Hasta La Ideas

Singapore’s newly-formed University of Technology and Design has appointed Thomas Magnanti (the former head of MIT’s Department of Engineering) as its new president, and Magnanti is pushing a “design thinking”-centered agenda.

[SUTD] is offering degrees in architecture and sustainable design, engineering product design, engineering systems and system design and information engineering and design.

The word ‘design’ keeps appearing for a reason. Design as an academic discipline will be infused and stressed in all the courses, Prof Magnanti says. Students will be part of a multi-disciplinary team given projects to design a product or a system. They will use design processes such as identifying the end users and profiling them, understanding their needs for a product or service, building a prototype and then testing it with the end users for feedback, and then going back to enhance it further.

‘With training in design thinking, an engineer or architect will be able to bring together his creativity, imagination and technical knowledge to create products or systems that satisfy human needs,’ he says.

In the new economy, he adds, design thinking is hugely important. ‘Let me use an obvious example. Why is everyone crazy about Apple products? Because they look good, they work well, they have enabled people to discover new uses for their phone or portable music player such as the iPod. ‘In a knowledge economy it is these kinds of products that will sell – ones that satisfy customers’ needs and enhance their experience of using it.’

Click here for a Q&A with Magnanti.

via asia one education

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