The India Design Council (IDC) launched the Chartered Designs of India (CDI) and the Design Education Quality Mark (DEQM) in New Delhi today.

These two initiatives of IDC and National Institute of design, Ahmedabad will help to address the 5 challenges of scale, quality of design, quality of education for design, raising the priority for design in industry and design for public purpose.

As Design Education gains momentum in India, it is necessary that commissioners of Design projects and designers are able to distinguish qualified professional designers as against hobbyists and non-professionals. India has a growing design ecosystem that has resulted in growth both in employment of creative skills and impact in the service sector. Creative manufacturing and design innovation will be the key drivers in the Make in India initiative of 2020 and beyond and further strengthening the brand “designed in India”.

India Design Council is an autonomous body of the Government of India established under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is a national strategic body for multi-disciplinary design and is involved in promotion of design to make India a design enabled country.

In 2007, India became one of the few countries to adopt a National Design Policy (NDP) and to enable the policy implementation the Government of India announced establishment of IDC in March 2009. IDC is mandated to implement the NDP and is committed to work towards raising the standards of design education in India and ensure that it meets global benchmarks. IDC is working with other government agencies, the design community, industry and educational institutions to promote design in business, society and public service.

The two initiatives launched today will aid and support the profession of design and help in growing the profession and to establish professional standards. The DEQM will benchmark design education programmes on predetermined standards and will accord Design Education Quality Mark to institutions that meet the provisions of the published standard. The DEQ Mark will be granted to institutions which undergo the review process and meet or exceed the expectations for quality and standards as prescribed in the Quality Code.

The Quality Mark will communicate to everyone that an institution has a guaranteed minimum level of quality and standards and has undergone a third party, neutral review process. The Quality Mark includes a trademark-protected logo, which could be used by the recipient institutions in all forms of internal and external communication.

The Quality Mark will help students to choose the right design programme from a wide choice, help prospective employers understand the standing of the design institute and communicate to the society about the adherence of Quality Code by the design institute.

The second initiative launched today of the CDI is envisaged as an institution that will establish and uphold the professional standards of design practice in India. The focus of CDI is the “Professional Designer” identified by a design qualification and or experience. CDI is a cohesive platform that adheres to the design practice to standards in professional design competence, ethics and service.

The need for a quality code was felt as there has been an exponential growth in the number of institutions providing design qualifications in India necessitating the creation of a guiding framework that represents a common rationale/ philosophy for design curricula and its implementation. The aim is to harmonise the different education systems whilst taking into account their great diversity.

The Quality Code is the means to create this guiding framework. It has been based on the UK Quality Code for Higher Education published by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, UK (QAA).

The two initiatives were launched in the presence of Chairman IDC Dr. Naushad Forbes, Director NID Ahmedabad and Member Secretary IDC, Praveen Nahar and other members of IDC.

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