President Sakorn Suksriwong said the CLMV market – Cambodia, Laos, Malaysian and Vietnam – was expanding dramatically, as evidenced by factors such as the growth of the real-estate industry in Cambodia and the new era of Myanmar opening up to foreign investment, while there was also good growth in other Asean markets.

As a result, the demand for designers is growing rapidly, especially in the hospitality industry, for which Thailand is famous in the international market, he said.

Many Thai brands and products are receiving acclaim from customers in the design market globally, such as in the fields of furniture, accessories and gadgets.

“Compared to 10 years ago, when Western fashion brands were very famous among shoppers in Thailand and neighbouring countries, the shopping trend and consumer behaviour have changed significantly in the past five years.

“Consumers prefer to select quality products, which truly reflect their uniqueness and characteristics, from house brands or local brands. This new trend has built up more than 50 per cent of local brands’ market growth. Therefore, these factors will firmly increase the demand for designers in the Asean market,” he said.

Sakorn said Thailand’s capacity to develop new professional designers was, however, still inadequate in terms of meeting market demand.

Even though many institutes provide various fashion and design programmes for their students, there are still many limitations.

Public schools offer these programmes at reasonable tuition fees, but the number of students who can join is limited due to inadequate subsidisation by the government.

Private schools, meanwhile, can accept an unlimited number of students, but the tuition fees are much higher, he said.

CIDI Chanapatana, founded in 2000 as a social enterprise, is therefore committed to providing world-class design courses, its president said.

With its reasonable tuition fees, more students can access the programmes, while the institute is also sustainably operated.

Its programmes provide the students with an international standard curriculum at one-third of the average market tuition fee, he said.

The total fee is Bt190,000 for a two-year programme, which he said was very attractive and affordable, especially as many of the students are from abroad.

“Our students actually come from many countries, such as the US, the UK, Italy, Germany, Singapore, China and Austria. The number of students from countries in Thailand’s neighbourhood, such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia, is also increasing.

“To promote our programmes, we invite them to attend our ‘Open House’ event at CIDI Chanapatana. The event includes an introduction to the courses and our institute’s milestones, a panel discussion with successful alumni and a one-on-one discussion session with alumni and existing students, so they can understand more about the courses.

“The number of participants attending the event has increased this year, with the registration rate for foreign visitors at 20 per cent and the rate for Thai visitors at 80 per cent. Given this success, we have improved our ‘Open House’ event to cater to the increasing number of foreigners. We also promote our programmes through online media in order to directly hit the target group, instead of organising roadshows,” Sakorn said.

CIDI open house

The “2016 CIDI Open House” event will be held twice this month, on July 9 and 22, at CIDI World, CIDI Chanapatana in Bangkok.

Sakorn said potential students included career-switchers who had not studied design in earning their previous degree, due to their studies being influenced in another direction by their families or social trends.

After graduation, many of them they realise their real preference and passion, so they decide not to work in the field of their educational background and opt instead for a career in the design industry.

They cannot re-enrol for another degree from their universities, hence they turn to CIDI Chanapatana to get the necessary education and skills to pursue such a career, he said.

Another category comprises the dream-chasers, who have already had some working experience in the design industry but wish to improve their skills in order to get ahead in their design careers, he said, adding that the course would give them the necessary tools to be successful as professionals in marketing, creativity and production.

“Our programme is flexible and adjusted to market needs. The original curriculum from Italy requires only four semesters, as Italian |designers are usually not required to be capable of working on each and every process in product development.

“Thai and other Asean designers are different in that they have to be able to do everything from scratch, from researching, designing and developing to marketing their products. Therefore, the institute added an extra semester to ensure the students learn all the basic skills for their professional work,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the lecturers at CIDI Chanapatana are recruited based on their global experience.

They all have working experience in Europe, where most design industry leaders originate from, while some also have work experience from other parts of the world.

This is to ensure they can share up-to-date insights with students, which will enhance the learners’ design ideas and provide them with internal inspiration, Sakorn said.

“We aim to be the leading design-education provider in Asean. We are collaborating with the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, one of the top-10 world-famous design institutes; NABA [Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti], the owner of the Domus Academy in Milan; and the Royal College of Art in London, for its interior design programme.

“These collaborations will be a great bridge to open up and share our vision, knowledge and resources with world-leading design countries, and will be another step in making Bangkok a design education hub of Asean,” CIDI Chanapatana’s president said.