GIDE: The sustainable future of a group for international design education.

This published abstract presented at the "CUMULUS Crossing Talents! Tranversality in Innovation: Power and Responsibility of the Designer" conference in Paris 2011 was published in 'CUMULUS Working Papers Paris–Sèvres 27/11" by Aalto University, School of Art & Design in 2012. It outlines the innovative work of GIDE, Group for International Design Education; an interdisciplinary network of art and and design institutions who organise annual intercultural workshops, symposia, exhibitions and, crucially, research publications that describe diverse responses to shared project themes which examine the ethical and societal dimension of design. GIDE, partially funded through the LLP/Erasmus programme, offers an alternative model to traditional Erasmus student/staff exchange programmes. It argues that international collaboration at this level allows multiple collaborators unique perspectives that frame and respond to ‘local problems’ by maintaining academic and research solidarity through such collaboration. GIDE exists to promote inter-cultural collaboration and exchange across education bringing ethical design issues into applied working practices, transforming curricula flexibly and promoting interdisciplinary experiences across the European Union and beyond. We speculate on the sustainability of GIDE, as a network and as a concept, in the face of severe cuts and academic restructuring across its trans-national membership, and argue that without such international, educator-led initiatives, design education will become vulnerable and unsustainable. Through a description of shared project themes over a ten year period, we focus on successful examples of GIDE's intercultural exchange as a vehicle for the on-going sustainable development of design. GIDE operates a rolling annual programme that revolves around a global design theme, allowing flexibility of interpretation from nations. This paper will offer a historical overview of the GIDE network and describes how the consortium operates through sustainable collaboration.