who did not obtain their bachelor's degree from Aalborg University must take a course on problem-based learning as part of the first-semester project.

Who it suits

This master's is for people who want to work with architectural lighting and natural light at a high academic level. You should be comfortable with project groups, with technical material such as photometric and colorimetric terms, and with digital tools for simulating light. The programme prepares you for the shift towards intelligent and dynamic lighting that adapts to users' needs and the course of the day, in homes, offices, waiting rooms, train stations and canteens. If you want to design illuminated physical and virtual environments in buildings, urban spaces and landscapes, this is a direct route.

Admission, language and next steps

The programme is taught in English. The study start is September. The programme page lists admission requirements and how to apply; check those pages for the exact documents and deadlines. Applications for master's programmes go directly to the institution. Students from the EU/EEA and Switzerland study free of charge; other students pay a fee set by the institution. The programme page also points to a study curriculum with further details. For guidance, contact the student counsellors for Media Technology Copenhagen.

Master’s applications go straight to Aalborg University, not through optagelse.dk, and the institution sets its own deadline. Entry requirements and language tests are set by the institution, so start from the official programme page. Our guides cover tuition fees, residence permits and housing.