Where Design Education Moves, Connects, and Grows — Across Asia and Beyond

Design education in Asia is entering a moment that calls for deeper collaboration and the co-creation of shared frameworks.
The Asia Design College Consortium (ADCC) was established to realize an Asia-oriented Design Erasmus Mobility University, bringing together design colleges across Asia through mobility and cooperation, with Busan as its hub.

As the Chair Institution of ADCC, the College of Design at Dongseo University builds on the accumulated experience of international academic collaboration fostered through programs such as Erasmus. At the same time, ADCC reflects Asia’s cultural diversity, social challenges, industrial dynamism, and the creative potential of its cities to develop an open and sustainable platform for design education and research mobility.

ADCC envisions an open design education ecosystem in which students, faculty, and researchers move beyond national and institutional boundaries to expand learning, research, and practice together.

Through joint educational programs, design mobility, open R&D, and academic and exhibition exchanges, ADCC seeks to position design as practical knowledge and a driving force that connects cities, industries, and societies.

Busan has long served as a city connecting Asia and the world. Today, as the World Design Capital 2028, under the theme “Inclusive City, Engaged Design,” Busan is advancing urban innovation through design that expands inclusion and civic engagement. ADCC aligns closely with this vision, proposing a sustainable global collaboration model in which design education and research contribute meaningfully to the future of cities, industrial innovation, and everyday life.

In particular, ADCC aims for design colleges across Asia to collaborate based on mutual respect and trust—starting from Asian contexts while co-creating new, practice-oriented frameworks for design education and research that can be shared globally. This is not about competition or dominance, but about building collective capacity through shared challenges and collaborative action.

Design is not merely an outcome, but a process and a common language that connects people and cities, regions and the world. We hope ADCC will serve as a trusted platform that enables designers and researchers—from Asia and beyond—to move freely, grow deeply, and learn together.

We look forward to shaping this new journey of global collaboration in design education—beginning in Busan and extending across Asia and the world.

Thank you.