Presidency University’s School of Design Welcomed 2026 Batch; Prasad Bidapa Graced the Occasion as Chief Guest

Presidency University’s School of Design marked the arrival of its 2026 batch with Deekshaarambh-Adhyaay 2026. The induction brought students, parents, faculty and industry guests into the same room. Prasad Bidapa, the design mentor and fashion consultant, attended as chief guest.

He spoke from long experience in fashion. Trends come and go, he told the students; a personal creative identity does not. What keeps a designer relevant is curiosity, originality and the simple habit of continuing to learn even when the work feels familiar.

Later, Bidapa sat with Srishti Bajaj, Director of the School of Design, Presidency University. Their talk turned to the difficulties designers meet every day and the need to look after traditional crafts, indigenous art forms and the wider design heritage of the country. He asked the students to see design as something that can solve problems and keep culture alive, not only as a line of work.

They also touched on the fields that are expanding: product design, digital experiences, creative entrepreneurship, communication design, multimedia and visual storytelling. Technology keeps rewriting the rules, so the ability to adapt and move between disciplines has become essential.

The School opened its doors in 2019. Teaching here has always mixed classroom instruction with direct industry contact. Masterclasses by working designers, visits to studios and workshops on new tools start in the first year.

Flux, the annual showcase, is still the moment most students wait for. It places their projects in front of industry people, academics and practising designers. Programmes on offer now include B.Sc. Multimedia, Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) and the newly added Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). More than 300 students are enrolled. Some have already begun to be noticed outside the campus; Tejas Mallikarjun, a B.Des. Product Design student, won the Student Category at India’s Best Design Awards (IBDA) 2026.

The induction gave the new batch a practical sense of the academic structure, the opportunities available and the expectations that come with the course. It also let them meet faculty and senior students and start thinking about the years ahead.