Interdisciplinary and Community-Focused Curriculum Design for Creative Thinking, Collaboration and Experimentation
Fabrizio Cocchiarella (Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead for Unit X), Victoria Dahl (Lecturer)
Unit X has been forged from an industry/ academia partnership to give our students the best possible start to their professional careers and answer the needs of their future employers. It fosters a vibrant and collaborative learning community for 1100 students and 72 staff across 6 disciplinary programmes, it has become a model for impactful education and has pioneered educational models such as vertical studio teaching, which connects undergraduate and postgraduate levels, creating a continuum of mentorship and learning.
Unit X’s unique pedagogical approach continues to have impact locally through its community focused projects, but also internationally through its dissemination in the wider academic community. Staff involved with Unit X have developed innovative, research-informed projects with industry partners that have been shared through international conferences and publications. These projects have laid the foundation for award nominations and significantly improved both staff and student satisfaction.
Led by Fabrizio Cocchiarella and supported by Victoria Dahl, Unit X is a central pillar to a future-focused curriculum in Design that leverages digitally enhanced learning and teaching practices to develop graduate employability. Through platforms within Unit X such as the ‘Inspirer Series’ that provide a critical thematic focus across all levels, we invite creative professionals and organisations into our education space to engage with our students through talks and workshops. Working with the Careers team and supported by our External Liaison Manager Marcus Lord, students learn about new innovative practices and engage in professional dialogue that helps to grow their vocational pride.
All Unit X projects value critical and creative thinking, collaboration and experimentation on important issues facing our present and future. With our network of over 80 companies, professionals and organisations collaborating with us each year (such as Manchester City Council, IKEA, Hallmark, the RNIB, Factory International, Future Everything, The Whitworth, Castlefield Gallery, NOMA, Manchester Art Gallery, the National Trust and Transport for Greater Manchester), Unit X ensures students have the inspiration and scope to prepare them for the creative world beyond their studies.
Our initial industry research showed that teamworking and collaboration are the key skills sought by employers across the creative sector and by trialling interdisciplinary collaboration in a fail-safe environment students have the opportunity to explore new perspectives, ideas and approaches to making and designing. The curriculum design also ensures students gain many other key employability skills sought by employers such as pitching, negotiation, communication and confidence building. The ‘Open studios’ has been an important platform for students to showcase their work to industry partners, either through opening our doors to the public and/or through satellite events in the city.
To drive continuous improvement, we implemented new methods for contextualising module data, enabling a better understanding of Unit X’s strengths and areas for development. This process included comprehensive consultations with students and staff, which revealed insights that had been overlooked in previous surveys. By embedding survey language into interim reflective activities and emphasising the importance of end-of-unit surveys, we have achieved higher levels of engagement and collected richer data. These insights directly informed the creation of the ‘Book of Play,’ a printed workbook/ handbook that scaffolds learning across projects and programs. This resource empowers students to reflect on their collaborative practices, make informed choices, and develop autonomy, agency and purpose.
Complementing the workbook is the online ‘Playbook,’ a digital resource hosted on a Sway site that offers key information, project-selection quizzes, and essential resources. These tools have inspired enhancements to Moodle for Design Context and Unit X modules, embedding digital literacy into the curriculum, enhancing our DELTA (Digitally Enhanced Teaching, Learning and Assessment) strategy to foster a seamless blend of physical and digital learning.
Around assessment we have also implement a self-assessment process that links with the student’s reflective assignment and introduces students to the language of Graduate Attributes so that students feel confidence in taking ownership of professional qualities to attach to their CV. This strategy, developed in collaboration with Careers and Faculty Planning, contextualises ‘live project’ experiences, enhancing student understanding of work-integrated learning and helps us to measure their experience working in professional contexts. By building confidence and improving survey response rates, the strategy has demonstrated increased ‘readiness’ for employment among our students. Career Readiness survey data for 2024/25 indicates significantly improved outcomes where 21% of students were either ready to apply for roles or had already secured graduate roles compared to 8.48% prior to taking Unit X.
The career readiness of Design students is increasing year on year. In 19/20 the proportion in the highest career readiness categories at enrolment to L6 was 7.7% compared to 21% in 24/25 which shows a healthy upward trend. As well as module survey data indicating near 100% pass rates and an average mark of 65%, reflecting strong student engagement and performance, the most recent Graduate Outcome data for 21/22 leavers shows that 79.8% of Man Met’s Design Department graduates were in positive graduate destinations. This represents a difference of +7.3% compared to the sector and a +10.3% increase over a 3-year period.
We were the first and possibly still the only Art School to devote a quarter of the undergraduate curriculum to a single multi-disciplinary unit with industry/community collaborations at its heart. Unit X has strengthened the departments connections with external organisations, enriching the curriculum and created opportunities for research and knowledge exchange aligned with departmental strategies and KPIs. To document and celebrate these achievements, we produced a series of films showcasing Unit X’s innovative curriculum and the transformative impact of its projects. These films, hosted on the Unit X website, serve as a testament to the power of creative education. Unit X exemplifies the university’s commitment to providing diverse, enriching educational experiences that prepare students for the complexities of the future.
