ADAPTING INDUSTRIAL DESIGN EDUCATION TO FUTURE CHALLENGES OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Year: 2011
Editor: Culley, S.J.; Hicks, B.J.; McAloone, T.C.; Howard, T.J. & Ion, B.
Author: Liem, Andre; Sigurjonsson, Johannes B.
Series: ICED
Section: Design Education
Page(s): 194-204
Abstract
This paper discusses how Design Education should be adapted to the future challenges of higher education. Four (4) trends will be presented on how prospective design programs are to be developed. These are (1) Mass-Education and Rationalisation, (2) Links between Education and Research, (3) Globalisation and Internationalisation, (4) Intensification of Collaboration with Industry and Commercialisation of Research. In terms of manpower resources, the following academic configuration is proposed:
• Faculty inclined towards mentorship and scholarship, able to promote inquiry from a theoretical and process perspective.
• Faculty engaged in mentorship and service, capable of expanding their design programs beyond the “Physical home-based classroom”.
• Professional designers, who can contribute in skills development and design thinking based on experiences from practice.
On the receiving end, students should be trained to commute from generic to specialist and from abstract to concrete modes of working. Comprehensive studio projects should be implemented as platforms, where social and interdisciplinary learning can develop in line with selected design themes, processes and methods.
Keywords: TRENDS; HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH; GLOBALISATION; DESIGN EDUCATION