Purpose Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an inquiry into the “best of” what already exists in a system. Applying AI at the start of a design process gives you a process that is very different from traditional design approaches. Simply put, you obtain a design process that has as its point of departure identified strengths: “the best of what is”. This is in sharp contrast to traditional design processes that typically starts from identified problems. You obtain a design process based on the best of what is, in other words you achieve “Appreciative Design”. The overall purpose of this paper is to explore and contribute to a process of putting Appreciative Design into practice. More specifically, the paper aims at introducing a process for Appreciative Design to be used in the development of higher education together with insights from applying it in practice. Methodology/approach The methodology chosen can be described as “action research”. The researchers have, in their role as educational leaders, developed and applied a process for Appreciative Design within the context of the entrepreneurial educational program “Skarp Åre - Business and product development” at Mid Sweden University. Findings The paper introduces a process for Appreciative Design to be used in the development of higher education together with insights from applying it in practice. The process introduced is referred to as Appreciative Course Evaluation and Design (ACED). Furthermore, applying the ACED process to the “Skarp Åre – Business and product development” educational program reveals a number of benefits in comparison to conventional practice. The benefits found include higher commitment by the course participants, lower risk in the design process, and increased student involvement in the evaluation and design process. Value of the paper The paper contributes in general to increasing the understanding of how the strengths and principles of Appreciative Inquiry can be incorporated into design processes. The case study performed also contributes new insights into how and why to apply the introduced ACED process to the evaluation and design of higher education. Our hope is that the insights presented will inspire future research and application of Appreciative Design not only to the evaluation and design of higher education, but also to the evaluation and design of products, services, organizations and society.