A survey of career guidance needs of industrial design students in Taiwanese Universities

School pupils in Taiwan spend most of their time in studying and having examinations, and consequently many of them decide what major to study in universities rather hastily. Industrial design (ID) programs in universities nowadays recruit students from general and vocational senior high schools through a variety of channels. As a consequence, ID students may vary considerably in their abilities, aptitudes, and career goals, and they are in urgent need of career guidance. This paper reports a survey of the career guidance needs of ID students in Taiwan. Eight focus groups (fifty-six students in total) were interviewed and a sample of 360 ID students, from four Taiwanese universities, were surveyed. Based on the implications of the findings, we make some proposals for design education and further research.