The Changing Landscape of Design Education in India

By Jyoti Manral

Pertaining to the growth of the creative industry, the demand for design courses has increased significantly. Multiple global avenues have opened up for design students in recent years.

The other day, after the annual fest at Apeejay Stya University which witnessed a wonderful show by the students of School of Design and Visual Arts, faculty and students were having an informal interaction on the lawns of the university. These sprawling lawns have always been a favourite hangout for all knowledge sharing, informal feedback and high energy conversations.

Gradually, the conversation moved to how students see design in everything and suddenly everybody wanted to share their views on design and how it is shaping the lifestyle, influencing emerging industry trends and impacting businesses. Students across all semesters and programmes enthusiastically started a discussion about the future of design in India. Each student had a viewpoint and everyone was very clear that the only way forward was through design.

This line of conversation started a thought process. Is design really influencing and shaping the society, industry and lifestyle? We are aware that design has successfully moved away from being applied as an aesthetic tool for beautification and instead has become an integral tool for solving business problems. It is a moment of pride when you see your students understand this early in life.

As a design school at Apeejay Stya University, we drive innovation at all levels every day and to our students, this process of innovation and problem solving has become a habit, a routine they are now comfortably used to. They know being one of the best in design education is what we are good at.

Thanks to the growth of the creative industry and a deep-rooted craft culture in India, the demand for creative courses, more importantly for design courses, has increased significantly. In recent years, multiple global avenues have opened for design students. Today, innumerable lucrative offers from industry as well as individuals are being offered to design students in India at internship level itself. The growing popularity of design courses can be gauged from the fact that there are over 70 design schools in India today and each day more keep mushrooming. 

There are multiple aspects which contribute to making a design school stand out. A good design school is one that contributes to aligning students’ contextual abilities to creativity and doing it through design language, through core competency of Design-Empathy. For top design schools like School of Design and Visual Arts at Apeejay Stya University, driving excellence is the way ahead and it is done through collaboration with industry and other international institutions.

Today’s youth is very well informed but what they seek is the inspiration. A conducive learning environment provides the right platform. While selecting a design school, every student must look for strong design culture, a well-defined course framework and faculty as the three primary criterion driving excellence. The second set of criteria will be industry interface, innovation cells and alumni support in terms of incubating a project. Every student applying for a design course understands that today design is a serious career option with a bright future.

About the Author:

Jyoti Manral

Jyoti Manral is the Dean at School of Design & Visual Arts, Apeejay Stya University, Gurugram.