MIT school of Design offers the four-year Bachelor of Design course affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU).
MIT School of Design was established in 2020, the first batch of students from the academic year 2020-21 has started. The curriculum is evolved under the Chief mentorship of Prof. Uday Athavankar – Former HOD Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and other experts from industry and academia. We are also closely mentored by MIT Institute of Design, Loni.
Being situated with MITAOE campus and surrounded by - Computer engineering, Electronics engineering, Mechanical engineering, Civil engineering, Chemical engineering, & School of Humanities and Engineering Sciences - will provide a unique blend of Technology Driven Design curriculum which will make the learners professionally equipped to face the challenges of the industry. The entire program involves project-based learning pedagogy where the learners will immerse themselves in creating an innovative mind-set to solve complex problems of the real world.
MIT academy of Engineering (MITAOE) has emerged as one of the formidable autonomous institutions providing quality education in various professional courses affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University for the last 20 years. The institute endeavors to impart holistic education to its students to contribute to their all-around development. In our constant pursuit of educational excellence, we have established the MIT School of Design last year.
MITSD and MITAOE are part of the MIT Group of Institutions under MAEER’s Pune. Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) is the first private Engineering Institute to be established in the city of Pune, Maharashtra. It is one of the premier institutes for Indian and international students offering Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses in Engineering, Management, Medicine, Pharmacy, Design, and so on.
Contributing towards the industrial, economic, and social growth of the society for over a quarter of a century, Maharashtra Academy of Engineering Education and Research (MAEER)’s MIT Group of Institutions has helped realize the dreams and aspirations of thousands of students. The group has spread its wings across Maharashtra with campuses in Kothrud, Alandi, and Loni- Kalbhor within Pune, along with Latur, Talegaon, Ambejogai, and Pandharpur.
Being the brainchild of its visionary founder, Prof. Vishwanath D. Karad, MAEER established in 1983, managed to craft a niche position for being a one-of-its-kind undertaking that focuses on value-based education.
Vision
To use Technology, Human, and Sustainability as 3 key parameters to design Immersive, Physical, and Digital solutions.
Mission
MIT School of design (MITSD) aims to create future-ready designers who will have human centered – technology driven sensibilities.
The School of Design aims to achieve excellence by -
1. Introducing students to fundamental principles of sciences and emerging technologies.
2. Inculcating sensitivity towards looking at every art form and appreciating it
3. Understanding human psychology, their cognitive development, and how it leads to discovering tangible, feasible needs/aspirations.
4. Working on complete skill development and analytical abilities required as a creative and responsible designer working in a dynamic, multifaceted, competitive environment.
5. Encouraging the students to express freely, be inquisitive, seek answers, communicate proficiently; and lead life passionately.
6. Create platforms for interaction with expert professionals, experienced faculties, and interdisciplinary knowledge.
7. Nurture an environment of Initiate - Experiment - Build for the students and faculties.
The curriculum will impart core visual, creative, technical and analytical skills along with knowledge of materials, technologies, manufacturing process, trends and sensitize them towards design for sustainability as well. Four years are divided into immersion in design, Core discipline knowledge, learning to explore & practice hard and finally learn & apply professional practices -
1. Immersion in Design
Pre-Design/Foundation year includes an introduction to basic principles of design, colours, geometry, materials, hand sketching skills and digital design skills. Orient their minds towards observation think & analyse, find meaning in things around them.
2. Introduction to Core Discipline
The second year helps orient students towards specific disciplines of Product Design, Communication Design & UXD. Various methods and practices are followed in the Research & Design of specific disciplines. Encouraging them to shed their inhibitions, explore, express freely in various subjects and stages of the assignments and mini projects.
3. Exploring & Practicing
Third year focuses more on trying out professional view point, following methodologies of discipline & applying various constraints gradually in concepts and refining final version of outcome. Practice how to balance creative content-technology-commercial aspects of discipline.
4. Professional Ways
Fourth year is complete professional approach while doing graduation project with emphasis on following strictly all stages of design process, involving all stake holders and considering/including their view points while developing concepts. Bringing project to conclusion with outcome as physical/digital product and its visualisation in a best possible way.
Why new school of Design?
Our life today has truly turned ‘Glocal’. Evolving products and services locally for the global market is the new normal. Civilizations are disrupting to set new benchmarks each passing day. Electrical vehicles, Vehicle automation, E-commerce, shared rides, smart homes, and a plethora of IoT-based products and services are redefining our lives and the luxury we experience every day. Maturing a start-up culture that works in all possible products and services is also building businesses and new generations in a unique way. Ambitious Space missions, hyper loop, AI, VR, Cyborgs, Robotics, 3D printing/manufacturing are the new age technologies that are going to be part of our lives soon.
Designers play a pivotal role in manifesting these products & services. Designers can maintain a balance of technology, human factors, and aesthetics/physical form of every product, service, or system which help us offer unique, immersive, and enduring experiences.
Adopting new technologies, new materials, manufacturing processes, and new emerging service sectors make young designers & innovators stay ahead in the competition. They can apply their trained minds, skill sets, analytical ability to create experiences of higher standards. Designers are also trained to be respectful towards natural resources & their importance in our life so that they can create more meaningful, sensible solutions to address global needs. The ever-changing and evolving world offers opportunities to re-think, re-define, re-write, re-work and disrupt old/ established ways and DESIGN new environments around us.
We at MITSD aim to give young minds an overview of the evolving technologies, practice various design methodologies, nurture inquisitiveness, and accelerate their creative potential to make them and the world around more sustainable.
Our main aim to make students ready for challenges of tomorrow and to solve real world problems. Design education needs to be more Technology oriented than craft oriented. To achieve it we are emphasizing more on introducing technology in early stage of education so that students are aware of its fundamentals, contents, and should be able to use it effectively, appropriately with its advantages & implications very well. Our ‘Technology Driven Design’ approach would enable students to develop their skills and knowledge along with following aspects -
1. Building sensitivity about human emotions by using appropriate technology with a sustainability focus in all the activities.
2. Focus on Technology adaptation for solution building along with blue sky thinking and skill enhancement.
3. More practical & real, implementable assignments/mini projects and graduation projects in 3rd and 4th year.
4. Collaboration with engineering disciplines for project viability, engineering/programming and prototyping.
5. Exploring future technologies to build concepts/working prototypes which can be refined/implemented further in actual products.
6. The course will have lot of avenues for students to cross learn by way of Major and Minor programs along with doing multiple courses in parallel.
7. Subject specific immersion courses to generate interest in sustainability issues which can be solved through use of technology.
8. Assignments clearly divided into 3 phases: 1. Quick user research, 2. more emphasis on technology research - ideation - concept - study model development and then, 3. packaging/ aesthetics integration.