In a conversation with The Statesman, Anunaya Chaubey, Provost, of Anant National University speaks about the lucrative career doors that open with design education and how relevant design thinking is in today’s multidisciplinary education system and towards enriching young minds.

Q1. Can you briefly explain to us about the Anant Summer IsCool Programme, at Anant National University?

Following the NEP 2020’s recommendation to introduce design thinking in school curriculum to replace a rote learning pedagogy with a curriculum that integrates creativity with critical thinking to develop higher cognitive processes amongst students, Anant National University, India’s first DesignX university, set out to address this gap in the school pedagogical system.  The inaugural Anant Summer IsCool, hosted at our campus in Ahmedabad, was designed as an initiative to reach out to as many schools as possible to prototype this novel curriculum to create awareness amongst students in classes 8 – 12, parents, principals, teachers and career counsellors about design – its meaning, impact and its fast expanding job market. For the inaugural session, 75 participants, studying in classes 8 to 12, from 26 schools and 12 cities were selected to attend. The Anant Summer IsCool introduced a diverse group of students and educators to the world of creativity and critical thinking harnessed to solve problems through hands-on workshops on design specialisations such as product, communication, experience, animation and photography by eminent designers. Through Design Thinking masterclasses, Anant hosted an Emmy-nominated animator, a National Award-winning filmmaker, a TV personality, as well as expert Indian academicians.

Anant National University, India’s first design university, has offered to address a huge gap in our school pedagogical system through specially created courses and workshops for schools across the country to help them implement NEP’s recommendation to integrate design thinking in their curriculum and realise its potential to mould our young students into problem solvers. The University offers design workshops for teachers, principals, school counsellors and parents.

Q2. What is design thinking, and how can it revolutionise education in India? 

The National Education Policy 2020 called for the curricular inclusion of Design Thinking. Design Thinking trains students to understand the world they live in and its problems, and helps them devise their solutions through empathy, creativity, ideation and experimentation.  Designers are expected to be multi and interdisciplinary problem solvers who use the design thinking process to combat real-world problems like climate change, water scarcity, healthcare and more. Rising numbers of young creative individuals are opting to pursue undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programmes in fields that impact our built environment as well as harness future technology to reimagine and recreate the world. Design includes the study of humanities through understanding of culture and societies, science and technology, as well as commerce through entrepreneurship.

Thus, design as a super discipline will revolutionise the education system of our country. Through this initiative named Anant Summer IsCool, Anant National University aims to create awareness about Design and the wide applicability of design thinking. Anant is on a mission to reach out to schools across the country to train students, their parents and school management-government stakeholders through specially designed courses and workshops to help implement NEP’s recommendation to integrate design thinking in the school curriculum and realise its potential to mould our young students into problem solvers

Q3. So far the Indian education system has relied on the traditional learning process, not leveraging creativity, critical thinking, experiential or community immersion. Having said this, how can students use design thinking to solve real-world problems in their community?

Design is a discipline that combines our creative skills with our critical thinking abilities to bring about innovative and transformative solutions and could replace the rote learning pedagogy. It integrates the right brain with the left and draws from our higher cognitive processes. Our approach to education needs to change through pedagogical methods that allow children to develop their full potential and become problem solvers of the future and to enhance the impact of the Indian industry globally through design. Design education will help school students develop skills that enable them to think creatively and critically and enhance their potential to create value and solve problems of the future.

Design education in schools can help students develop :

Creative thinking

Analytical thinking skills

Problem-solving skills

Emotional intelligence

When made aware of the Design Thinking process, students can better identify the right problem by moving out of books and the classroom to learn from communities through experiential learning. This enables students to design and address problems and reimagine a smart and sustainable solution through ideation. Children are natively imaginative and interested in problem-solving. Young students indeed have the potential to address problems such as water scarcity through innovative ways to prevent wastage. The real purpose of schools and their education is to mold their students into problem solvers. Young learners must be introduced to the discipline of design and its practice.

Q4. The National Education Policy recommends teaching design education for classes 6 to class 12. Why is educating students about this important at a young age?

It is very important that young students become aware of the power of imagination, creativity and learning, that is oriented towards solving problems. An ideal education system should encourage curiosity and problem-solving in children from a young age to become a habit in them. Design thinking is a human-centred process for problem-solving and creating a sustainable future. The fact that many parents and teachers do not know much about design or design education offers a great challenge to the implementation of the NEP provision. The common understanding of design confuses it with drawing, sketching and crafts. Lately, however, in the Indian industry, there is a better understanding and appreciation for design. Designers are seen as innovators- crafting the future –integrating multidisciplinary knowledge domains to solve global problems. There is a strong need to create design awareness and sensitivity amongst our young students, teachers and parents. Schools currently face a paucity of design teaching resources. Anant National University is reaching out to schools to help them realise the objectives of NEP to train their students to become creative problem solvers through hands-on-workshops, curated courses and expert mentorship.

Q5. What is the future of design education in India? Can you also highlight the various job prospects that come with design learning?

Design education will help school students develop skills that enable them to think creatively and critically and enhance their potential to create value and solve problems of the present and the future. With the inclusion of Design Thinking in the school curriculum, students will be able to deploy their creativity and ability to think critically to create solutions for the wicked problems that plague our world. Creativity integrated with the use of science and technology will help students become innovative problem solvers and entrepreneurs. The prospect of design as a future career has also blossomed exponentially in the last decade with a current global market size of more than $1888.32 billion. As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, exponential growth is set to continue for the next decade in the design job market making it one of the most sought-after career choices. Design roles are not just limited to creative agencies, fashion houses or marketing firms but are found in nearly every sector such as startups, software and AI giants, e-commerce, digital marketing, and even consulting. Multi and interdisciplinary teams are preferred over teams with homogeneous skill sets, thus opening up the global job market for designers.