Director, Academics – IIAD on ‘Design for better future’

Due to the onslaught of the pandemic, higher education has faced a tsunami of issues regarding the teaching - learning systems and processes. This disruption has created a fertile ground for the transformation of the higher education system at the global level. It brought in some very important decisions in the education policies to help relieve the detrimental effects of the pandemic. Educators worked overtime to brainstorm and experiment in order to keep the requirements of teaching & learning on track. The student community adapted rapidly and accepted the challenge thrown up by the pandemic. They realised that the “new normal” made learning more flexible yet more focused. The teaching fraternity too quickly grasped and trained themselves to deal with the new reality of technology and the digital world. They adapted to the transformation from “in-person” to virtual education by learning, unlearning and relearning. After two and a half years of adaptation of various methods, techniques and activities of online learning, it was finally possible to discover an effective and exciting way of knowledge transformation. It fostered creativity in ideas and redefined the approaches to problem management and solutions. One key development from this has been the formation of our new subsidiary - AND Academy, an online upskilling platform, through which we as educators are making design education accessible, affordable and industry-relevant. 

Education requires us to focus on the new realities and to contribute to the betterment of society. One needs to carve a path where one is not thinking only about oneself but also thinking about humanity. It requires a huge mind shift in people and with experience, one can learn to balance what is right for oneself and what is right for the world. The youth must learn to choose their career paths to find these opportunities to do the right thing and thereby be empowered to make the right decisions. While choosing a job, should one be thinking just about one’s progression or about humanity at large? Should a project only advance one’s career or advance society? Create a product for market purpose only or to serve humanity? To design for the future one must follow a human centric approach that is sensitive to the changing environment and would contribute towards a better life for all. It must be inherently creative, innovative and applicable.