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Installation on campus as part of the 19th International Symposium on Electronic Art. Work by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Breathing is free: 12,756.3 – Chicago Microscope (A Self-portrait), 88.5km (detail).
About Us

At a Glance

The School of Art & Design is recognised as one of the world’s leading art and design schools, with an outstanding record for producing critically acclaimed artists, designers and media creators.

We are rated the top creative research School in the country by the Australian Research Council in its current Excellence in Research Australia report (2015) and we are ranked in the global top 30 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2017).

Our campus is located in the dynamic inner city Sydney neighbourhood of Paddington, an historic centre of the arts community and is surrounded by our regions largest creative industries cluster.

We are Australia’s largest, most dynamic and diverse creative art, design and media school with well over 3,000 students and staff drawn from more than 60 countries globally.

The School of Art & Design offers more disciplines and opportunities for interdisciplinary study than any other Australian creative school including 14 undergraduate degree and 11 creative postgraduate coursework and research degree programs taught by more than 300 scholars, practicing artists and designers, specialised technical staff.

Our purpose-built and creative community-based campus incorporates:

  • An extensive suite of cutting-edge media production facilities including specialised computer labs for animation, editing suites, audio and vocal suites and booths, motion and image capture studios, and traditional photography darkroom and film processing studios.
  • Unmatched workshops and studios including state-of-the-art metal and wood workshops featuring 60+ machines.
  • Makerspaces featuring an array of 3D printing and laser cutting and fabrication machines.
  • Interactive Media Lab for students and staff to share skills, discuss ideas and experiment with creative coding methods and interactive technologies
  • Studio complex including 300+ custom-built spaces for design, graphics, textiles, objects, ceramics, jewellery, drawing and painting.
  • Suite of 3 specialised printmaking and screen-printing workshops for both paper and fabric.

Our campus also features a network of 3 museum-standard and 5 high quality student-led galleries.

Incorporated in their program of study, our students can access more than 240 international exchange opportunities in 35 countries.

Our network of industry connections includes more than 1000 professional experience projects and internship opportunities across all areas of study.

Our alumni diaspora includes more than 1,000 internationally renowned and prize-winning practitioners around the world in art, design, media, art education and theory, curating and cultural leadership. 

In 2014 we altered our name from UNSW College of Fine Arts (then widely known as "COFA") to the School of Art & Design. The purpose of this change is to formally reference ‘design’ in our name and highlight our long-standing commitment across the breadth of contemporary creativity.