Reimagining design education: Renewal and transformation

We live in a time when change is happening globally to an unprecedented extent. The awareness of the phenomena underpins the current discourse and research activities in design and design education. Many design educators understand the demand for change and are looking for new strategies to respond to it. The challenge is how to transform and renew design disciplines and its learning processes so that the next generation of designers can actively and responsibly promote change. Some educators are already focusing on the dimensions of change, namely, contemporary issues such as climate change and sustainable goals. Others are reflecting on how to deal with a world which is becoming more complex and uncertain and considering alternative ways of identifying and developing more sustainable solutions to cope with pressing complex issues. Others yet, are investigating the role of evolving technologies in design education and curricula development. Some are exploring the designers' role and their impact on the changing society. Faced with the complexities that define our present and future lives, design practices can intervene in different ways. In our view, design education must have the capacity to create connections and forms of collaborations amongst creative, human, and science research areas to address the complexities of our times and generate new knowledges, new experiences of experimentation, and new forms of collaboration. With such approach, design educators can support design students in becoming agents of change.