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The fast-evolving design sector in India makes the choice of getting into the right design college particularly paramount for aspiring creatives. Nuanced takes on how students should approach their choices, and what sets good institutions apart, come from visionaries such as Dr. Sanjay Gupta from World University of Design.

Breadth of Specialisations

The best design schools offer a variety of programs, from traditional fields of graphic and fashion design to new fields such as digital products, UX/UI design, animation, gaming, and industrial design. The WUD offers choices for more than 40 programs at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels in order to align with diverse interests and career goals.​

Industry Links

 At this time, this is very critical for skill development and also to keep the students employable. The curriculum at WUD integrates real-world projects in partnership with leading firms, opening the doors to future opportunities.​ 

Mentorship Culture 

Effective design education goes beyond mere mastery of skills into personal growth and the creative mindset. Colleges that boast strong mentorship by accomplished faculty and visiting professionals nurture reflection, guidance, and career clarity. Mentorship is intrinsic to WUD's model in helping students come into confidence to shape their aspirations.​ 

Practical Learning Opportunities

 The most successful design schools believe in experiential learning through studios, workshops, and interdisciplinary modules. WUD places students in the midst of live industry projects and allows experimentation to prepare them for new emerging roles in digital and product design.

​ Global Exposure 

Global perspectives will be of immense benefit in today's interlinked world. WUD is recognized by UGC and offers merit-based and special scholarships for meritorious students.​

While choosing a design institute, look at them holistically: specialisation offerings, mentorship, industry links, hands-on learning, and global reach. On all counts, World University of Design, Sonipat represents this, thereby enabling students to have highly dynamic and successful careers across the wide spectrum of design.

One of the most important instruments for influencing a student's education is the curriculum. The 2023 World Economic Forum Future of Jobs report predicts that by 2030, the growth of AI, the demand for sustainability, and the use of big data would have altered over 40% of occupational abilities.

According to UNESCO's recent web article, the imperative is toward developing lifelong learning and interdisciplinarity in students in order to prepare them for the complexity of the future. In their generation, rapid technological, environmental, and social changes urgently call for a rethink of higher education across disciplines.

In this changing scenario, the roles of design schools everywhere would be entirely different by the year 2030. Most of the design programs these days align their curricula with theoretical concepts and cases that are already outdated, while mastery of tools and techniques includes the primary ones, such as typography and sketching.

On the other hand, designers who can look beyond the aesthetic solution of systems design for complex challenges are in increasing demand. As a matter of fact, the whole design industry, which once was about sketching, ergonomics, and prototyping, is adapting to make room for subjects such as artificial intelligence, bio-design, extended reality (XR), robotics, and sustainability technologies-issues that today are the new essentials in a creative curriculum.

Leading design schools around the world, such as MIT Media Lab from the US, L'École de design Nantes Atlantique from France, Parsons School of Design from the US, Royal College of Art from the UK, Stanford d.school from the US, and The Design Village from India, have already taken important steps to adapt to this new reality. It is this transition that other design schools around the world should embark on. The new framework needs to concentrate on: Transdisciplinary Knowledge: For designers to become more deeply trained in tackling some of society's increasingly complex and interconnected problems, they would need a transdisciplinary approach-one that incorporates knowledge and methods but also the perspectives from technology, social sciences, environmental studies, and the arts. This will also give designers a better understanding of how to work with other professionals in dealing with uncertainty and co-creating meaningful futures. Tech Collaboration: Technology needs to be integrated within the curriculum of global design colleges in the form of AI - understanding generative AI, algorithmic limits, and ethical risks; Big Data - using Big Data for underpinning design decisions and for assessing impact; Metaverse - to use AR, VR, and XR for immersive prototyping and experiential storytelling; and Robotics - for them to understand technology and design interactions for adaptive systems, wearables, and responsive environments. Ethics and Policy: The rapid changes in the creative industry, along with recognition of the design process in non-creative industries, means design schools will have to institutionalize courses on IP rights, legal implications of creative work, policy-sensitive design, ethical literacy, etc. New Material & Fabrication Practices: Design schools, by 2030, need to change the emphasis of regular material and prototyping courses toward circular materials, computational fabrication, net-zero prototyping, and embedding sustainability metrics. In the future, courses will have to put emphasis on a 'creative' and 'critical' lens whereby students test out ideas and explore material behavior, but also understand the ecological and ethical and technological implications of production.

Future designers' education will need to be rethought by design schools. They will need to educate designers who can contribute significantly to the development of ethical technology, sustainable economies, and inclusive societies—designers who simultaneously think like artists, anthropologists, and scientists. Only when global d-schools institute this expanded role of designers will the world be in a position to leverage the full potential of design.

Design education today in India has grown beyond curriculum delivery, with the best institutions and mentors acting as catalysts in personal and professional development.

Defining Purpose and Building Direction

Students are guided through consistent mentorship in specializations, choosing the right streams, and on to portfolio building as a reflection of an individual journey.​

Practical Exposure and Integration with Industry

According to Dr. Gupta, students should seek colleges offering much more than classroom lectures since real impact through experiential learning-internships, live industry projects, coworking with professional design firms, and collaborative studios-is what exposes students to real-life problems and solutions.​

WUD is one of those institutes that work hand in hand with the top design and creative enterprises to ensure practical experience along with academic learning. Summer internships, competitive placements, and direct links with alumni enable students to build up their network and skill set, making them more market-ready.​ Holistic Mentorship and Portfolio Guidance Mentorship at an institution like WUD is multi-dimensional, drawing upon experienced faculty, visiting professionals, and alumni networks. Students get guidance related not only to technical skills but also towards developing critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and career planning. Faculty and industry mentors help learners build robust portfolios and refine their unique voice as designers.​ Special wings like IDEAHATCH at WUD encourage entrepreneurship through one-on-one expert mentorship, exposure to innovation labs, ideation, patenting, and business setup for aspiring design entrepreneurs.​ Collaborative and Innovation-Friendly Environments These institutions that invest in infrastructure, creative labs, industry partnerships, and alumni associations provide a safe space for experimentation, collaboration, and development for students to grow as independent thinkers and professionals.​ Conclusion Mentorship and institutional support are very essential to getting a holistic and enriching design education. Aspirants will do well by choosing those colleges that encourage real-world exposure, collaboration, and strong support systems to guide personal and career growth-as is the practice in top institutions like WUD

The Indian design industry is in a process of dynamic transformation, now extending well beyond areas related to fashion or interior design to such aspects as digital, industrial, and experiential domains. As the Vice Chancellor of the World University of Design, Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains, the current wave of design education is all about translating creativity into problem-solving, user-centricity, and innovation.

The design industry in the present times is an all-encompassing industry, from graphic and web design to UX/UI design, animation, industrial product design, and digital media. This diversity is fueled by new-age demands in which visual identity and user experience have become intrinsic to how businesses communicate with consumers. As Dr. Gupta also points out, design today is embedded in fields like technology, healthcare, education, retail, and brand strategy-things that were hitherto thought to be outside the realm of a designer's work.

Dr. Gupta asks students to begin the design journey on a very introspective note by deeply understanding their personal interests and natural aptitudes. According to him, the laying of the foundation rooted in understanding one's own inclinations-be it a love for drawing, digital art, or visual composition; or maybe fascination with emerging technology or an instinct at solving complex problems-is what will steer one to a satisfying career in design. As far as young professionals are concerned, it helps them to identify their right specialization early on, provides them with long-term vision, and aids in gaining a competitive edge.

He further emphasizes that design as a career in India is at an exponential growth stage. With companies increasingly realizing how design tells the story of brands, makes products more usable, and creates customer engagement, skilled designers are increasingly sought after. Be it as a freelancer, startup, or global corporation, designers today are not mere creators; they're strategists influencing the way people interact with the world through thoughtfully designed interventions. According to Dr. Gupta, it is the embracing of both creativity and technology that will define the next generation of designers. The future belongs to those who blend artistic sensitivity with analytic reasoning by merging aesthetic appeal with functionality and purpose.

The Manipal Academy of Higher Education, MAHE, is one of the country's leading professional education institutions and offers full-spectrum design programs in three major disciplines of Interior & Furniture Design, Product & Industrial Design, and UI/UX Design. The courses have been designed keeping in view the fast-changing global market demand for creative and industry-ready professionals with hands-on skills and fresh thinking in design. Thus, the transition from academia into professional life will be very smooth because of the practical learning, studio-based pedagogy, and active engagement with the industry offered by these design programs. 

Students will be introduced to the latest infrastructure with well-equipped workshops featuring the latest industry-relevant software used across the world by professionals in design. As part of the training process, regular exposure to studio sessions, live industry projects, and internships brings real design challenges to the students. Further refinement in creative and technical skills shall be ensured through evaluation by industry experts including the possibility of participation in national and international competitions. These programs shall strengthen conceptualization, innovation and delivery in design ideas. 

The graduate would be guided by highly qualified faculty and industry professionals in conceiving and delivering creative design solutions to solve human needs, aesthetics and functionality. Programs Offered: B.Sc. Interior and Furniture Design B.Design (Interior and Furniture Design) B.Design (Product and Industrial Design) B.Design (User Interface/User Experience – UI/UX Design) Each course covers creativity, technology, and practicality, making the students confident designers who will be able to adapt to the standards of the global industry. Thus, sustainability, digital innovation, and entrepreneurship are just three areas of concentration within the curriculum that go on to lead today's design industry. 

With inter-disciplinary learning emphasized, all the students in the varied programmes would get an opportunity to work together on the design challenges, development of prototypes, interaction with industry leaders through workshops and seminars. Applications are invited from interested candidates. Budding designers can log on to and explore the diverse career options these programs offer in the fast-growing design sector in India. Keywords: design programs in India, Manipal Academy of design courses, B.Design UI/UX, Product Design, Interior and Furniture Design course, Industrial Design, Creative careers, design education in India.

With the age of unending disruption for companies, design-driven thinking has emerged as an unstoppable force for success, and NID's program is leading the charge.

The curriculum of the course is designed to develop creativity, future orientation, and innovation. The students are taught to rethink traditional models of management and leadership through strategic design interventions. The emphasis is on applying human-centered, systemic, and synergetic approaches to real business and organizational challenges — from creating sustainable models to designing effective leadership approaches.

Unlike standard management studies, this course encourages experiential learning and real-time problem-solving. Through industry and social organization partnerships, live projects, and workshops, students are provided with hands-on exposure to how design can be used to impact strategic outcomes. The course is structured in such a way that students graduate not only as designers but as strategic thinkers — people who understand how to combine creativity with business wisdom to drive innovation and transformation.

With 19 seats only, M.Des. in Strategic Design Management is an intimate, highly competitive learning environment that fosters collaboration and mentorship. Located at NID's Gandhinagar Campus, the programme is appropriate for those who want to lead at the nexus of design, management, and innovation.

As the world's industries look more and more towards design-driven leadership, NID's graduates in Strategic Design Management are set to be future-ready professionals — individuals capable of advancing beyond near-term problems and designing solutions that last.