At St. Francis Institute of Art &Design (SFIAD), we have exceedingly bright students and brilliant professors. It is hard to imagine a more desirable environment and campus for taking a Design concept in today’s context. St. Francis Institute is a distinguished one for various reasons. The organization that runs this institute is a religious congregation of Brothers-FRANCISCAN MISSIONARY BROTHERS-who have number of educational institutions all over the world to cater to the people of all strata of life. Based on the philosophy and ideology of universal brotherhood of St. Francis of Assisi, i.e. the inter-relational and intra-relational connectivity of all beings the Institute has a new perspective in DESIGN formula, where competitiveness and success oriented mind-set will give way to relational aspects of human life.
There is a paradigm shift in the Design learning programs being offered at reputed Design Institutes, that Designlearning must not only ‘rebalance’ curriculum to match realities of life or ‘rethink’ the program content, it must focus on the student-learner and how best such knowledge and skills may be shared equitably; while catering to the needs and objectives of design solution, how can we improve and reformat Design education to institution building, nation building, create more employment opportunities for the less privileged.
Self-awareness and self-reflection skills, innovativeness and creativity, and a balanced focus between "knowing" -analytical knowledge- and "doing" and "being" -a sense of purpose and identity is essential. This issue is very crucial in our mission and vision to "help bridge the gaps between our communities and our country so that our people may achieve just and good lives. By all means, Design students with critical thinking and leadership skills in a global world are in demand. But creative deisgn is energized by these skills can help alleviate poverty, help build capacity, and help build the nation.
Our patron St. Francis of Assisi advocates the value of life and principles of life Design. When these things are taken care of everything automatically will fall in line-the discipline, academic excellence, a better teacher-student relationship, and all that concerned to academic and practical life. My wish and prayer is that every one of you in the campus may have an enriching experience by which each of you will turn out to be highly motivating and fascinating personalities. Wish you every best and God’s blessings!
Bro.StanyMittathanickal,
Principal