In recent years, the responsibilities of designers have drastically shifted as the world we live in becomes increasingly more complex. Correspondingly, educators advocate for an adaptation of design education in relation to the shifting economy, technological and societal advances. The question therefore is how to design the future of design education in a way that it corresponds better to these shifts. Traditionally, university curricula are updated on a department level together with faculty members. Under this localized practice, programs update one course at a time. During this routine hardly any other stakeholders are involved. By reviewing universities' practices around the world towards reforming their curricula, it was found that design programs can benefit from shifting towards a systemic, design-based, and research-through-design approach, specifically, by using design research methodologies, namely, co-creation, stakeholder involvement, questionnaires, trend analysis, benchmarking, focus groups, interviews, prototyping and the application of an iterative mindset. In agreement with Cross (1982), the authors call for a more designerly way of thinking in order to update design curricula. By re-considering conventional approaches regarding curricula reform practices, this paper presents recommendations for designing design education to define future university study programs.