Which Interaction Design specialisation suits a graduate in Interactive Media applying to Italy or Netherlands with 1 year 8 months of work experience?

Interaction Design specialisations are not interchangeable across the two countries: Italy's Polimi programme expects roughly 36 ECTS of prior design or computing coursework and reviews your portfolio and transcript closely, while the Netherlands route leans more on your CV, motivation letter and interview performance, so the stronger of your two applications may come down to which admissions process rewards your specific background.

Italy: Politecnico di Milano's Digital and Interaction Design Route

• Curriculum fit: The two-year, English-taught MSc covers interaction design, UX, cognitive and social science, and digital innovation strategy, with a mandatory internship that converts your work experience into a fuller portfolio.
• Transcript matters: Polimi checks for roughly 36 ECTS in design or computing subjects, so your Interactive Media transcript needs to show that coursework explicitly, not just your job title.

Netherlands: Interaction Design at AUAS vs HCI at Utrecht or UvA

This Information Is Also Available On

Politecnico di Milano's own Digital and Interaction Design programme page, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences' enrolment and selection pages for the Master Digital Design: Interaction Design, and the University of Amsterdam's and Utrecht University's own admission pages for their Human-Computer Interaction master's programmes.

My Advice

The mistake I see most often here is applicants centring their whole application on 'UI/UX' as a label; with a graduate degree and nearly two years of experience, you can tell a more senior story around interactive experiences and digital products, which reads better to both Polimi and AUAS admissions panels. If your Interactive Media transcript is light on formal design or computing credits, treat the Dutch HCI programmes at UvA and Utrecht as a stretch option rather than your primary plan, and lead your applications with AUAS or Polimi instead.