Social Innovation in Design Education: The Emergence and Evolution of Design Academic Programs

As the global ecological crisis and social conflicts intensify, design is widely involved in social innovation and taking on more social responsibilities. The concept of social innovation has been continuously integrated into the educational practices of design schools, driving the transformation of design education. This paper aims to explore the emergence and evolution of academic programs related to social innovation in the process of global design education reform, and to reveal the new possibilities that social innovation brings to design education. Based on several dimensions of comparative analysis, the paper proposes that building academic programs related to social innovation is becoming a global trend in the transformation of design education. Social innovation not only reinforces design education's value base, but it also provides methodological support for design education. Despite all this, these emerging educational activities are likely influenced by various social contexts and differ in specific educational techniques and organizational structures. Elaborating on the rise of social innovation in academic programs, the outcomes of this study may provide fresh perspectives for design schools to participate in the process of social innovation as well as new ideas for socially oriented design education reform.