The role of design thinking as an innovative approach in higher education curricula and its impact on enhancing ۲۱st-century skills: A systematic review

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of design thinking as an innovative approach in higher education curricula and its impact on enhancing ۲۱st-century skills through a systematic review of international studies, while providing implications for the Iranian higher education system. This research employed a systematic review methodology in accordance with the PRISMA ۲۰۲۰ guidelines. A comprehensive search was conducted across reputable databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, ScienceDirect, Springer, Taylor & Francis, ProQuest, Wiley, EBSCO, Semantic Scholar, and Google Scholar, covering the period from ۱۹۸۰ to December ۲۰۲۴. Search terms were combined using Boolean operators: ("design thinking" OR "design-based thinking") AND ("curriculum" OR "curricular" OR "course design" OR "program design") AND ("higher education" OR "university" OR "tertiary education"). Following deduplication and initial screening based on titles and abstracts, full texts were reviewed, and inclusion (peer-reviewed English articles directly related to design thinking applications in higher education curricula) and exclusion criteria were applied. Ultimately, ۵۵ articles of medium to high methodological quality—assessed using the CASP tool by two independent reviewers with ۹۲% agreement—were selected for final analysis. Thematic content analysis revealed that design thinking is predominantly conceptualized as a human-centered, iterative, interdisciplinary, and prototyping-based process. Its integration into higher education curricula significantly enhances complex problem-solving (۸۷%), creativity and innovation (۸۴%), collaboration and teamwork (۸۰%), empathy (۷۴%), and creative self-efficacy (۷۱%). Given the predominantly knowledge-oriented nature of current Iranian curricula, these findings suggest that redesigning courses around real-world, project-based challenges, establishing active learning spaces, and providing faculty training based on design thinking models could foster innovative, adaptable graduates capable of addressing global challenges

کلیدواژه ها:

higher education ، curriculum ، design thinking process ، ۲۱st century skills ، systematic review