In the dynamic landscape of mid-twenty-first-century design education, educators face multifaceted challenges in comprehending and planning the curriculum to meet the evolving demands of the industry and equip students with competencies for the future. They also serve as a crucial link between industry and academia, aiding students in transitioning to the professional world. The study aims to comprehensively explore the challenges faced by design educators in designing and developing the curriculum, focusing on the nature of these challenges, and their underlying causes thereby identifying desired faculty proficiencies required to plan and design better. The study employed a qualitative approach, incorporating qualitative methods such as observation, surveys, and focus group discussions for primary data collection, which were subsequently analyzed through contextual inquiries. This helped gather insights into educators’ experiences and perceptions on curriculum planning. The selection criteria in this study included educators, from different design disciplines, of esteemed institutions with different ranges of experiences to understand faculty proficiencies. The observations during curriculum planning sessions gave extensive data on how educators navigate these challenges. Literature survey revealed that current methods for transforming design curricula are insufficient and need a focused, strategic change that could be design process and research-driven. The study results indicated that at an institutional level, educators with better fluency in curriculum initiatives are equipped to create high-level learner-centric environments. This is one of the key criteria that help build a supportive system for curriculum planning. The study will also contribute to developing a faculty proficiency matrix that will eventually help build the curriculum planning framework.