Case Study of Hair-Design Education Centered on Haircutting Based on an Industry University Capstone Design Course

Purpose: AIn this study, we proposed a practice-oriented haircut education model that integrates an industry–university cooperative capstone design course into hair-design education. Methods: A 15-week case study was conducted with 21 second-year students majoring in hair design at a university in the Chungnam region. The industry partner, Forest Salon, was selected after obtaining consent for institutional name disclosure and academic use. Data analysis was performed using class activity records, team presentations, final outcomes, and learning evaluation results. Results: The course facilitated the integration of theoretical knowledge and salon-based problems, while the participants demonstrated improvements in understanding haircut trends, creative thinking, problem solving, teamwork, presentation skills, and communication competency. Beyond this, the industry partner obtained haircut design ideas with potential applicability. Conclusion: The proposed industry–university cooperative capstone design course may serve as an effective approach for strengthening practical competency in haircut education and expanding haircut coursework from technique-centered to field-based education.