December 2024

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 dec 2024

Even though India's education system churns out one of the largest batch of science and engineering graduates, but there are human resources issues related to quality, lack of skills and employability. According to India's Ministry of Education out of 2.5 million STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grauates in 2020 about 15% are in engineering and computer science. World Economic Forum data suggests that only 1 out of 5 engineering graduates are employable. Prof. Anunaya Chaubey, Provost and Dean of Design School at Anant National University and Prof. Ashima Sood, Director at Centre for Urbanism and Creative Economics, suggest that design education can be a way out of India's STEM education and workforce challenges as it complements and adds value to engineering education. They say, 'Even though design and engineering fields do not fully overlap, a focus on materials, products and processes characterises both. Yet in domains such as interaction, product or textiles, designers provide the last-mile connect to the end-user. Engineers are trained to build tools for which applications must be found. In contrast, designers are trained to deploy tools to solve problems in the real world.' They add, 'The interdisciplinary and strategic toolkit of design thus help students thrive over the course of their careers in all kinds of institutional and entrepreneurial settings...Design education thus provides society with a more agile and resilient workforce. No wonder design departments are growing fast. Beyond degree programmes, design training in short-term certificate and diploma programmes can serve as an employability accelerant for India's vast army of STEM graduates.' Read on...

The Economic Times: Designing the Future: Transforming India's Education
Authors: Anunaya Chaubey, Ashima Sood

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 dec 2024

Even though India's education system churns out one of the largest batch of science and engineering graduates, but there are human resources issues related to quality, lack of skills and employability. According to India's Ministry of Education out of 2.5 million STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grauates in 2020 about 15% are in engineering and computer science. World Economic Forum data suggests that only 1 out of 5 engineering graduates are employable. Prof. Anunaya Chaubey, Provost and Dean of Design School at Anant National University and Prof. Ashima Sood, Director at Centre for Urbanism and Creative Economics, suggest that design education can be a way out of India's STEM education and workforce challenges as it complements and adds value to engineering education. They say, 'Even though design and engineering fields do not fully overlap, a focus on materials, products and processes characterises both. Yet in domains such as interaction, product or textiles, designers provide the last-mile connect to the end-user. Engineers are trained to build tools for which applications must be found. In contrast, designers are trained to deploy tools to solve problems in the real world.' They add, 'The interdisciplinary and strategic toolkit of design thus help students thrive over the course of their careers in all kinds of institutional and entrepreneurial settings...Design education thus provides society with a more agile and resilient workforce. No wonder design departments are growing fast. Beyond degree programmes, design training in short-term certificate and diploma programmes can serve as an employability accelerant for India's vast army of STEM graduates.' Read on...

The Economic Times: Designing the Future: Transforming India's Education
Authors: Anunaya Chaubey, Ashima Sood