MBA Imagineering

1-year MBA | English-taught

Master
1 year
Full time
English

What is imagineering?

Imagineering (from "imagination" and "engineering") is the strategic implementation of experience design that adds creative and transformative capacity into businesses and other organisations. 

In this 1-year MBA programme (Master of Business Administration), you learn to innovate from a people-oriented approach. You also learn how to appeal to the imagination and how to make people co-designers of their own story, company or organization. Innovating and changing by strengthening collective creativity, that is the core of this Master Imagineering in Breda. 

BUas also offers the executive MBA Imagineering, especially for professionals.

Why choose the MBA Imagineering at BUas?

  • The multicultural composition of the international classroom with many different nationalities is the best learning environment you could wish for
  • You will benefit from a large and international network of organisations, universities and alumni, with whom you will collaborate in real-life projects and share experiences
Why Buas?
What is Imagineering?
Programme content
Experience
Bachelor vs master

'A mindset to see the world in a new way.'

Anne-Loes, alumna

Introduction
Bram tells his story

BUas Quiz

Seeking a master’s programme in tourism, leisure, or imagineering? Take this short quiz to discover the best match for you.


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Study overview

Study programme

The world is in need of new, complementary approaches and methods as society is growing ever more complex. We see the depletion of natural resources running alongside the vast growth of connectivity, creativity and innovation. As Imagineering stems from and is embedded in the complexity paradigm of open systems, nonlinearity and dynamics of growth, in its core it goes beyond just design, innovation, business modelling or change management.

What it actually does, is enabling societies, businesses and organisations to consciously develop in a strategic direction with the mind-set of building upon self-organisation and emergence. Here, we dare to say, that the Master Imagineering fits into this context of strategic design. Aiming to realise organisational transformation that is in favour of value creation in society at large.

The programme offers you a deeper theoretical insight into issues of organisational design in the context of enterprise logic transformation. It enables you to develop analytical, proactive, problem-solving attitudes and design skills towards these issues. In addition, you will develop knowledge and skills required to design and implement professional advice in an organisational and cross-cultural setting. Furthermore, you will build and strengthen your expertise to innovate, participate and lead processes of collaboration and creativity through this master’s programme.

Course details

During the MBA Imagineering you will be going on an 'expedition'. On this journey you will explore the main principles of the collaborative and complexity-driven essence of Imagineering as a design approach.

The programme consist of three blocks of classes and the fourth block is dedicated to performing a research-based Imagineering project in the field. Each block of classes lasts six weeks and is finalised with an exam/design week. Within the blocks, interactive theoretical classes, along with workshops, activities and assignments are delivered.

The programme (60 ECTS credits) is a one-year programme for regular students and 18 months for part-time executive students. Throughout the entire programme, self-development is encouraged through various workshops. Students are also challenged to design and facilitate workshops themselves to gain experiences.

 

Block 1: Inspiration

This first block about ‘Inspiration’ focuses on the broad theoretical framework of the master’s programme. It involves studying processes of value creation and change/innovation/emergence from the complexity/experience perspective. Complex adaptive systems and complexity thinking play a central role in block 1, to open up a different academic perspective of reality. The perspective of complexity gives rise to a different dynamic view of change and innovation in human systems which we have developed in the design methodology of Imagineering.

Block 2: Ideation

Within the framework of the second block ‘Ideation’, the programme aims to explore creative processes within organisations and possibilities for transformation. The block is divided into theoretical, material, practical examples and activities that fuel discussion and invite reflection on creativity, innovation and meaning; the basic components for organisational, business and social transformation. You will immerse yourselve into the world of co-creation, imagination and dialogue; having a strong impact on transformative processes. Furthermore, you will get the opportunity to learn how the Imagineering design methodology is applied and how to design for social systems. Applying theoretical frameworks from several disciplines and formulating critical opinions about the complexity of organisational, business and social development, for example during our hackaton project.

Block 3: Implementation

The third block of the programme, ‘Implementation’, aims to offer an understanding of the management issues that arise when ‘continuous creative business development’ has to be a core competency of the organisation. Following the Inspiration and Ideation phases,  the Implementation phase focuses on the design of the organisation in such a way that the experience concept can be developed in the most optimal fashion.

By means of real business cases, you are exposed in this block to actually applying Imagineering as a methodology and process to help organisations/businesses/society move away from their fixation in the industrial logic, transforming towards functioning in the networked co-creative logic.

Block 4: Performing the research-based Imagineering project

The fourth block is dedicated to performing the research-based Imagineering project at or in cooperation with an application company. This means that through the final deliverables, you need to demonstrate that you are a professional Master in Imagineering. This means that you have to be able to facilitate, (co)create and (re)design business and social processes aiming at igniting a transformative organisational change in an imaginative, informative and social-mediated way. In employing an Imagineering way of thinking in this final project, you will fulfil three clear roles: that of the researcher, the co-creative catalysts and the designer.

Throughout the entire programme, self-development is encouraged via various workshops. Students are also challenged to design and facilitate workshops themselves to gain experiences.

Study load and coaching

The MBA Imagineering offers students a small-scale academic environment as the number of students admitted into the master’s programme is limited and lecturers are always there to offer help. For questions on the content of the programme, lecturers can be easily reached. What’s more, the master's coordinator is available to help with day-to-day issues.

FAQs

What can you do after MBA Imagineering?

Imagineers from BUas are spread across the globe. With this master’s focused on strategic management, our alumni contribute to most industries by uniting their own prior expertise with the Imagineering mindset and skills.

Strategic innovation is at the core of their positions. With an upgraded CV, graduates are ready to design thinking processes, as well as facilitate and lead them. Common career paths sought by an Imagineering graduate are Business Transformation Consultant and Innovation Management

What does the MBA Imagineering entail?

A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. In this MBA programme, the core is Imagineering, which is focused on strategic management, social innovation within businesses and organisations, purpose-driven design, and the co-creation of value in networks in the Experience and Transformation Economy era. 

Within which fields will you operate with an MBA Imagineering?

Imagineering is above all a mindset on how to approach more complex and wicked problems in businesses and organisations. The skills that you will develop are valuable in most industries, especially in positions of management and leadership. Our student cohort comes from the most diverse fields, such as Advertisement, Design, Education, Engineering, Health Care, Human Resources, Hospitality, Information Security, Marketing, Psychology, and Tourism. In this melting pot of diversity, a multidisciplinary approach is experienced, where co-creation and collaboration are at the core of your individual development. 

 

Experiences

We asked several alumni what Imagineering means to them and if they would recommend studying this master’s programme in Breda.

Watch the videos to find out.

Imagineering changes your perspective for a lifetime

Just like the birds, we are born into this world with certain instincts. Imagineering felt like my first flight out of the bird’s nest. Spreading my wings and bringing new life to the world of organisations is just the thing my instincts tell me to do now. It is not only a master’s degree, it is a process that changes your perspective for a lifetime. And it doesn’t stop there! Facilitating changes in people’s perspectives is a part of the Imagineering  path towards innovation.

Martina

Graduate | Partner at NRG Flow

Diversity as a power for innovation

The Imagineering year has introduced me to embrace this VUCA world by focusing more on the process of design and adaptation to unexpected circumstances rather than jumping into solutions. By looking at things in a more appreciative way, I started seeing challenges as opportunities, diversity as a strength, co-creation as a must for better outcomes that result in higher impact. Imagineering has taught me to see diversity as a power for innovation, and to be more empathetic in the way I observe, understand and analyse situations.

Rouaida

Graduate | Team Facilitator & Program Developer at Forward Inc.

Admission

Students are eligible if they hold a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field of study, e.g. tourism management, leisure management, sports management, culture management, business management or economics.

Please check out the full admission requirements and the additional criteria.

Application

If you meet the admission requirements, you are invited to apply for this programme. Please check out the application procedure.

Costs 

In addition to the tuition fee, you will need to take into account additional costs for the purchase of study materials such as textbooks. Read more about study costs.

Your career

Graduates of the MBA Imagineering generally find employment in innovation-related positions, marketing and branding roles, or as business consultants. Upon successful completion they receive a Master in Business Administration degree.

After your graduation you are entitled to the degree of Master of Business Administration. 

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