In response to a number of policy changes afoot throughout the education system, this first inquiry will seek to establish the economic and social rationale for design education, both specialised, and embedded in other disciplines. We believe that a stronger role for design throughout the education system is critical to helping the UK to continue to compete economically, and for the greater benefit of its citizens – the inquiry will be testing this hypothesis, and looking to the examples set by other nations.

Chair and steering group
This inquiry is co-chaired by Vicky Pryce and Baroness Whitaker, with the support of:
Sir George Cox, Prof. Jeremy Myerson, Jeremy Davenport, Laura Haynes, Emma Hunt, Catherine Large, Dick Powell, Lesley Morris, Alice Black, Mark Beatson, David Worthington.

Call for Evidence
If you would like to submit evidence to the steering group for consideration, please use the Download the Call for Evidence word document. Due to the high level of interest expressed in responding to the above, the deadline has now been extended to 19 July to allow further submissions.

A list of organisations who have submitted evidence thus far is available here:
Design Education Inquiry Evidence Submissions

Terms of Reference
Download a PDDF of the Terms of Reference Download as a pdf
This inquiry is an opportunity to investigate the economic and social rationale for design education, both specialised and embedded in other disciplines. This is a fairly simple and logical argument but not one that has been fully articulated yet, or with which many people outside of the design ‘world’ will be familiar.

This will be done by examining:

  1. Whether designcould be said to be strategically important to the UK – to the economy, to business, to society and the individual;
  2. Whether design education, and in what forms, could therefore be said to be strategically important to the UK – to the economy, to business, to society and the individual;
  3. Whether design education is in any way ‘vulnerable’, both in the narrow sense meant by HEFCE, at other points in the ‘design education pipeline’, and in comparison with international competitors.

The inquiry will therefore consider design in the whole education system, with a particular focus on areas where potential vulnerability has been identified.

Hypothesis: To improve public services and support economic growth in the UK, design education should have a role within the whole education system; both in relation to the STEM subjects, and embedded in a range of other disciplines and credentials.

Contributing
Written evidence should be sent to:
jocelyn.bailey@policyconnect.org.uk
Or
Jocelyn Bailey
Manager, Manufacturing, Design and Innovation
Policy Connect
CAN Mezzanine
32-36 Loman Street
Southwark
London SE1 0EH
Groups: Associate Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group