Hello everyone...this is my first post to this list, so I'm really looking
forward to your responses.
I would like to pose the following question:
'Is design education under-performing because students and lecturers are
fixated with the perceived requirements of design consultancies?'
In an attempt to highlight areas for improvement in design education I have
been looking at the common and contrasting expectations of design students,
lecturers and practitioners. However, I made the mistake of assuming that
the purpose of design education is to feed into consultancies and the like.
I don't think I am alone in this misconception, as it seems most students go
to university to be 'designers' (in consultancies / self employment /
in-house design teams) and both the marketing spiel given on UCAS tours and
the projects set whilst at university would tend to suggest that this is
where lecturers are pitching their courses too.
To my mind, this is in effect hiding the scope of design from the students
by being overly focussed on the work of the consultant. Design is central
to the creation of wealth and the advancement of humankind, so the scope for
employment is huge! Is there perhaps some fear that students will reject a
course if they feel they are not being geared up for consultancy work?
There is a great deal more that I would like to add to this post, but for
now I'll keep it short and sweet, where some more ideas can hopefully be
explored through debate.
Thanks in advance for your insight,
Daniel
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