The Future of Design Education: The Most Relevant Trends and Insights for the Next 5 Years

With design education evolving in India are some of the major numbers and figures defining these changes both in India and internationally, so one may actually see where design education would stand five years down the line.

Cross-Disciplinary Learning and Collaboration

Cross-disciplinary methods and design thinking, as cited in a McKinsey report, enabled corporations to grow 30% beyond comparable-sized corporations and are critical elements in design education.

Emphasis on Sustainability and Social Responsibility

Circular Economy will be a $4.5 trillion industry by 2030 in the entire world, and that is a historic moment for design educationists to make the students learn green product design as thoroughly as green innovation. They want to be educated in such a way that they are able to come up with solutions to environmental and social issues and thus redefine the process of designing courses everywhere.

Adoption of New Technologies

Global Stats

The global AR/VR market is expected to reach $209.2 billion by 2027 with a CAGR of 18%. The trend is also affecting design education with schools and educational institutions adopting immersive technologies for interactive learning and prototyping.

 It is due to growing interest in AI-based design software within India. In the year 2023, 47% of Indian students choose to study design courses interested in learning AR/VR and AI technology as part of their course, according to a KPMG report, reflecting rising interest in technology-oriented courses in design.

Emphasis on Interactive and Digital Design

Global Figures:

According to Statista (2023), 75% of global companies today leave their web presence accessible to UX/UI design. Consequently, the demand for professionally qualified UX/UI designers rose more than 50% during the last three years.

The international UX/UI Design industry is anticipated to expand by 16% every year until it reaches a point when it will total $6.3 billion as of 2026.

Indian Scenario: The Indian UX/UI design industry increased at a compound annual growth rate of 22% for the past two years. Skilled UX/UI designers will see increased demand by 20% year over year in the coming years, as visualized by NASSCOM. According to a LinkedIn survey (2023), Indian students who were interested in studying design preferred to become a UX/UI design specialist by 60%, reflecting the need for interactive design training.

Global and Online Learning Experience

Global Statistics:

Worldwide online design courses have grown 100% over the past five years, and almost every design school has virtual classes, live classes, and global classroom experience, says Coursera.

Cross-Disciplinary Design Thinking Integration

Global Stats:

60% of the world's largest organizations (Apple, IBM, and Google included) have adopted design thinking as their main innovation and problem-solving strategy, a 2019 Stanford d.school survey found. It is bringing design thinking into mainstream education, outside the confines of traditional design disciplines.

Indian Context: Design Thinking is being made a central education paradigm in India, with institutions like the Design Foundation advancing its relevance in engineering, business, and health streams. It's projected that 50% of Indian centers of higher learning will have design thinking as a course by 2028, more in engineering and business management.

With the expansion in design education, interdisciplinarity in studies, emerging technology, and sustainability will be the force behind change. Design education is getting more adaptive, socially responsible, and technology-focused at global and Indian levels. The next five years have plenty to offer as regards expansion in the areas of AI, UX/UI design, sustainability, and knowledge transfer from other disciplines. By adopting such trends, design schools and instructors will ensure the next generation of designers are well prepared with the necessary skills and are able to deal with the challenges of an evolving world.

Explore UID's New Design Programs

The future of education is changing and dynamic, and United world Institute of Design has taken it upon themselves to equip students with the challenges of the future. Focused on future technologies, sustainability, and interdisciplinarity, UID is offering 21 advanced programs in 7 departments.

No matter which fashion design, communications, UX/UI, animation, or other designs one is interested in, UID has facilities and room for one to excel. Furthermore, our Global Design Program (GDP) offers students global exposure and experience to equip them with international design challenges.