Design education 'must adapt' to maintain UK industry dominance

A new report shows that while the UK is Europe’s powerhouse for design, tough times lie ahead for the current crop of design students without a new approach to design education.

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.” Those were the words of one of the UK's leading industrial designers, Dick Powell, at a major industry debate on the future of design in the UK hosted by the Audi Design Foundation, a registered charity which supports young designers.

Powell was discussing a new report, ‘Making the most of design excellence:  equipping UK designers to succeed in the global economy’, which was commissioned by the Audi Design Foundation and conducted by Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London.

The debate panel was chaired by Royal College of Art Prof Jeremy Myerson. Alongside Myerson and Powell examining the report were Sir Christopher Frayling, Dean of the Royal College of Art, Mark Beatson, Director of Science and Innovation Analysis at the Department of Trade and Industry, Lesley Morris, Head of Design Skills at the Design Council, together with Tanaka Business School’s Dr Jennifer Whyte, who co-wrote the report with Professor John Bessant .

The recent debate (8 February) was attended by a capacity crowd of designers, design educators, policy makers, journalists and industry advocates.

The new report, launched on the same day, presents a snapshot of the design industries – it challenges our current assumptions about design, the way it is changing and the opportunities ahead.

In the report, design companies and agencies claim that the majority of design students are not receiving the training necessary for them to succeed in the field. The consequence of this mismatch of graduates with employment needs means that over 10% of design graduates are unemployed six months after graduation - a high percentage compared to business and management graduates (5.9%) or civil engineering (3.9%).

Jeremy Hicks, the Audi Design Foundation’s Chair of Trustees, says:  “The lively debate was a rare opportunity for designers and educators to come together to discuss the tough challenges, which the UK design industry is currently facing.  A network of emerging markets and the export of industrial power have shifted the balance, meaning that education will have to adapt if the design industry is to maintain its enviable reputation and to stay ahead of an increasingly international game”.

The UK's design industry is the biggest in Europe, with 140,000 people employed (in comparison with countries such as France with only 25,000).  With over 55,000 students currently studying design in the UK, this means that more than 11,000 graduates are fighting for just 6,500 job openings in the design field each year. 

The report suggested a set of complementary skills that designers need to make the most of their design skills in innovation.  This includes a need for brokering skills, plus the need to manage client relations and international supply chains, the ability to have hands-on knowledge of production, and the ability to use tool-kits for innovation - in other words to have a full understanding of the fast-moving world of new techniques.

The report's co-author, Dr Jennifer Whyte of Tanaka Business School, says:  “Our research shows there is a clear difference between what employers in the design industry expect from graduates in the way of skill sets, and what universities and educational institutions are teaching them. However, the UK still has a strong lead in design on most other countries in the world, and by ensuring that current design education is more relevant, we hope to see the UK economy continue to reap the benefits of the excellent design talent we produce.”

In the face of these facts, Dr Whyte believes that learning new skills and new systems are the number one challenge facing design educators in this country. With China in the process of opening 1,100 new design schools and colleges, international competition has never been so fierce.

Dr Whyte adds:  “The study shows that the image of the design industries is out-of-date.  Designers need to get value out of their core design skills.  We also need to be shaping students' expectations so they can play useful roles not only in the design industries but also as design clients.”

The debate panel concluded that quality, not quantity, was of utmost importance in design education, yet without an understanding of the new world of outsourcing and manufacturing migration, design students would be unlikely to succeed.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Tanaka Business School
Eoin Bedford
T:  +44 (0) 20 7594 9154
E:  e.bedford@imperial.ac.uk

Note to Editors

1. A summary of the debate and the report, ‘Making the most of design excellence:  equipping UK designers to succeed in the global economy’, are available on request.

2. Audi Design Foundation – www.audidesignfoundation.org

The Audi Design Foundation is an independent charity established by Audi UK.  As it enters its 10th anniversary year, the Foundation is involved in key projects to achieve its aim:  to encourage and empower designers by supporting and promoting designs that create a positive change in people’s lives. 

Major projects include ‘Designs for Life’ – a grants programme (the Foundation has already awarded more than £650,000 in grants since its inception) and ‘Designs of Substance’ – an initiative which challenges undergraduates with design briefs set by communities in the developing world.

3. Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London – www.imperial.ac.uk/tanaka

Imperial College's Tanaka Business School is a world-class provider of business education and research, focusing primarily on Imperial strengths in innovation and entrepreneurship, finance and healthcare management. The School offers full-time and executive MBAs, Master's programmes in Finance, Risk Management, International Health Management, Actuarial Finance and Management; and a Doctoral programme. The School has built strong ties with the Royal College of Art and offers some modules in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Finance to selected industrial design postgraduates. Website: www.imperial.ac.uk/tanaka