From immersive digital spaces and interactive tea-making installations to light-based reconstructions of dragon dance culture, the "New Intelligent Manufacturing" exhibition by the Institute of Creativity and Innovation (ICI) captivated global visitors at the 25th China International Fair for Investment & Trade this September. This showcase provided a window for visitors to explore the resonance between technology, culture, and the future.
These diverse, cutting-edge, and experimental exhibitions have become a hallmark of ICI in recent years. Highlights include "The Way of Type: Modernisation of Chinese Typography" and " Reconstructing the Local in a Cross-Cultural Perspective," alongside academic exchanges with Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and discussions on "AI as Curator?" These initiatives serve not only as vital platforms for showcasing faculty and student talent but also as milestones marking five years of undergraduate education at the Institute.
As Xiamen University’s first Sino-foreign cooperative education institution, ICI was co-founded in 2019 with the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in the UK and enrolled its inaugural cohort of undergraduates in 2020. Over the past five years, guided by the philosophy of "Quality as Foundation, Innovation as Soul," the Institute has deeply integrated world-class educational resources with local innovation ecosystems. Through "design empowerment," ICI has activated new drivers for regional development and expanded its global collaboration network, forging a distinctive path in international talent cultivation.
Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Education Delivers Tangible Results
"How can technical impact be quantified?" and "What are concrete pathways for social care?" These were among the probing questions posed during a recent Fabrication and Construction critique by an international panel of faculty from Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, India, the UK, and China. Such multi-national collaborative teaching is a defining feature of ICI’s curriculum.
Students Presentation on the Fabrication and Construction Module
Embracing XMU’s legacy of openness in "promoting world cultures," ICI embeds cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives into teaching and learning. A team of faculty members from, comprising 69 professionals from nearly 20 countries, brings global viewpoints into the classroom, where diverse intellectual traditions converge to enrich design creativity. In practice, students and faculty ground their work in local contexts, fusing indigenous elements with global wisdom.
This approach is exemplified by the "Design Journal," a core pedagogical tool across all courses. Students document their iterative design thinking—from discovery and definition to ideation and final execution—cultivating critical inquiry rather than rote skill acquisition. As Visual Communication Design faculty member Ana Menezes notes, this systematic reflection develops critical thinking, a competency increasingly vital in the age of AI.
Student Design Journal Exhibition for the "Environment and Market I" Module
Faculty roles have similarly evolved from mere knowledge transmitters to facilitators of growth, focusing on inspiring critical thought, integrating interdisciplinary resources, and unlocking student potential.
Since 2020, ICI has reoriented its creative education toward autonomous thinking, holistic assessment, and teamwork. With nearly 80% of core modules delivered by UCA faculty and practical credits accounting for 30% of the curriculum, the Institute develops students’ "i-6C" transferable competencies by seamlessly integrating of classroom learning, hands-on training, and real-world practice.
These efforts have yielded remarkable outcomes. Among the inaugural 2024 graduates, 62.3% progressed to prestigious institutions worldwide—including Peking University and the National University of Singapore—with 45.9% pursuing overseas studies, the highest rate among all XMU schools. By 2025, these figures rose to 72.3% and 56.2%, respectively, with many also pursuing disciplinary paths. ICI Graduate Zhai Liyuan, now studying Electronic Information Engineering at Peking University, reflects: "ICI’s emphasis on critical thinking transformed my approach, enabling me to bridge design with frontier technologies like VR and gaming by questioning the logic and social context behind technical choices."
Graduates are also highly sought after by industry leaders including BYD, China Telecom, and iFlytek. Notably, 2025 graduate Ma Binglian joined the overseas division of China Construction Eighth Engineering Group, where he contributes to Belt and Road infrastructure projects.
Injecting Design Innovation into Regional Development
Held each May, the annual ICI Design Season turns graduation exhibitions into a dynamic interface between academia and society. Launched in 2024, this signature event presents parallel exhibitions addressing real-world challenges, earning media acclaim and generating over 600,000 online engagements under the banner "Grounded Design through Cross-Cultural Exploration."
ICI Design Season·2025 Main Exhibition Hall
In 2025, ICI Design Season strengthened its industry integration through new industry-academia workshops. In one such workshop, students and faculty collaborated with designers from Yao Ming Ribbon—the world’s largest ribbon manufacturer—to reimagine ribbon applications. Led by Dutch critical design pioneer Jurgen Bey, cross-disciplinary teams generated concepts spanning modular children’s art education, AR-integrated commercial installations, wearable accessories, and urban public space interventions.
ICI has also established strategic partnerships with government bodies and cultural institutions across Xiamen, Jinjiang, Dehua, and Zhangzhou, supporting rural revitalization and preserving cultural heritage. At the 8th Xiamen International Convention Week, student-designed visuals that embodied "Innovation, Cooperation, Integration, and Co-building" received high praise. Meanwhile, faculty and students have revitalized historic sites in Quanzhou’s overseas Chinese villages through site-specific installations, turning cultural preservation into economic vitality. Here, the "most international" converging with the "most local."
Faculty and Students Engage in Field Research at Wulin, Jinjiang
To support experiential learning, ICI has established 16 off-campus practice bases with partners including C&D Tourism, Red Dot Design Museum, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, and Xiamen Airlines Media Culture Technology.
From "Internationalization at Home" to " Glocalization "
With a faculty of 44 international members from 17 countries, ICI has cultivated a vibrant multicultural community, transitioning from "internationalization at home" to " glocalization." The Institute actively participates in global networks, joining the Cumulus Association—the world’s largest alliance for art, design, and media education—in 2023. At the Cumulus 2025 Conference in Nantes, faculty member Niloofar Amini presented ICI’s "Urban Care Design" initiatives, highlighting how student-led spatial interventions rebuild community identity.
ICI made history as the first Chinese institution to be invited to exhibit at the 2025 European Design Awards in Ljubljana, showcasing 20 student works centered on inclusivity and sustainability. The exhibition was spearheaded by Slovenian faculty member Nace Pusnik and underscored students’ blend of critical thinking and experimental narrative. Meanwhile, student Chen Chunxi represented Asia at Milan Design Week’s UNFOLD project, sparking discussion on technological ethics through her piece DEBUGRISM. Faculty member Mark Bellingham noted that American peers remarked they needed to "raise their standards" to match up to ICI’s student output.
Student Works Featured at the 2025 European Design Awards Exhibition
The "ICI Summer Workshop" series, launched in 2024, has brought global expertise to campus. Over two years, more than 30 experts from 11 countries have led 23 workshops, 20 lectures, and multiple symposia, attracting over 2,000 participants. Former UCA Pro-Vice-Chancellor Terry Perk described ICI as "fertile soil for unique creativity."
2025 ICI Summer Workshops Exhibition
Beyond campus, ICI has transformed Dajing Village, located across from the Zhangzhou campus, into an unconventional hub for community-engaged design. Faculty and student teams collaborate with residents on placemaking initiatives, while the Panda-monium collective is developing an "Industry-Academia Complex" that opens innovation labs to the public.
At the 25th CIFIT, ICI was the only exhibitor from a Chinese higher education institution. Inspired by the Industrial Revolution, ICI faculty and students created three installation series that linked Britain’s industrial heritage with China’s leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, advocating for an ecosystem of "Manufacturing Power, Imagination, and Collective Responsibility." This initiative exemplifies ICI’s mature model: balancing global vision with local relevance, promoting Sino-UK cultural exchange, and offering a replicable "XMU Solution" for international cooperative education.
