Binus University's School of Design Confirms Industry Confidence with Second Place Ranking in QS 2026
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – The perception of design has fundamentally shifted in the last decade. What was once seen as a matter of aesthetics is now recognised as a strategic business function.
A McKinsey study over five years involving hundreds of companies showed that companies that place design at the core of their business operations grow 32 per cent faster than the industry average and generate a total return for shareholders 56 per cent higher. This shift is reinforced by the transformation brought about by generative AI, where the production of visual assets can now be significantly accelerated by machines, the value of a designer is increasingly determined by their ability to think, lead creative processes, and make decisions that have a business impact.
The Indonesian creative industry is experiencing significant growth. The sector recorded GDP growth of 6.57 per cent in 2024, exceeding national GDP growth, with export values of creative products reaching US$26.68 billion in the first ten months of 2025. The digital experience platform market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 25.05 per cent until 2032. Behind these figures, the industry faces the increasingly urgent challenge of finding design talent that is not only skilled in using tools but also able to translate user research into business solutions, collaborate across disciplines with developers and marketers, and lead creative decisions with strong arguments.
Understanding the high demand for talented designers who can enter the industry, the School of Design at Binus University has built its curriculum from this challenge. Students are not only taught visual techniques but also trained to think like industry practitioners from the beginning of their studies. Through a project-based learning approach, they work on real briefs from actual clients, design visual identity systems, develop user interfaces tested in the field, produce animations and film works, and collaborate on industry projects whose results enter the market.
The Dean of the School of Design at Binus University, Danendro Adi, said that Binus University designs the complexities faced by students in class to reflect the complexities they will encounter in the world of work.
“We educate designers who can explain why a creative decision will provide a solution to a problem, not just make it look good,” he said.
This approach has received direct recognition from the industry. In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 in the field of Art & Design, the School of Design at Binus University achieved second place in Indonesia on the Employer Reputation indicator. This indicator specifically measures the level of trust that recruiters and industry leaders have in the quality of a university’s graduates, based on structured surveys of tens of thousands of employers worldwide with an equal weighting between domestic and international perspectives. Second place in Indonesia means that among all design education institutions surveyed, the industry places graduates of the School of Design at Binus among the most trusted to contribute directly to the creative world.
This trust is built through an ecosystem that accompanies students from the classroom to the job market. The curriculum at the School of Design at Binus is designed to be adaptive to industry needs, including the integration of AI in learning, which familiarises students with the standards of today’s global creative industry, producing graduates who are technologically literate as a real competitive advantage. The journey to a career is strengthened by the Binus Career Centre, which connects students and alumni directly with employers and opens access to relevant career opportunities well before graduation.
Binus University also addresses parents’ concerns about their children choosing to major in design, regarding the stability of the industry, the absorption of graduates into the industry, and whether investing in education in design will yield real returns. The #2 Employer Reputation in Indonesia from QS is one of the most measurable answers to these concerns. This figure is not an institutional claim, but an assessment from the industry that is actively recruiting graduates. Behind it, there is a consistent track record that 80.1 per cent of Binus bachelor’s graduates are employed at the time of graduation, with most working in global companies or building their own creative businesses.
“Industry trust cannot be bought with campaigns. It is built from the proven quality of graduates, year after year,” said Danendro Adi.
The #2 Employer Reputation in Indonesia is not just a marker of achievement, but a confirmation that the direction chosen by the School of Design at Binus in building a design education that is relevant, industry-connected, and future-oriented is the right direction. For prospective students who want to build a career in the growing creative industry, this is one of the most honest indicators of how far an educational institution has gained the trust of the world they will enter.