Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts

Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts

Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts is the only higher art institution in South China. Its predecessor was the Central-South Academy of Fine Arts, which was established in 1953 with the approval of the Ministry of Higher Education in Wuhan, Hubei. At that time, it was formed through the merger of relevant departments from institutions such as the Central-South Institute of Literature and Art, the South China People's Institute of Literature and Art, and the Guangxi Provincial Art Academy. In 1958, the Central-South Academy of Fine Arts relocated from Wuhan to Guangzhou and was renamed Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. In 2004, the school built a new campus in Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, forming a “one school, two campuses” educational structure. The school is now a provincial university under the administration of Guangdong Province.

It was among the first institutions in China to be granted the authority to confer master's degrees in 1981.

It began enrolling international students and students from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan in 1987.

In 2005, it was approved as one of the first pilot institutions for the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in China.

In 2010, it was designated by Guangdong Province as a provincial-level doctoral degree construction unit.

The school currently has eight colleges: the School of Chinese Painting, the School of Plastic Arts, the School of Architectural Art and Design, the School of Industrial Design, the School of Visual Art and Design, the School of Art Education, the School of Art and Humanities, and the School of Urban Studies, along with one Department of Ideological and Political Theory Course. Undergraduate programs include 29 majors and 55 specializations in fields such as Fine Arts, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Art Design, Visual Communication Design, Environmental Design, Product Design, Fashion and Apparel Design, Arts and Crafts, Digital Media Art, Art and Technology, Theatre and Film Literature, Radio and Television Directing, Theatre and Film Directing, Theatre and Film Art Design, Broadcasting and Hosting, Animation, Film and Television Photography and Production, Art Education, Cultural Heritage and Museology, Industrial Design, Fashion Design and Engineering, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Public Art. Graduate programs offer three first-level discipline master's degrees in Fine Arts, Design, and Art Theory, as well as three professional master's degrees in Master of Fine Arts, Landscape Architecture, and Cultural Heritage and Museology.

The school currently has three provincial key disciplines, including two first-level disciplines — “Fine Arts” and “Design” — and one second-level discipline, “Arts and Crafts.” It also has three provincial characteristic key disciplines, including one first-level discipline, “Art Theory,” and two second-level disciplines, “Theory and Criticism of Fine Arts” and “Film, Television, and Digital Media.” “Painting,” “Industrial Design,” and “Sculpture” are national-level characteristic majors designated by the Ministry of Education. “Industrial Design” is among the first batch of comprehensive reform pilot projects for undergraduate programs at local universities designated by the Ministry of Education. The “Collaborative Talent Cultivation Platform for Industrial Design Programs” has been approved as one of the first collaborative talent cultivation platforms in Guangdong Province. Four majors, including “Fine Arts,” are provincial characteristic majors, while eight majors — “Sculpture,” “Visual Communication Design,” “Environmental Design,” “Product Design,” “Art and Technology,” “Digital Media Art,” “Animation,” and “Architecture” — have been listed as provincial comprehensive reform pilot construction projects. Five courses — Watercolor Painting, Sculpture Creation, Creative Work (Oil Painting), Design Foundation – Creative Expression, and Advertising Creativity — have been rated as provincial-level quality courses during the 11th Five-Year Plan period. Two courses — “Social Responsibility in Advertising Creativity” and “Chinese Gongbi Figure Painting Sketch Class” — have been approved for the construction of provincial-level quality video open courses during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. Ten courses, including “Spatial Design Form Foundation,” have been included in the construction scope of provincial-level quality resource-sharing courses during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. The school currently has one national experimental teaching demonstration center, seven experimental teaching demonstration centers at Guangdong universities, seven provincial joint postgraduate training demonstration bases, 29 on-campus shared laboratories, and 44 off-campus practice bases, providing excellent conditions for practical teaching.

School Address: No. 257, Changgang East Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou / No. 168, Outer Ring West Road, Guangzhou University Town, Panyu District