The Design Village

Mission Statement

To create impact through design in the world, The Design Village [TDV] believes that one must investigate what impact that design will have. Therefore, students at TDV learn how to dream that dream, understand the future, and take responsibility for shaping the world. In essence, they design the reason first. At the design village, we believe in impact through design and life through design. We have articulated our curriculum around these core philosophies. Every graduate of TDV is expected to be a thinker and doer. TDV educates designers the world actually needs and ones that the world didn’t know it needed. This key factor has driven us to keep future world-building at the heart of all we do and teach.

 Education at TDV is based on certain beliefs that drive the pedagogy:

• Intrinsic motivation: TDV believes that education is successful when the motivation to learn is intrinsic: when students understand why they are learning what they are learning.

• Lifetime learning: villagers are students for life. Learning is shared among students and teachers.

• Community: learning takes place not just independently but collectively as well. 

A design villager has the capacity to envision dreams and the skills to realise them.

The key attributes of a villager are:

Courage : pushing oneself as an individual; risk-taking ability in thoughts/action/approach to the project overall.

Perseverance : extensive exploration of brief, concepts, domain; rigour of process, attempts and repetition;

ability to accept failure.

Compassion : the drive to be themselves responsiveness/impact of design audience understanding, insights, response to contemporary issues.

Awareness : thoroughness of research, analysis and synthesis; exploration outside the core domain/focus area; macro thinking and contextualising.

International Role

The Design Village exemplifies internationalization through dynamic mobility initiatives and global collaborations. Its Joint Studio program fosters critical design thinking by merging Eurocentric and subaltern perspectives through ethnographic studies in India, in partnership with Tu Delft and Politecnico di Milano.

Summer/Winter Schools immerse learners in global contexts, promoting resilience and collaborative responsibility while exploring complex social structures.

Over the past decade, The Design Village has facilitated exchanges across 18 countries, emphasizing cultural and ethical cross-pollination. Adapting to global challenges, it pioneers hybrid and satellite studios, ensuring inclusive, immersive learning beyond conventional semester exchanges.

National Role

O.P. Jindal Global University

O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), established in 2009, is a private university and an Institute of Eminence located in Sonipat, Haryana, India. It is renowned for its multidisciplinary approach, offering programs across law, business, social sciences, liberal arts, and more. The university is recognized for its global collaborations and world-class faculty, emphasizing excellence in research and teaching. JGU is the first Indian university to receive the QS “5 Star Rating” in key categories like teaching and employability.

Main Focus

The Design Village (TDV) is educational ecosystem for discerning learners, built by globally-acknowledged academicians and industry experts, offering a comprehensive and future-oriented design education, that prepares leaders who design to transform the world. Graduates of the design programmes at The Design Village find their place in the world in the realms of socially driven causes, entrepreneurship, sustainability and technology to name a few. The village is a metaphor for the design village both in its physicality and philosophy, and the village educates designers the world actually needs and ones that the world didn’t know it needed.