The Future Design School: A Blueprint for Reimagining Design Education in Singapore
As Singapore transforms from an industrial economy towards an innovation economy, our workforce must be ready to seize emerging opportunities and to tackle the complex and interconnected challenges that arise. Design can equip our workers with the much sought-after capabilities of creative problem solving and systems thinking. It also nurtures a sense of curiosity and encourages life-long learning. This is why design should be taught to everyone, not just to designers.
The Design Education Advisory Committee (DEAC) calls for a ‘Future Design School’, where design thinking is part of everyday learning from primary school. At the higher education level, all students are part of a network of different Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) unified by the DEAC’s Point-of-Vision. Each IHL will contribute new knowledge and practices in design, ensuring continuous knowledge and experience exchange. Students will be grounded in core design principles, gaining professional skills and engaging in transdisciplinary practice and thinking.
Read the DEAC Term 2 Report (April 2022 – March 2024)
Key Burning Platforms
In recent years, the world has faced multiple disruptions, from pandemics to wars, leading to heightened insecurity in economies and societies. Countries are undergoing significant restructuring to address pressing issues reshaping the world. To navigate these complex challenges, we must update our mindsets, skills, and capabilities. Design plays a crucial role in this process, as it fosters both analytical and creative skills—two of the most in-demand abilities in the job market and society for the coming years.
DEAC Vision
The DEAC envisions that by Year 2050, Singapore would have developed the next generation of creative thinkers, problem solvers, and a global, resilient workforce that will use design to help the nation thrive in the future economy. The following are three recommendations to realise this vision:
- To shape a design education system that is unique to Singapore and globally recognised;
- To amalgamate design education and the creative industry; and
- To build the DEAC as the go-to platform for thought and practice leadership on design education.
A Point-of-Vision for the Future of Design Education
The Point-of-Vision consists of six distinct yet interconnected pillars to transform design education in Singapore. Each pillar develops a set of capability drivers and content directions deemed essential by the DEAC for shaping the future workforce. The significance of each pillar has been thoroughly discussed, along with potential actions for their implementation. The IHLs have also reviewed against each pillar to assess the gaps and opportunities.
About the DEAC
The DEAC was established by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) and appointed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in April 2020 as the first national platform for design education thought and practice leadership. Comprising leaders from the IHLs, the design industry and non-design sector, as well as policymakers from the government agencies, the committee aims to shape the quality of design education and embed design into the nation’s education system. It signals the government’s commitment to develop a workforce with the relevant skills needed by the design industry and the wider economy. The DEAC’s formation is one of five key recommendations from the Design Education Review Committee (DERC) to strengthen school-industry links and improve the quality of manpower with relevant design skills.
Mr Low Cheaw Hwei
DEAC Chairman
“ DEAC has spent the past 4 years shaping the foundations of what and how design education in Singapore could and should be for the next 25 years. Conceptualised as The Future Design School, it reimagines learning through design across the continuum of education with design championing the sweet-spot between humanities, technology and the arts; it will be an exciting future! ”
