The business environment dominated by digital and technology is facilitating the rise of product and design teams. User experience (i.e., UX design) is at the heart of the strategy of companies that are looking for new skills to strengthen their product teams.
The combination of "tech, business and design" will be at the heart of the positioning of the new MSc Product Management & UX Design programme being launched in the fall 2022 academic year by SKEMA Business School, POLIMI Graduate School of Management and POLI.design.
Skills in business, technology, design and social sciences
In a customer-centric approach, knowing how to design interfaces and user paths that are fluid and intuitive, to optimise sales of a digital products, has become mandatory in the context of platforms explosion (applications, web, metaverse, etc.). "This new one- or two-year programme, entirely in English, combines a business, tech and marketing approach (SKEMA) to design and manage interfaces and user paths (products) and a design-tech approach (POLIMI Graduate School of Management and POLI.design) to serve the user experience (UX/UI)," said Camille Faure and Stefano Magistretti, co-directors of the double degree at SKEMA and POLIMI Graduate School of Management, respectively.
At the end of the course, the students will obtain a degree from SKEMA, approved by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (Bac +5 / Level 7), and a first-level Specialising Master's degree from Politecnico di Milano.
Courses in Paris and Milan
The programme will take place full-time over one year between Paris and Milan.
It will also include professional experience and a research project at the end of the course. Upon successful completion of the programme, participants will acquire:
- Skills, technical knowledge and strong expertise in the creation and management of a digital product.
- Expertise in leading and coordinating teams and communicating with stakeholders.
- Advanced knowledge of product management tools (product management, prototyping, data management, UX/UI, etc.) and methods used in companies ("Agile", "Design Sprint", etc.).
- A professional network via presentations on professions, masterclasses and workshops that are regularly organised.
Emerging professions and companies that will be recruiting
Product manager, product owner, UX designer, art director, web manager, web marketer, UX writer, data analyst, etc., are some of the professions that the course leads to.
Recruiters will be digital companies from various sectors (consumer goods, e-commerce, banking and finance, technology providers, services, foodtech, edtech, fintech, web agencies and media companies), including startups, consultancies and established companies. These include: Doctolib, Microsoft, Google, Younited Credit, Blablacar, Leboncoin, Amazon, Meetic, TheFork, SAP, Cdiscount, and Rakuten, among others.
"Product Management and UX Design are clearly connected, and I am convinced that this new programme will effectively prepare the new generation of product managers that the digital economy needs. According to the annual Product Excellence study, only 47% of product teams today validate user needs through continuous research, beta testing and prototyping. However, with the accelerated pace of the market and the competitive landscape, knowing how to develop the right products more quickly while knowing how to exploit customer knowledge has become critical," explained Pierre Martinot, commercial lead France & Switzerland of the Productboard unicorn and SKEMA's alumni.