The M.Des department at Gandhinagar organizes various activities alongside its regular academic program to boost the overall professional and personal development of the students. The faculties conduct mentoring sessions, classroom and non-classroom discussions, and have organized Industry expert talks and seminars. We have organized a talk by eminent scholars such as Dr. Mona Suri who is the PFHEA, Higher Education Academy, UK, an Associate Professor in the field of Fabric and Apparel Science, formerly served as Academic Vice President, Royal University for Women, Bahrain as well as a former Reader, at Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, India.
A recent outbound trip was organized, where faculties and students went to a camping site at Mt. Abu, and engaged in team building exercises, physical treks, rock climbing, and caving. This activity proved to be a great confidence booster especially in the post-covid situation where the students met and interacted with their fellow classmates in person. The physical activities helped them break away from the very restrictive and mundane atmosphere of online learning in isolation.
Apart from these activities, the department actively organizes regular Industry Expert talks for the students. These sessions invite professionals from a diverse range of design and creative industry backgrounds where the experts showcase their process and manner of working, creating, and incubating ideas and projects. We have noticed a positive impact of these sessions on the classroom work of the students, where they have shown a higher degree of initiative and professional approach toward their learning and assignments. In the recent past we invited speakers such as Mr. Himanshu Panwar, an alumnus of NID Gandhinagar, who is a mentor and design consultant. His proficiencies include product development, system design, and trends forecasting. We had also invited Ms. Shruti Sachan who is an alumnus of NIFT Delhi, working as an UX Researcher. Her subject expertise includes Design Research, User Experience, and Design Strategy.
