USC Roski teams with Condé Nast and WIRED on online master’s degree

USC, Condé Nast and WIRED announced a partnership to create a new online master’s degree in integrated design, business and technology. The partnership creates an unprecedented learning experience, combining the expertise of the editors, writers and designers at WIRED with the academic rigor of USC. The aim of the 18-24 month degree is to educate creative thinkers and technologists who could transform the world of industry and enterprise.

The first cohort is scheduled to begin in the 2015-2016 academic year.

USC Roski School of Art and Design Dean Erica Muhl and WIRED Editor-in-Chief Scott Dadich made the announcement on Oct. 1 at Skywalker Ranch in Marin, Calif.

USC Roski cemented an international reputation in interdisciplinary education with the launch of the groundbreaking USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. The new master’s degree, which offers specially designed coursework from USC Roski, the USC Marshall School of Business, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and other leading programs at the university, represents another first for higher education.

“The pace of technology development requires higher education to continue to respond with programs that are flexible and adaptable, and that meet the needs of future cultural and business leaders,” Muhl said.

“We’ve been thinking for years about what a university curriculum with WIRED would look like, and now we have a chance to build it with a terrific partner,” Dadich said. “Taking the best from USC and WIRED, we can teach discipline and disruption, business fundamentals and the very latest innovation models from Silicon Valley. This is going to be thrilling.”

Building on tradition

USC’s online graduate education model builds upon the historic role of the traditional university while incorporating the advances made possible by the digital age. USC currently offers more than 80 programs online to approximately 8,000 graduate and executive education students. It is a model that expands educational access globally while maintaining all-important standards of academic rigor and quality.

In addition to the unique curriculum and value of a master’s degree from USC, the new program’s format will offer distinctive opportunities to its participants, including residencies at WIRED headquarters; exclusive audiences with the magazine’s leaders and conference speakers; and access to its highly respected editors and writers, as well as leading industry icons. Students in the program will be immersed in the culture of the magazine’s award-winning edit and design team, learning how they report, interpret and anticipate the next big breakthroughs in business, science, technology, design and culture.

“WIRED is recognized as a source for up-to-the-minute ideas, analysis and perspective,” said Robert Sauerberg Jr., president of Condé Nast, which publishes the magazine. “Today we’re announcing the first of several partnerships we plan to create that will merge the knowledge and expertise of Condé Nast’s brands with distinguished academic programs to develop the next generation of talent. Given its reputation as an innovator, it makes perfect sense that WIRED is the first.”

USC’s program development and build-out will be powered by higher education partners Synergis Education and Qubed Education. Synergis helps colleges and universities design and launch programs of distinction by creating unique learning environments and supporting recruitment, retention and student services. Qubed establishes new partnerships between top-tier universities and leading media organizations and brands to create high-quality innovations in world-class higher education institutions.