Taha Mughal, a Kashmir based artist and architect has made it to the prestigious Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Master’s in Design (MDes) program (Narratives domain) 2022-23 session.
He is the first Kashmiri to be admitted to the course, among 14 others worldwide.
The multi-disciplinary course seeks to challenge conventional design thinking and methodologies by understanding dissonance and contrasting narratives revolving around sites.
A resident of HMT, Srinagar, Taha has done his initial schooling at Minto Circle School and later at Tyndale Biscoe School, Srinagar.
After completing his Bachelor’s in Architecture from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), he joined Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Kashmir Chapter, a leading organization in the region working for the conservation of Heritage.
He has been associated with many national and international organizations and has several national awards and fellowships to his credit.
Taha is currently pursuing his MPhil in Heritage Studies at the world-renowned University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
To pursue the course at Cambridge, Taha is currently a recipient of British Council’s fully funded Charles Wallace India Trust Award 2021-22, among four other Indians to have received the coveted scholarship.
Pertinently, he had also bagged the highly prestigious Chevening Scholarships UK 2021-22, but decided to opt for the CWIT scholarship instead.
“Years of slow but consistent effort helped me wade through life. Design fields have become multi-disciplinary today but one should try to have a diverse portfolio to be admitted to reputed schools of the world,” Taha Mughal told. “It’s definitely not as difficult as is popularly believed,” he said.
Notably, Harvard University is a private Ivy league university in the United States, with a global acceptance rate of less than 4.5%. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the GSD offers master’s and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, real estate, design engineering, and design studies.
In addition to Harvard Graduate School of Design, Taha has also made it to the prestigious Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League university in the United States that has a global acceptance rate of less than 8%. He has also received offers from two other universities in the US.
Courtesy : Aatif Qayoom