INSD Increases Access to Design Education Throughout India

INSD has been recognized with awards such as the Times of India's Excellence in Design Education Award, AICTE honors.

The International School of Design (INSD), an emerging network of design education in India, is committed to increasing access to quality creative education in Tier-2, Tier-3, and rural India. With 75+ centers spread across 21 states, the institution is on a mission to grow its network to 2,000 study centers and cater to one million students by 2030.

Speaking on The Success Playbook Podcast by Expertrons and Shine, INSD Group CEO Pranav Raaj Aggarwall said, “Our goal is to ensure that wherever design education is thought of in India—people consider INSD. We’re focused on scale while maintaining quality.”

INSD was started in Delhi and has a partner-led structure where local entrepreneurs start centers, with faculty hiring, curriculum design, and training taking place centrally."We saw that there was design talent outside metro cities, but the infrastructure was not as developed. We set up INSD to fill that gap," said Aggarwall.

The institute uses a 70:30 practice-to-theory training system and conducts an annual national-level Talent Show in Delhi. It also provides global exposure to students in the form of learning tours to design capitals such as Paris, UK, and Dubai. "We want students to begin believing they are designers even when they are not graduating," he further added.

To ensure there is uniformity in all the locations, INSD standardizes assignments, modules, examinations, and even faculty assessments. "Quality at the last mile is non-negotiable," Aggarwall said. He mentioned success stories such as a Mumbai partner who grew from one to three campuses in a very competitive market.

The franchise model is made turnkey, with end-to-end support from infrastructure planning to marketing provided by INSD. "It's a plug-and-play setup. New partners get our experience and brand equity from day one," Aggarwall added.

Jatin Solanki, podcast host and Co-founder of Expertrons, spoke about the  INSD model. "The design talent was always there in the small towns. INSD has brought education in design to the masses where it can make a difference," stated Solanki, an alumnus of IIT Bombay, and the founder of  Eduisfun (backed by Amitabh Bachchan) with 15+ years of experience in the education industry.

INSD has been awarded recognition such as the Times of India's Excellence in Design Education Award, AICTE honors, and Uttar Pradesh's 2023 award from the Education Minister for being a rapidly-growing design school chain in India.

"We want INSD to be a name to reckon with when design education is thought of in India," Aggarwall said.