Nanjing University of the Arts

Nanjing University of the Arts, known in Chinese as Nanyi, was founded in 1912. It is China’s earliest independently established higher arts institution to continue operating to the present, with a history of over a century. It is jointly developed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China and the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, and participates in Jiangsu’s High-Level University Peak Development Plan. Its overall strength in arts disciplines consistently ranks among China’s leading universities. Located in Nanjing’s main urban area, where history meets modernity and tradition blends with fashion, it has the legendary Stone City to the south, scenic Gulin Park to the north, convenient Huju Avenue to the east and the Qinhuai River scenic belt, with its boats and lights, to the west. Its beautiful, varied campus features traditional buildings with sweeping eaves, carved beams and painted rafters alongside bright, flowing modern architecture of distinctive style.

The university offers a comprehensive range of arts disciplines. It has 16 teaching units, including the schools of Fine Arts and Calligraphy, Music, Design, Drama and Film, Dance, Media, Modern Music and Technology, Industrial Design and Intelligent Innovation, Humanities and Museums (Institute of Art Studies), Cultural Industries, Digital Arts, and International Education. It offers 44 undergraduate programs: art history and theory, arts management, music performance, musicology, composition and composition theory, dance performance, dance studies, choreography, dance education, popular music, acting, dramatic and film literature, radio and television directing, drama and film directing, stage and film art design, recording arts, broadcasting and presenting, animation, film cinematography and production, fine arts, painting, sculpture, photography, calligraphy, Chinese painting, cultural relic conservation and restoration, art and design studies, visual communication design, environmental design, product design, fashion and apparel design, public art, arts and crafts, digital media art, art and technology, advertising, art education, cultural industry management, public affairs management, music education, intangible cultural heritage protection, intelligent interaction design, musical theatre, and music technology.

The university has over 12000 students, over 1100 faculty and staff and over 770 full-time teachers. Among full-time teachers, over 370 hold senior titles. It has over 100 doctoral supervisors, over 250 master’s supervisors and over one hundred visiting and adjunct professors from China and abroad. Its personnel include 1 member of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee’s “Four Groups of Talent” program; 1 national arts worker recognized for both virtue and artistic excellence; 1 Category B leading talent under a major national talent program; 1 Ministry of Education distinguished Changjiang Scholars professor and 2 young Changjiang Scholars; 2 Ministry of Education New Century Excellent Talents; 3 top young talents under the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee’s “Ten Thousand Talents Plan”; 3 members and 1 convener of the eighth State Council Academic Degrees Committee’s disciplinary appraisal groups; 7 members and 2 deputy chairs of Ministry of Education teaching advisory committees; 1 member of the first National University Aesthetic Education Teaching Advisory Committee; 1 National Outstanding Teacher; and 1 Ministry of Culture and Tourism outstanding expert. Two people have received Jiangsu Zijin Cultural Medals; 4 are Jiangsu arts workers recognized for both virtue and artistic excellence; 9 are Jiangsu young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions; and 5 are members of Jiangsu’s “Five Groups of Talent” program. More than one hundred people have been selected for provincial programs including the “333 Project,” “Qinglan Project,” “Six Talent Peaks,” “Social Science Talent and Outstanding Young Talent,” and “Zijin Cultural and Creative Talent and Outstanding Young Talent.”

The university has 5 postdoctoral research stations, 2 first-level disciplines authorized to award both doctoral and master’s degrees, 5 professional doctoral degree authorizations and 5 professional master’s degree authorizations. In the Ministry of Education’s fifth discipline evaluation, 80% of its disciplines entered Category A, with major breakthroughs in traditional strengths. It has ranked first in arts in Wu Shulian’s Chinese University Discipline Category Rankings for six consecutive years. With the Central Compilation and Translation Press, it established a Center for Artistic Research and Creation on Adapting Marxism to the Chinese Context and the Needs of the Times and the first Marx Reading Center at a Chinese university. With Original Force Digital Technology, it jointly established a Ministry of Culture and Tourism Technology Innovation Center for R&D and Services in 3D Animation Production Toolchains. Other joint platforms include a Digital Intelligence Science and Technology Innovation Center with Nanjing’s Gulou District; a Suzhou Industry-Education Integration Research Institute with Suzhou Municipality; an Institute of Art and Technology Innovation with the Chinese National Academy of Arts; an Art and Science Creative Research Center with the University of Science and Technology of China; an Institute of Art and Health with Nanjing Medical University; an Institute of Metaverse Art and Design with Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications; a Digital Cultural and Creative Development Center with Nanjing University of Science and Technology; an Auditory Perception and Audiovisual Integration Laboratory with China Media Group’s Jiangsu station; and a Laboratory for Digital and Biological Restoration of Cultural Heritage with Chongqing University’s Liyang Smart City Research Institute. Over the past five years, it has received 8 Ministry of Education Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Awards for Higher Education Institutions, 14 Jiangsu Outstanding Philosophy and Social Science Achievement Awards and 13 Jiangsu University Philosophy and Social Science Research Achievement Awards. It has received 35 national research projects, including 3 National Social Science Fund projects, 5 major National Social Science Fund arts projects, bringing the historical total to 8, 4 key projects and 18 general projects; 1 National Special Support Program for High-Level Talent project; 20 Ministry of Education humanities and social science projects; 14 social science projects from other central departments; and over 60 provincial social science fund projects. It has received approval for 9 provincial research platforms and 2 provincial outstanding innovation teams, bringing the team total to 5. The Journal of Nanjing University of the Arts (Fine Arts and Design) is a CSSCI source journal and national Chinese core journal; the Journal of Nanjing University of the Arts (Music and Performance) is a national Chinese core journal.

In recent years, the university has achieved substantial results in major artistic creation, exhibitions and performances in China and abroad. The animated series Da Yu Controls the Floods, scripted by a university teacher, won the 15th Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee “Five-One Project” Award and the Outstanding Television Animation Program Award at the 26th Starlight Television Arts Awards. The television drama The Salt Merchants of the Qing Dynasty won the 30th Flying Apsaras Award and an Honorary Nomination Award at the 28th Golden Eagle Awards. Ebola Fighters won an Outstanding Television Drama Award at the 33rd Flying Apsaras Awards. The university has received 9 gold, silver or bronze awards at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, 3 Golden Bell gold awards and 1 Wenhua gold award; 1 classical dance award in the Chinese Dance Lotus Awards; and 3 Chinese Calligraphy Lanting Awards. At the seventh National Youth Traditional Instrumental Music Education and Teaching Achievement Showcase, 7 students were named “Outstanding Performance Talents” and 1 course was named a “Quality Teacher Course.” Two works were selected for the National Exhibition of Outstanding Fine Arts at the 12th and 13th China Art Festivals. One work won a bronze award in the general animated short category of the Golden Monkey Awards at the 20th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival. It won 1 gold award in the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition. It has restaged the large-scale anti-war opera Akiko and created Ode to Peace, a multimedia symphonic concert combining music, poetry and images; the original play Flowers Bloomed Then; original dance dramas Twelve Seconds and The Waiting of the Yuhua Stone; and original musicals Hidden Light and A Drop in the Ocean, among other works, generating broad social impact.