In 1912, Mr. Liu Haisu, a pioneer of China’s New Art Movement and the founder of modern art education, established the Shanghai Art School (renamed Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts in 1930). In 1922, Mr. Yan Wenliang founded the Suzhou Fine Arts College. In 1952, during the nationwide restructuring of higher education institutions, the art and music departments of Shandong University were merged with the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts and Suzhou Fine Arts College to establish the East China Arts College in Sheqiao, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. The merger was completed on December 8th, and this date has since been celebrated as the anniversary day of NUA. In 1958, the East China Arts College relocated to Dingjiaqiao in Nanjing and was renamed Nanjing Arts College in the same year. In 1959, it was upgraded to a university and further renamed Nanjing University of the Arts. In 1967, it moved to 15 North Huju Road, Nanjing. In 1978, it was authorized as one of the first institutions nationwide to enroll master’s degree students. In 1986, it was granted the authority to confer doctoral degrees. After over a century of construction and development, NUA has advanced in sync with the times, thriving amidst challenges and difficulties, and has established itself as a comprehensive and influential institution of higher art education, both domestically and internationally.

Currently, NUA boasts a total enrollment of over 12,000 students and a faculty and staff exceeding 1,150. Over 760 faculty members serve in a full-time capacity, with more than 330 holding intermediate and senior professional titles. NUA also counts over 60 doctoral supervisors and more than 200 master’s supervisors among its distinguished academic staff. Additionally, NUA has engaged over a hundred visiting and part-time professors from both domestic and international backgrounds. Among them, there is one individual recognized by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China as a member of the “Four Batches” talent program, one individual honored as the “artist with outstanding moral and artistic accomplishments nationwide”, one B-class leading figure included in the national major talent program, one distinguished professor appointed as a “Changjiang Scholar” by the Ministry of Education, along with two designated as “Young Changjiang Scholars”. Moreover, one outstanding young and middle-aged expert has been selected for the “National Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand Talent Project”, two individuals have been recognized as “New Century Excellent Talents” by the Ministry of Education, two young outstanding talents have been included in the “Ten Thousand People Project” by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, and three individuals have been appointed as members of the disciplinary evaluation group of the 8th State Council Academic Degrees Committee, along with one serving as the convener. Additionally, there are seven members and two deputy directors of the Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee for Guidance in Teaching, one member of the first National Higher Education Fine Arts Education Teaching Guidance Committee, one national outstanding teacher, and one outstanding expert recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. What’s more, two individuals were honored with the “Jiangsu Purple Culture Medal”, four were recognized as the “artists with outstanding moral and artistic accomplishments of Jiangsu Province”, nine young and middle-aged experts were acknowledged for their outstanding contributions in Jiangsu Province, five individuals were included in the “Five Batches” Talents program in Jiangsu Province, and over a hundred people were selected for various provincial programs such as the “333 Project”, “Qinglan Project”, “Six Talent Peaks Project”, “Social Science and Humanities Prominent Talents and Outstanding Youth”, and “Purple Culture Creative Talents and Outstanding Youth”.