Home Long-form Programs Strategic Design for Global Leadership (MS)

Strategic Design for Global Leadership (MS)

Hybrid

Format

Hybrid

On-site intensives: Paris, New York, and Asia

Duration

Duration

36 credits, 18 months

Cost

Cost

$2,407 per credit

Date

Next Start Date

July 2025

Applications are open and reviewed on a rolling basis as long as space is available.

Designed for Global Executives

Developed specifically for seasoned executives and entrepreneurs, the Master of Science in Strategic Design for Global Leadership gives innovative professionals the tools they need to transform their industries while continuing to work at their jobs from anywhere in the world.

Program Overview

Bringing together design thinking, management, and applied social sciences, the program responds to the need for global businesses and organizations to address complex 21st-century economic, environmental, and social challenges as leaders in their fields. Methods from studio practice such as ideation, ethnographic research, prototyping, and service design are used to devise approaches to business and social innovation in global contexts. In the course of 18 months, a select group of diverse professionals engage in a series of seminars, virtual learning, and hands-on intensive residencies in global capitals such as Paris, New York City, and Asia, which culminates in a Master of Science degree from Parsons School of Design in New York. Graduates emerge as creative leaders who are ready to employ design as a key business and problem-solving tool.

Why Strategic Design for Global Leadership?

Program lead, Melissa Rancourt, Exec Ed lead, Mariana Amatullo, and program alumni speak about how the graduate program provides global executives and entrepreneurs with design thinking tools and skills that can enable them to anticipate and shape the future of businesses.

Program Highlights

  • New Business Strategies
    Understand the complexities of the new global economy and develop groundbreaking business strategy, guided by the principles of innovation, creativity, and collaboration
  • Strategic Design Thinking 
    Use empathy, experimentation, observation, and ethnographic research to assess problems, uncover hidden needs, and design groundbreaking solutions for organizations of all sizes
  • Industry Focus
    Develop expertise in business model development, creative team management, and entrepreneurship through coursework that replicates real-world industry scenarios
  • Immersive and Flexible Format
    Develop skills while meeting your professional responsibilities with a combination of virtual and on-campus intensive learning sessions requiring just 18 days away from the office
  • Global Campus and International Experience
    Create a lifelong professional network and cultivate global perspectives as you and your cohort travel to Parsons’ Paris campus for three-day seminars at the beginning of each course and to New York and Asia for week-long studio intensives

Brochure: SDGL

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Curriculum

This 18-month, 36-credit program has an innovative curriculum that combines business, management, and leadership coursework with design-centered studio work. The studio courses are two week-long studios in which students integrate what they have learned in the seminars to develop new business models and organizational designs for real-world business scenarios.

Students have the opportunity to start every course with weekend intensives held on the Parsons Paris campus, followed by immersive virtual learning. Furthermore, the program includes two week-long residencies in NYC and in Asia, in which students work on real company issues in integrative design studios.

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Who Is This Program For?

The program is designed for professionals with a minimum of five years’ work experience in any industry. Members of recent cohorts have had an average of 10 to 12 years’ experience and come from a variety of backgrounds.

Student Outcomes

Graduates of the MS in Strategic Design for Global Leadership program return to their companies with new solutions to challenging problems and help advance intrapreneurial efforts within their organizations. Many go on to higher-level and global positions; some launch their own start-ups and develop entrepreneurial initiatives.

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Admission

The admission process for the Strategic Design for Global Leadership program is designed with your busy schedule in mind. The next program term begins the first week of July 2025. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis as long as space is available.

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Tuition & Fees

Investing in your professional development is investing in your future. Education has the power to open numerous doors as you chart and explore your career path—and growth. Although merit scholarships are not currently available for this program, we will work with you to help make the program as accessible as possible.

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Faculty

Our programs are developed and taught by a diverse community of academics and industry leaders with hands-on, real-world experience in a range of industries.

Senior Director

Melissa Rancourt

Academic Director of MS in Strategic Design for Global Leadership

For more than twenty-five years, Melissa Rancourt has worked to help organizations and individuals globally to develop their creativity and skills to share their work, expand their reach, and motivate their teams. Melissa was named one of the Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise in Europe for 2021.

Visit our Faculty page to learn more about the range of experts and design thinkers teaching in the MS and Exec Ed programs.

Why Parsons?

Parsons Executive Education operates at the intersection of design and the global socioeconomic trends transforming our organizations and communities. Our programs are designed for industry leaders and entrepreneurs who have the courage to engage in high-impact learning—those who come at challenges differently, celebrate creativity, and are capable of acting in the face of continuous change.

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