Product Design Engineering is a collaborative programme that integrates the educational cultures of The Glasgow School of Art, School of Design and the University of Glasgow, James Watt School of Engineering. The PDE programme is the synthesis of practical knowledge, theory and creative ideas to form coherent and tangible design solutions. PDE is accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Engineering Designers and Institute of Technology to allow Chartered Engineer status - an excellent example of the recognition of the programme and a springboard for careers.
Day to day, PDE students split their time between in-depth design projects in the Glasgow School of Art, School of Design studios, challenging them to create solutions to real-life problems, and a rigorous Engineering education at the University of Glasgow. This collaborative approach is done in parallel with students studying other creative disciplines at the Glasgow School of Art and Engineering students from a wide spectrum of disciplines at the University of Glasgow.
The final year of the PDE programme focuses on the exploration and application of the core skills developed in the earlier years. This process and approach is known as ‘Core-Explore’. During their studies, students are also introduced to industry through live projects, placements and visits. The course concludes with a major individual project completed over two semesters.
Made in Glasgow is not simply about where something is or was produced. It is about what happens through the act of making—collaboratively.
The projects you are about to see in this year’s degree show began as conversations. They have been developed through insights, research, idea generation, evaluation, and analysis. Throughout this process, ideas have been challenged and many have been discounted; those that made the cut have been developed with the sole intent of making a difference.
Product Design Engineering requires students to move seamlessly between thinking, questioning, and making. This is not a linear process and it is very rarely a solitary one. It is shaped by a shared commitment to make things work. The studio is the foundation for this work and it has been home for the students during these intense months.
The collaboration between the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow offers a unique balance of creative exploration and engineering rigour. It encourages students to generate ideas with confidence and responsibility, to evaluate and refine them with care. At the same time, the city of Glasgow brings its own
distinct character—direct, resourceful and open. The city is an integral part of the process, deeply influencing how problems are approached and how ideas take shape.
Throughout their degree, this cohort has developed alongside one another—from university labs and lectures to workshops, studios, study trips, and industry visits. In doing so, they have developed something far more important than just subject knowledge: they have realised the value of being part of the PDE community.
It doesn’t seem that long ago that this graduating cohort was attending our open days. At those recruitment events, I always ask visitors from outside the city to spend time in Glasgow. If you enjoy where you study, you and your studies will thrive. That simple investment of time pays off—not only in the educational experience, but in friendships that last a lifetime. That is what is truly Made in Glasgow.
On behalf of the department, thank you to everyone who has supported PDE this year: our industry partners, sponsors, visiting lecturers, alumni, families, and friends.
Craig Whittet
Head of Department, Product Design Engineering, GSA
Your show theme speaks beautifully to the layers of Glasgow that have shaped you. The city, the parks, the friendships, the particular grounded, creative energy of this place that gets into your bones and stays. One chapter of your relationship with Glasgow may be closing, but I know from my own experience that it tends to cycle back. The tutors who followed and supported your journey, the peers who listened to your passion and helped your feel more confident in your process, the city that held you. Those threads don’t disappear. They continue to weave forward too.
Thank you for making my last three years, as the Royal Academy of Engineering, Visiting Professor back at GSA, another vivid, generous layer in my own ongoing making, and a small part of yours. What I hope you carry with you, alongside Glasgow’s generosity and openness, is the understanding that the making doesn’t stop here. The most important emerging design work will often not be about creating new things but, making things better. It will be about understanding systems, designing for longevity, repair and renewal, for people and places that have often been ignored or overlooked. You have been trained to explore and question problems where others see fixed conditions. Use this.
The world needs designers who are not just skilled, but willing to ask harder questions about what gets made, why, how, for whom, and what happens to it next.
Glasgow has been part of your making. Now like the river that runs through it, you carry everything this place gave you. Continue to flow with your own creative possibility.
Erica Purvis
MEng,
Visiting Professor RAE PDE GSA. FRSA,
Design Council Design For Planet Expert
Studio Technical Nature & Design Nature CIC