Spread in over 60 acres, the GD Goenka Education City currently housing the GD Goenka World School, situated in the picturesque foothills of the Aravali Range on the Gurgaon-Sohna Road, is expanding the concept of school to include higher studies under GD Goenka University, which also includes the School of Fashion & Design. Providing academic leadership to the school, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, former Dean of NIFT, Delhi is very confident of giving a new niche in design education, different from the other fashion institutes in the NCR. As the new venture rolls out its inaugural academic session to commence in August 2013, Dr. Gupta talks to Apparel Online on why the GD Goenka School of Fashion & Design (GDG SOFD) is unique…
n a country where B-schools dominate career options, not many realize that the need for design professionals is on the rise. In fact, India’s annual consumption of design services in 2012 was estimated at Rs. 3,400 crore and is expected to grow 400% in the next 4 years. “Design and creative industry in India represents a vibrant, varied and dynamic sector that is growing at a phenomenal pace bringing in a lot of opportunities that far outstrip the supply of design professionals,” says Dr. Gupta. India currently produces about 1,200 design professionals a year against a requirement of 7,000 to 8,000.
It is this gap that the GDG SOFD is attempting to fill in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano School of Design, which is ranked Number 1 in Italy, as the best and the largest technical university of architecture, design and engineering, Numbered 18th in Europe and 48th in the world among technical universities. “One of the biggest factors that will set us apart from other institutes is the way education will be dissimulated. While most other institutes including NID and NIFT are modelled on the American way of design education where the focus is more on interpreting inspirations and quick turnaround of product, our school is created on the Italian model where innovation and originality is the core,” says Dr. Gupta.
[bleft]Design and Innovation is a process, a system, a way of thinking… an interactive process that progresses through some well defined stages of defining a problem or brief, researching the background, creating potential solutions, resolving solutions into prototypes, selecting a solution best suited for the problem defined, delivering the solution and learning from the feedback… Design Thinking is involved in each stage of this journey, evolving multiple solutions to a given problem which can differ widely in terms of creativity, practicability and budget.[/bleft]
The academic collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, promises a true Italian flavour to teaching and learning methodology of all programmes from fashion to graphics, communication, media, interior and industrial products. The Italian faculty/experts will be present to impart true design fundamentals both physically and through live video classroom teaching. The programme will also offer exchange programmes and trips to Italy, with a possibility to graduate in Italy.” collaboration represents the best of Indo-Italian collaboration in the Field of design education and the teaching and learning methodology of all programmes will be benchmarked to Polimi Standards,” informs Dr. Gupta.
With companies like Google, Nike, Motorola, Apple and PepsiCo hunting for smart, creative types, posting jobs seeking candidates with “design thinking” backgrounds the possibilities are infinite. “We are not going to train students to join an industry, but to be thought leaders in a world where every industry is looking for creative thinkers,” says Dr. Gupta. The challenge according to him is not rolling out the school, but to live up to the vision and move up to the top of the design school rankings. “One of the most important things that we intent to do, is to regularly upgrade learning so that the teaching and the application of knowledge are not poles apart. Extensive use of IT is incidental as designs are now created on computers not paper,” says Dr. Gupta.
The campus with most modern infrastructure will have all facilities similar to Politecnico di Milano for which GDG is investing in the latest tools for each programme, including labs and work studios. The GDG SOFD facilities include air-conditioned campus, a modern library with multimedia facilities, state-of-the-art computer labs, construction labs, modern workshops with broadband connectivity and video conferencing. It also has world class sports facilities like an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, athletic track, multipurpose hall, amphitheatre and medical centre.
Dr. Gupta is very confident that with a combination of infrastructure, world class faculty and European approach to design, the newly instituted School of Fashion & Design will be a happy hunting ground for talent for business leaders from all industries, both in India and abroad.
