Design Education and the Nigerian Economy
A look at the history of Nigeria reflects that in all spheres of life, nature has provided for the country to be a high performing economic success. Nigeria, the largest in Africa, is rich in human, cultural and natural resources. Nigeria could be described as the Greece of Africa. The influence of Nigerian arts, crafts and design have been felt strongly in other parts of the world. It is lamentable that while most emerging economies are harnessing design education for development and improving quality of lives of their citizenry, the Nigerian political climate has not enabled the formulation of strategic policies that can boost industrial climate of the economy. This has not provided the support and appropriate infrastructure for indigenous design education and development capabilities.  The paper takes a look at the current political policies of Nigeria, its economic reality in the absence of formidable design groups and design policy that can enhance indigenous technical knowhow. The paper also examines the value oriented benefits inherent in design education as experienced in developed economies and how it can be channeled to make its contributions to grow the Nigerian economy.
Industrial Design
Course overview This programme brings together product design creativity with the technical knowledge and skills of engineering. You will develop as a technically competent industrial designer, benefiting from the very latest in new product development techniques. The result is a modern engineering degree that will equip you with an excellent technical and creative grounding for a successful career in designing and developing new products. This module provides students with essential foundational skills in effective hand sketching, visualisation, and final presentation of design ideas. Students are instructed in principles, examples, and demonstrations regarding the use of a variety of design communication media and techniques, for the purposes of conceiving, developing and presenting product design ideas. Programme details and modules listed are illustrative only and subject to change.
Development Patterns of Industrial Design in the Third World: A Conceptual Model for Newly Industrialized Countries
This article first critically examines the early literature on the role of industrial design in the Third World and subsequently sets out to explain the dynamics behind the development of industrial design in a group of Third World countries categorized as Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs). For the development of industrial design activity in NICs, the vital ingredient appears to be competition. This is also conditioned by the market orientation of economic/industrial activity, which itself is largely determined by the governmental development strategies in the context of a globally organized world economy. The article concludes with a new theoretical model for the development patterns of industrial design in NICs.