Design is a field that encourages innovation and creativity. It allows students to approach familiar problems in new and inventive ways, challenging their assumptions and broadening their perspectives. In a design classroom, students are encouraged to delve thoroughly into a single subject, examining it from multiple angles and considering a range of viewpoints. This is in contrast to traditional classroom settings, where there is often a single correct answer to a problem.
Through design education, students are empowered to be confident in their own solutions while also recognizing the value of other approaches. Collaboration and teamwork are also emphasized, as designers often work with other professionals to bring their ideas to life.
Overall, design education provides students with a unique and valuable perspective that allows them to approach problems in a creative and innovative manner. By encouraging critical thinking and collaboration, design education prepares students for success in a rapidly evolving world.
Established on July 24th, 2012, Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID) has a rich legacy of design education in India that fosters the intricacies of design education. The institute’s foundation was marked by the lighting of the inaugural lamp by the late Kumar Vyas, a renowned pioneer in the field of design education.
UID offers a seamless admission process available to aspiring students. The institute follows a comprehensive selection process, which includes Design Aptitude Test(DAT), Portfolio Evaluation (P.E.), and Situation Test(S.T.) to determine admission to various courses. UID provides a wide range of courses, including four-year B. Design (Hons.) programs in eight specializations and two-year M. Design programs in four specializations at the undergraduate level.
The institute’s curriculum is designed to provide a unique and valuable perspective to students, empowering them to approach problems creatively and innovatively. The emphasis is on encouraging critical thinking and collaboration, as designers often work with other professionals, such as engineers and marketers, to bring their ideas to fruition. Overall, UID is a leading institution that prepares students for success in a rapidly evolving world.
Instilling Human Values with Design Education
The institute’s primary goal is to educate designers and professionals with human values who make significant contributions to society. The institute encourages its students to succeed at all levels so that they can become well-rounded persons and skilled professionals.
Among the top design institutes in India, UID is a rarity. Founded with the aim to outclass the top design colleges in India with its state-of-the-art labs and hands-on, creative learning, it seeks to create trendsetters and ideators who’ll lead the future of design schools in India. UID stands apart from other B. Design colleges in India in the exposure it offers to students, which is unmatched by top design colleges in India, which is precisely why its popularity grew among design institutes in India in a short span of time.
Sustaining on Global Platform
The institute aims to become a recognized name in the global education sector. It is also striving to be known for its values and academic excellence.
The institute is trying to set a benchmark through the success of the students. It is constantly trying to empower the youth with knowledge and make them technically competent and professionally sound to prepare them for all walks of life.
Bull’s Eye
Mr. Ritesh Hada is the Promoter and Managing Director of United Group. The Group is presently operating in the verticals of Education, FMCG, Hospitality, and Textiles.
He is the president of Karnavati Institution, a prestigious private university with eight top-notch institutes and more than 8500 students on campus, which is situated in Gujarat.
Mr. Hada has established and directed corporate operations such as finance, strategy, business process optimization, innovation, investor relations, etc., for the past 20 years, emphasizing sustained growth. Under his capable direction, Karnavati University has improved professional education standards through research-driven coursework, technological advancements in the classroom, and enhanced student experiences. Mr. Hada is in charge of corporatizing United Group by establishing procedures and selecting qualified individuals for the management team.
Mr. Hada is a graduate of Calcutta University and the Leicester Business School at De Montford University in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Hada, a proponent of India’s start-up culture, played a key role in creating the country’s first-ever Defence incubation system, known as India’s Defence Design and Technology incubator. He has also led the Karnavati Innovation Incubation Foundation, a parallel ecosystem at Karnavati University.
Making Students Feel at Home
A variety of students in different professional education streams have been drawn to United Group and Karnavati University because of their distinctive growth model and competitive edge. United Group has created tremendous value for all of its stakeholders by upholding the highest standards of corporate governance and business ethics.
This may be the students’ first time living away from home. The student housing facilities here allow students to enjoy their newfound independence in a safe and inviting environment. The hostel is comfortably designed and completely equipped with everything students need.
On-campus housing is quite popular, offering a variety of room costs and options. The university boasts an excellent student community, making it a congenial environment for potential students. On-campus housing includes immaculate rooms, in-house meals, a canteen, wireless internet, room service, study areas, and an overall quiet setting.
The education industry recognizes Mr. Hada as a thinking leader. He has been crucial in transforming the country’s design education landscape from a government-dominated sector to one that professional institutes lead.
Future of the Industry
Design as a career option has climbed up many notches in the recent past, and more than most of the other conventional disciplines, design demands a continuous engagement in imagination and imagination backed by strong research and foresight. This understanding drives UID, and in compliance with this philosophy, the entire curriculum design approach, along with the pedagogical methodologies, followed by a vast network of external communication, are all concentric in nature. The college is bustling with seminars, workshops, expert talk series and panel discussions across all its streams almost on a daily basis.
The students get to interact and develop new perspectives with the help of such local, national and global designers through these intellectual events. For the much-needed vocational touch to the spirit of the artisan inside every student, the college has a structured ambience in the form of what we call the Craft Village. It invites local handicraft and handloom artists to demonstrate and inspire young students with talents which have been overshadowed by modern technology and methods now, with a noble hope to create magic and value from the combination of the old and the contemporary.
UID is a significant stakeholder in the Ahmedabad Design Week, an annual international design festival which witnesses designers and enthusiasts from across the globe participating as expert speakers, demonstrators, audiences or mentors, creating immense value for participating Indian designers and design students. The management states, “Of the many other initiatives in the line-up, we would love not to skip our immersion and exchange programs, industrial trips and cultural programmes, stream-specific exhibitions and competitions, which bring out students’ creativity in the form of tangible designs.”
Keeping Pace with the Changing World
Of the many challenges that eventually decide the quality of an institution, UID has a couple to throw some light on. In generic terms, design seldom takes inspiration from monotony. UID is one of the fastest-growing design colleges in India, and maintaining the momentum to keep pace with the changing world is a challenge that seemingly doesn’t end.
“So, instead of considering it a challenge, the institute has rephrased it as a congenial ally that will always keep us on our toes and inspire everyone, if not push, to keep track and speed with change,” says management.
Whether it is the students or the faculty, a wholesome effort to secure and nurture all stakeholders’ personal intellectual and emotional health has always been at the forefront of the goals. Also, on similar lines, any change in the external environment always demands a significant restructuring or realigning of the internal atmosphere. From curriculum adjustments to the upgradation of infrastructure and technology upgrades, UID has always strived to stay handsomely ahead of its challenges.
High Stature in the Industry
UID enjoys a unique status in the world of design colleges in India. Its approach of creating a strong mix of academic learning and experiential wisdom has, over the years, led us on a path which no other college in the design league has ventured into.
From magnanimous intra-disciplinary events such as MODUS, PRAXIS and CREA to grand fashion shows such as EDGE and from academic and financial support through start-up incubation initiatives such as KIIF and DDTII to organizing global events such as the Ahmedabad Design Week, UID is a platform which is unparalleled and undisputed when it comes to identifying and implementing extra-curricular engagement initiatives for the students.
Keeping the Ecosystem Safe
STEM is the very shell that keeps UID’s ecosystem failsafe. Design is a relative of the Art family, but for it to transform practice, it has to comply with its counterpart – Science. Design students visualise and research ideas and applications and follow them up with design concepts. But at the same time, UID’s approach is to prepare the students to focus equally on rational equations, which would lead to a tangible product out of the design created.
Moreover, UID’s STEM-based learning is highlighted in its highly advanced technological infrastructure and facilities, such as the Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning lab, Robotics centre, 3D Printing lab, Mac and Wacom lab, Virtual Reality lab, fully equipped ultra-modern Wood and Metal workshops and so on, which exponentially boost the level of learning for the students. Additionally, any student or faculty design idea or concept may be further directed towards the business category with support from the Karnavati Innovation and Incubation Foundation (KIIF) or Defence Design and Technology Incubator of India (DDTII).
Competing on Global Level
When it comes to global exposure, the Bachelor of Design (Hons.) Global Design Programme leads the way ahead of its counterparts from other institutions. It is perfectly designed to suit students who want to experience and learn design on different continents, with an immersive educational experience in world-class educational institutions based in four culturally diverse continents, viz. Asia, Australia, Europe and the United Kingdom.
The first year of this course is conducted at UID, and from the second year onwards, the students spend 14 weeks abroad at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, at NABA, Milan, Italy and the at Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom, respectively. Along with this, UID has more than 28 international collaborations for exchange programmes and expert mentoring, both online and offline. The college also attracts a strength of multinational brands and organisations for student placements and internships.
USPs of the Institute
- UID is a member of organizations like IFFTI, CUMULUS and WDO.
- UID is the first institute to award a globally recognized B. Design (Hons.) Degree in India.
- UID has been awarded the CSR Top Design Institute of India by the Chairman of the acclaimed Competition Success Review (CSR), Mr SK Sachdeva.
- It has also been honored at the 12th Edition of the Asian Business & Social Investor Forum 2018–19 and the 4th Edition as India’s Greatest Brands & Leaders 2018–19.
- UID joins the top league of world-class Design Institutes to be granted Full membership of Cumulus – The International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media in 2018.
- UID has been conferred with the award ‘Best Private Design College in India’ during the National Education Excellence Awards organized by one of the leading Brand Management Consulting & Research firms in India, World Business Review Corporation (WBR Corp).
- Unitedworld Group of Institutions – Business, Law and Design School won the 94.3 MY FM Education Excellence Awards presented by Jio Dil Se.
- UID was conferred with the award ‘Best Design Institute in India for 2018, in Private Sector’ during the World Education Awards 2019 held at New Delhi
Handling the Keys of Success to Students
As a prime institute, it suggests to students that “Design is limitless. The more the mind ventures, the more knowledge and experience and the more the latter, the stronger the designs. Invest in knowledge-based learning; innovation and ingenuity will follow.”
Taking the Right Steps for the Future
UID is already in the league of the best private design schools in India within the first decade of its existence. Looking back, the institute comes across a mixed bag of calculated experiments and measured successes driven by a hope to grow and a goal to create awesome designers, but at the same time, preceded by the instinct to survive first.
Today, the gears have shifted towards the start of the second decade, and it is now prepared and focused on expanding its footprint across geographies. In 2022, UID expanded from the Design Education Capital of India- Ahmedabad, to the Capital of India – Delhi (NCR), in collaboration with G.D. Goenka University and announced the new campus UID-NCR. The institute aims to move in leaps and bounds in the coming years – imparting wonderful education experiences, facilitating valuable learning and gifting the world with wonderful designers.
