Master in Yacht Design

At Università degli Studi di Genova, tuition fees are 3,695 USD per year.

Yacht Design is a two-year master's program taught in English at the Università degli Studi di Genova, located in Genova, Italy, a city with a long-standing relationship to shipbuilding and the maritime industry. The discipline combines naval architecture, industrial design, and marine engineering to address how pleasure and luxury vessels are conceived, styled, and engineered. Students typically study hull design and hydrodynamics, structural analysis of marine vessels, materials selection, and the systems that make a yacht functional, from propulsion to onboard electronics. Alongside these technical foundations, the program addresses the design side of the discipline, covering aesthetics, interior layout, ergonomics, and how form and function are balanced in a vessel meant for both performance and comfort. Coursework often includes computer-aided design tools specific to marine applications, as well as an understanding of the regulatory standards that govern vessel safety and construction. The field requires students to think across scales, from the overall silhouette and styling of a yacht to the detailed engineering of its structural and mechanical systems. Because yacht design sits between art and engineering, students typically develop skills in both technical calculation and visual design communication, including rendering and model-making. Graduates commonly pursue careers as yacht designers, naval architects, or design engineers within shipyards, design studios, and marine engineering firms, particularly in regions with established boatbuilding industries. Others move into related fields such as marine product design or broader industrial design practice. The program's location in Genova places students within a city historically tied to maritime trade and shipbuilding, and its English-taught format is designed for an international student body pursuing careers in the global yachting and marine design industry.