Introduction to the College of Art & Design

The College of Art & Design of Nanjing Forestry University was established in 1986, which pioneered art and design education in forestry universities in China. In 2008, the school integrated relevant art subject resources and established the School of Art and Design. The comprehensive strength of the college ranks among the top in China's agricultural and forestry colleges and similar colleges in Jiangsu Province, with enrollment covering more than ten provinces and municipalities directly under the central government. We have the authority to confer doctoral, master's, professional master's degrees in design, and engineering master's degrees in design, and recruit undergraduate and graduate students in design disciplines from overseas.

The college has a complete talent cultivation system and currently has 7 departments (teaching and research rooms) and corresponding professional and disciplinary research directions, namely: Landscape Art Design Department, Ecological Landscape Design Department, Interior Art Design Department, Visual Communication Design Department, Public Art Department, Digital Media Art Department, and Virtual Teaching and Research Room for Ecological Digital Innovation Design Course Group. There are seven research institutes (institutes, centers) established, namely Environmental Art Design Institute, Landscape Design Institute, Interior Design Institute, Media Art Design Institute, Digital Innovation Design Research Center, China Innovation Design Big Data Nanjing Center, and Rural Revitalization Creative Design Research Institute. There are four central institutions, namely the Art and Design Theory Center, the International Design Education Research Center, the Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, and the Design and Social Innovation Center. There are 5 graduate studios and 1 international design workshop. There are 2434 undergraduate students and 525 graduate students currently enrolled. Environmental design and visual communication design have been selected as national first-class undergraduate major construction sites, public art major has been selected as provincial first-class major, and digital media art major has been selected as university first-class major. The "Virtual Simulation Experiment Project for Landscape Renewal Design of Old City Communities" has been recognized as a national first-class undergraduate experimental course and four provincial-level first-class courses; Design has been approved as an advantageous and key discipline in Jiangsu Province during the 14th Five Year Plan period, while Design (Ecological Landscape Design) has been approved as a key discipline by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration during the same period. Design has achieved excellent results in the fifth round of subject evaluation. In 2024, design science was approved as a first level discipline doctoral degree authorization point.

The college has a well structured teaching team of 106 faculty members, including 34 professors and associate professors, 61 doctoral, postdoctoral, and overseas returnees, 2 young and middle-aged leading talents in the second level and 1 third level of the 333 High level Talent Training Project in Jiangsu Province, 1 excellent scientific and technological innovation team in Jiangsu Province, 1 excellent teaching team in the Provincial Qinglan Project, 4 young and middle-aged academic leaders, and 2 outstanding young backbone teachers. Hired more than 40 well-known scholars, industry technology and management experts, entrepreneurs, and others from home and abroad as special guest and part-time professors, including 7 industry professors from Jiangsu Province; There are over 30 external supervisors for graduate students.

The School of International Cooperation and Academic Exchange has established cooperative and exchange relationships or joint talent training mechanisms with well-known art and design schools in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore, exchanging teachers and international students.

The college has achieved fruitful results in teaching, scientific research, and serving society by focusing on innovative research and strengthening practical training. Since its independent establishment, the institute has undertaken more than 50 scientific research projects at or above the provincial and ministerial level, including the National Social Science Fund, National Natural Science Fund, National Arts Fund, and Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Science Fund, including the National Social Science Fund Key Project in Art Studies; More than 360 commissioned projects, over 400 authorized patents, over 700 published papers, including over 200 CSSCI, SCI, and EI papers, and over 40 monographs and textbooks, including 3 key textbooks in Jiangsu Province. The college has established school enterprise alliance cooperation relationships with more than 40 enterprises, and has built more than 30 graduate workstations, industry university research bases, and college student training bases in Jiangsu Province, including 3 provincial-level excellent graduate workstations. Teachers are active in more than 20 academic, professional, and industry associations (associations), including the China Forestry Society, China Landscape Architecture Society, China Park Association, China Architecture and Interior Design Society, China Arts and Crafts Society, China Advertising Association, Jiangsu Science Popularization Artists Society, and China Architecture Culture Research Association, and hold important positions. The college is the president unit of Jiangsu Interior Design Society and Nanjing Industrial Design Society, and the chairman unit of the National Innovation Alliance for Digital Application and Ecological Design of Landscape Plants under the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Over the years, students have achieved excellent results in various design competitions and outstanding paper evaluations both domestically and internationally. In the past five years, we have won 6 first prizes and 1 second prize in the National College Student Art Exhibition, 3 first prizes in the Provincial Excellent Graduation Design, 19 special prizes in the National College Student English Competition, and 1 second prize in the "Creating Youth" National College Student Entrepreneurship Competition. We also receive over 400 awards in provincial and ministerial level academic competitions every year. The college has trained more than 10000 design talents of various types, with graduates mainly distributed in universities, enterprises, government departments, and design institutes, covering industries such as education, scientific research, landscaping, environmental protection, architecture, decoration and renovation, new media, etc., and has received widespread praise.

At present, the college relies on the advantageous disciplinary backgrounds of forestry, environment, and ecology at Nanjing Forestry University. Based on forestry, ecology, and environmental materials, it will develop into a well-known and internationally influential art and design college with distinct forestry characteristics.