Last updated: August 2026 — tuition ranges, admissions notes and links checked and refreshed for the 2026/27 intake. Reviewed by the ChinaArtlover editorial team against official university sources and press materials (see citations throughout).
Quick answer: The top art universities and design schools in China are led by the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, the China Academy of Art (CAA) in Hangzhou, and the Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University — followed by seven other major academies in Chongqing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Nanjing, Shenyang, Guangzhou and Jinan. Together they cover the full range of Chinese art education, from classical ink painting and sculpture to product and visual design, with a growing number offering English-taught graduate programs for international applicants.
What are the top Art Universities and Design Schools in China? – an overview.
After covering so many artists in China, one thing keeps standing out: the sheer technical level coming out of Chinese art education. Walk through any degree show at one of the country’s major academies and you’ll find students who can paint like Picasso, van Gogh, or the old Dutch masters on command. That’s no accident — China’s top art universities and design schools put students through years of rigorous, often academy-style training, and craftsmanship of that level is simply the baseline from which creativity then has to take off.
If you are interested in more background on Chinese contemporary art, Barbara Pollack’s “Brand New Art From China” is still one of the more readable entry points.
When we’re researching emerging artists for this site, checking their educational background is one of the first things we do – the academy a painter or designer trained at tells you a lot about their technical grounding and the scene they came up in. But for most outsiders, getting an overview isn’t easy: language barriers, and the fact that these institutions are scattered across a genuinely huge country. This guide brings together the top art universities and design schools in China most consistently mentioned by artists, galleries and other institutions we’ve come across in our research, so you get a quick orientation instead of ten separate rabbit holes.
A quick, honest note on tuition and admissions: Chinese public art academies typically open applications for international undergraduate and graduate programs between December and March for the following September intake, and most require HSK Chinese-language proficiency for programs taught in Mandarin (a small but growing number of graduate programs are offered in English). Published tuition for international students at these institutions generally falls in a broad range depending on degree level and program — but exact figures change from year to year and by major, so rather than quote numbers that might already be stale by the time you read this, we’ve linked directly to each school’s official international admissions page below. The China Scholarship Council (CSC) and various Belt & Road / provincial scholarships are worth checking for full or partial tuition waivers if you’re seriously considering study in China.
The 10 Schools at a Glance
A quick comparison before the full profiles below — useful if you already know roughly what you’re looking for.
| School | City | Founded | Best Known For | Degrees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) | Beijing | 1918 | China’s most selective, most prestigious fine arts academy | BA–PhD |
| China Academy of Art (CAA) | Hangzhou | 1928 | China’s oldest art academy; broadest range of programs | BA–PhD |
| Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI) | Chongqing | 1940 | Sculpture and oil painting; only major academy in SW China | BA–MA |
| Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts | Tianjin | 1906 | Broad design + fine art programs, long history | BA–MA |
| Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua Univ. | Beijing | 1956 | Design — ranked among the world’s top design colleges | BA–PhD |
| Sichuan Conservatory of Music | Chengdu | 1939 | Music, with fine arts faculty (Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts) | BA–MA |
| Nanjing University of the Arts | Nanjing | 1912 | Comprehensive arts university, strong exchange ties | BA–PhD |
| Luxun Academy of Fine Arts (LAFA) | Shenyang / Dalian | 1938 | Painting, sculpture, photography; two-campus academy | BA–MA |
| Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA) | Guangzhou | 1953 | South China’s leading fine arts and design academy | BA–PhD |
| Shandong University of Arts | Jinan | 1958 | Only comprehensive arts institution in Shandong Province | BA–MA |
1. Central Academy of Fine Art Beijing
The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) is Beijing’s — and China’s — most prestigious fine arts academy, a Ministry-of-Education institution that rejects more than 90% of applicants each year. It is an art academy under the direct charge of China’s Ministry of Education, and it’s still routinely described as the country’s most prestigious and selective art school.
Its roots trace back to the National School of Fine Arts in Beijing, founded in 1918 at the urging of educator Cai Yuanpei — the first national fine arts school in China and the starting point of modern Chinese art education. The current academy was formed in 1950 through a merger with the fine arts department of North China University; Mao Zedong himself wrote the school’s calligraphic name.
CAFA today comprises 14 specialized schools spanning painting, design, architecture and art technology, with more than 6,000 students and over 1,000 faculty. In late 2025, CAFA became the first Chinese art academy to launch an AI-powered admissions chatbot on its international site, CAFA Global — a small but telling sign of how seriously the school is investing in reaching international applicants.
Source: PR Newswire, “China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts Launches AI-Powered Chatbot,” Oct. 10, 2025.
The CAFA Art Museum opened in October 2008, for the University’s 90th anniversary, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. It is located at the northeast corner of CAFA campus at No.8, Huajiadi Nan Street, Wangjing. The tickets are 10 RMB.
→ Official international admissions: global.cafa.edu.cn
2. China Academy of Art Hangzhou
The China Academy of Art (CAA/Chinese: 中國美術學院) in Hangzhou, founded in 1928, is China’s oldest art academy and offers the broadest degree range of any school on this list, from bachelor’s through PhD. Also translated as China National Academy of Fine Arts, it was founded by the government of the Republic of China together with — again — Cai Yuanpei, as the first art university and first graduate school in Chinese history, built on the idea that fine arts education could help rebuild a war-torn country.
CAA is part of China’s “Double First-Class” university initiative and spans fine arts, design, architecture, film and new media across three campuses. Under current president Gao Shiming, the academy has grown to more than 7,000 undergraduates alone.
Source: Wikipedia, “China Academy of Art” (2025 enrollment/leadership data).
If you are interested in more information about Chinese Art check our artbook page.
There are 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students in three campuses with a faculty and staff of 800. Undergraduate students typically spend one year in general education courses in the Department of Foundation and then three years in the core courses of their particular majors. Graduate courses are typically three years long and include experience in the studio and research with mentoring faculty.
Official international admissions: en.caa.edu.cn
3. Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts Chongqing
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI) (Chinese: 四川美术学院) is a public fine arts university founded 1940 in Chongqing, China. The traditional campus was in the district of Jiulongpo, in Chongqing. The new campus was built in Huxi District, Chongqing in 2005. It is the only major fine arts academy serving Southwest China, best known for sculpture and oil painting
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, with a history of over 64 years, is one of the four most prominent art academies in China and the only one in the southwest China. In the 1950s and 1960s, the institute was symbolized by handcraft arts and in the 1970s, it was sculpture, especially the most famous group statues, the “Rent Collecting Courtyard”. In the 1980s it was oil painting, such as SFAI’s president Luo Zhongli’s masterpiece “My Father”.
The institute enjoys great prestige domestically and internationally. The excellent artwork has become milestones in contemporary Chinese art. Since the 1990s, many teachers and students have gained nationwide and international awards. They got opportunities to make their work exhibited to the world.
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SFAI’s institutional philosophy — “close to life, to serve the people” — still shows in the curriculum: craft art, oil painting, sculpture, design, architecture, printmaking, art theory and traditional Chinese painting are all taught with a strong practical bent..
Programs of study at SFAI include craft art, oil painting, sculpture, design, architecture, print making, art theory, and traditional Chinese painting.
Offizial Website: scfai.edu.cn
4. Tianjin Acadademy of Fine Arts Tianjiin
Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts (Chinese: 天津美术学院), founded in 1906, is one of China’s oldest continuously operating art schools, offering 17 sub-majors across fine art and design. Its roots trace back further than almost any school on this list: founded as the Beiyang Female Normal School by educator Lü Bicheng, with fine art formally added to the curriculum in 1926. The school went through several name changes over the following decades — Hebei Provincial Women’s Normal Academy, then Henei Normal Arts Academy after admitting men in 1949 — before its fine arts division split off as its own academy in 1959.
Today the academy is organized into an Arts Design School, a Plastic Arts School and a Contemporary Art School, alongside departments for Chinese Painting, Art History and Art Theory. Across its 17 sub-majors — from oil painting and sculpture to fashion design, dyeing & weaving design and digital media — it remains one of North China’s broader design-and-fine-art training grounds, with several thousand undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at any given time.
Official site: english.tjarts.edu.cn
5. Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University Beijing
The Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University (THU AAD) is China’s top-ranked design school — the only Chinese institution listed among the world’s Top 60 Design Colleges three times running. Founded in 1956 as the Central Academy of Arts & Design (CAAD) — New China’s first dedicated academy of art design — the school merged into Tsinghua University in 1999 to become THU AAD.
Today it spans 11 departments covering fine art, design and art theory, with a substantial body of international students among its cohort. If you’re specifically after industrial, visual communication, or environmental design rather than fine art, this is the strongest name on the list.
Source: HEC Paris x Tsinghua joint program page, THU AAD institutional profile.
Website: ad.tsinghua.edu.cn
6. Sichuan Conservatory of Music Chengdu
The Sichuan Conservatory of Music (SCCM, Chinese: 四川音乐学院) in Chengdu, founded in 1939, is primarily a music institution but also houses the Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts on its Xindu campus. The Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 2000 by SFAI vice president Ma Yiping to fill the gap left when Chongqing separated administratively from Sichuan province. SCCM is one of a select group of conservatories authorized by China’s State Council to confer graduate degrees in fine arts as well as music.
SCCM runs its own symphony orchestra, philharmonic orchestra, concert wind orchestra, Chinese traditional orchestra, college choirs, and pre-college ensembles. The conservatory holds hundreds of concerts throughout the year and regularly invites distinguished guest artists and teachers from around the world.
Every two years, the school hosts an intensive international piano festival, where students work with world-renowned artists such as Gary Graffman, John O’Conor, John Perry, and Boris Berman.
Official site: sccm.cn/english
7. Nanjing Universtity of the Arts Nanjing
Nanjing University of the Arts (Chinese: 南京艺术学院), tracing back to 1912, is a comprehensive arts university known for strong international exchange partnerships. Its lineage runs back to the founding of the Shanghai Chinese Art College; after several mergers it relocated to Nanjing in 1958 and took its current name in 1959. The school song’s lyrics were written by — once again — Cai Yuanpei, who shows up as a founding influence across a striking number of China’s oldest art academies.
Nanjing University of the Arts maintains partnership programs with international institutions including the University of Dayton (US) and Hokuriku University (Japan), which makes it one of the more internationally connected schools on this list for students weighing exchange or dual-degree options.
Official site: en.nua.edu.cn
8. Luxun Academy of Arts Shenjang
The Luxun Academy of Fine Arts (LAFA), founded in 1938 with campuses in Shenyang and Dalian, is commonly ranked among China’s top three art academies alongside CAFA and Tsinghua AAD. It focuses on painting, sculpture and photography, alongside fashion, industrial product design and environmental architecture.
With close to nine decades of history, LAFA has built a sizeable faculty and a student body spanning undergraduate through MFA level, including a standing intake of international students. LAFA is well recognized as one of the top-three art academies in China, along with the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University and China Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Official Website: https://www.lumei.edu.cn
9. Guangzhou Academy of fine Arts
The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA; Chinese: 广州美术学院), founded in 1953, is South China’s leading fine arts and design academy and one of the first in China authorized to award MFA degrees. Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts established in 1953 as the Central South China Fine Arts School, which consisted of the South China Literature & Arts College, Central South China Literature & Arts Institute and the Fine Arts Department of Guangxi Art Institute. It was initially based in Wuchang, Hubei Province, and then relocated to Guangzhou and renamed the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1958.
The undergraduate course was offered in 1958 and the postgraduate courses were subsequently offered in 1978. The postgraduate M.F.A. degree course was established in 1982. GAFA is one of the first authorised institutions to award M.F.A degrees in the whole of China. In 1986 it started to enroll students from foreign countries and overseas Chinese students and students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. 2005, it was one of the first academies in China to offer the Master of Fine Arts. The Academy consists of School of Traditional Chinese Painting, School of Fine Arts, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, School of Industrial Design, School of Visual Communication and Media Design, School of Art Education, School of Arts and Humanities, College of Continuing Education, and Section of Political Science.
→ Official site: gzarts.edu.cn/English
10. Shandong College of Arts Jinan
Shandong University of Arts in Jinan, is the only comprehensive arts institution of higher education in Shandong Province. Located in a historic city known for its natural springs, it began as the Shandong Art College and was elevated to Shandong University of Arts by State Council approval in December 1978. Established in 1958, formerly known as the shandong art college, it has developed into a comprehensive arts institution of higher education and changed its name into Shandong University of Arts approved by the state council in Dec 1978. The university consists of Jinan Wendong and Changqing campuses, with over 8000 full-time undergraduates and professional training students.
Shandong University of Arts has deep cultural level, complete majors, high educational level and outstanding educational conditions. The university consists of 13 schools/departments, including School of Music, School of Fine Arts, School of Theatre, The Normal School of Music, School of Design, School of Art & Culture, School of Dance, School of Traditional Opera, School of Adult Education, School of Vocational Education, School of International Art Exchange, School of International Originality and Design, Modern Technical Education Department. Foreign students are accepted since 1995, until now over 100 students have studied here. The university accept international students in all categories apart from Chinese training courses.
Official Website: https://en.sdada.edu.cn
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- Duan Jianyu: The Painter Who Puts Watermelons Next to European Nudes and Means It
10 Top Art Universities and Design Schools in China: Frequently Asked Questions
The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing is generally considered China’s most prestigious and most selective art academy, accepting fewer than 10% of applicants each year. The China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and Tsinghua’s Academy of Arts & Design are usually named alongside it as China’s top three.
Yes. All ten schools on this list accept international applicants, typically for both Chinese-language-taught and (increasingly) English-taught graduate programs. Requirements and application windows vary by school, so check the official international admissions page linked in each school’s profile above.
For most undergraduate and many graduate programs, yes – an HSK Chinese proficiency certificate is typically required. A growing number of graduate and exchange programs, particularly in design, are offered in English, but these remain the exception rather than the rule.
Tuition for international students at Chinese public art academies varies by school, degree level and program, and changes annually — so we’ve linked directly to each school’s official admissions page rather than quote figures that could be outdated. Scholarships through the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and various provincial or Belt & Road programs can cover tuition partially or fully for eligible applicants.
Most schools open international applications between December and March for a September intake. Portfolio and, for some programs, an entrance exam or interview are typically required alongside standard academic documents.
The Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University is the strongest name specifically for design — it’s the only Chinese institution listed among the world’s Top 60 Design Colleges three times running. Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts also have substantial design faculties.