I just thought this would provide a good insight about how important a formal "design degree" is, for anyone aspiring to be a designer. As the problem with anyone in the start of their career launch is, that they are still confused on the question of "how can I get there/ how can I get to my desired career as a designer?" Some may think that having a degree in design already has marked one big milestone, when in fact it doesn't. It does, however, provide us with set of curriculum to test our skill and qualifications. But..... that's all.
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It’s a common misconception but degrees aren’t “qualifications” to practice (i.e. they’re not training programmes). Foundation degrees and HNDs are more so, but a degree by definition is not intended to pronounce someone “qualified” to do anything. (I’m talking about the UK here)
Let me explain:
Qualification to practice usually occurs either on a vocational programme for non-graduate occupations (i.e. Foundation degrees) or on a postgraduate programme for graduate roles (i.e. a Masters, an MPhil or a PhD, or a specific industry-based qualification).
For example, you could do a three year degree in biology or medicine - it would not qualify you to be a doctor or a nurse. You would need to study for a postgraduate certificate to practice, same with law and architecture.
However if you wanted to be a paramedic, or a court reported (I think I have the term right) you would not need a degree, instead you would do a Foundation degree.
Another example might be better: a school teacher will do a general degree, say in maths, then a postgraduate certificate (PGCE) that qualifies them to teach. A teaching assistant, on the other hand, may do a Foundation Degree - it’s not a graduate role (although there’s nothing to stop a graduate doing it, and many do.).
A degree is a general “qualification”, an education that equips the graduate with a range of skills that can be applied in a range of graduate-level roles (often termed a “liberal” qualification. It isn’t supposed to be tied to one area. Indeed, if a graphics degree only equipped someone with the skills to be a graphic designer and nothing else, it would be failing them. Given that there are 8,000+ graphics students in the UK at the moment, the likelihood of becoming a designer is quite low, so offering courses that only qualify you to be one would be a bit silly.
So it is entirely reasonable to come to the end of a design degree and be a “crap” designer, but that person might go on to be a great teacher, a journalist, a manager, or anything. (To give an example, I met a physics graduate yesterday who trades on the Asian stockmarket - their physics degree opened up all sorts of opportunities, not just being a scientist! Design degrees should do the same)
Anyone who wants to be a designer should really be looking to FdAs, HNDs or the new “Creative Apprenticeships” (on-the-job training). Degrees are really for people who want to keep their options open, or are interested in strategic level jobs, and who are interested in academic study of the discipline - perhaps using research to identify new ways of design, or to solve tricky social problems (see designagainstcrime.com for an example of this sort of thing. It’s pushing the boundaries rather than fitting to a specification laid down by industry). They may also (and often do) become designers. ;-)
See The Design Council’s ‘Blueprint’ for more on apprenticeships and the definition of ‘higher level skills’ - e.g. understanding of global markets, business strategy, ethics and so on - which degrees are supposed to develop; and see http://www.qaa.ac.uk for definitions of different qualifications in the UK, and the national guidelines (”benchmark statements”) on what a design degree should cover.
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