This paper describes the changing role of designers in times of design thinking and service design increasing in popularity. These new participatory approaches expand the work of designers and thus, should be reflected in the way we teach design. If designers nowadays are demanded as facilitators and moderators of innovation processes, what role should educators take, to prepare students appropriately? Building on qualitative interviews with representatives of academia, industry and business, the paper highlights the new requirements and puts these in juxtaposition to the existing teaching model in Germany. While the industry is already adapting, the German educational system seems not yet prepared to teach the appropriate skills. The focus still lies much more on cultivating the individual craftsmanship of designers. The authors, therefore, propose a new model of design education with which they hope to inspire educational approaches for the development of collaborative capabilities and know-how.