This project addresses the lack of research regarding emerging roles for designers in the 21st century and their associated capabilities, along with the lack of studies looking into how a Sustainability Ethos might emerge and pervade in sustainability-centred design programs, including their curricula and pedagogies. It draws from the voices of academics and graduate designers from four Higher Education sustainability-focused design programs internationally to proposes theoretical guidelines supporting design educators to develop, enable and sustain design programs that are responsive to a rapidly changing world, in turn equipping design graduates with relevant capabilities to create change towards sustainable futures.