Design College in Chicago, Illinois

School of the Art Institute of Chicago:
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is proud to have provided a world-class art and design education since its founding in 1866. The partnership between the School and the museum makes the Art Institute of Chicago one of the premier fine arts educational facilities in the world. The School stimulates in young artists art and design production that surpasses ordinary boundaries. SAIC offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees, as well as post-baccalaureate certificates and continuing studies programs. Courses at the School are taught by renowned professionals in their individual disciplines, who are also first class instructors and artist-practitioners. Today, each student has access to more than 26 software programs 24 hours a day. SAIC's multifaceted education challenges artists and designers to develop distinct and new concepts which have an influence on contemporary art and design throughout the United States and around the world.

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To provide excellence in the delivery of a global education in visual, design, media, and related arts, with attendant studies in the history and theory of those disciplines set within a broad-based humanistic curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences. To provide instruction for this education in a range of formats: written, spoken, media, and exhibition-based.

The School is a professional college of the visual and related arts, accredited since 1936 by the Higher Learning Commission of NCA, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and as a charter member since 1944 by NASAD, the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. The School's art education program is certified by the Illinois State Board of Education, and its art therapy program is approved by the Education and Approval Board of the American Art Therapy Association. The Master of Architecture degree program is a candidate for accreditation from the National Architecture Accrediting Board.

The School is a member of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the American Association for Higher Education, the National Art Education Association, the College Art Association of America, the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, the Illinois Art Education Association, the National Conference of Artists, the College Scholarship Service, the Counsel for Advancement and Support of Education, the Institute of International Education, the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs, the American Association of University Women, the National Association of College Admissions Counselors, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, the College Entrance Examination Board, and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

SAIC's academic departments offer outstanding facilities that support a wide array of course offerings. Students can choose from a diverse range of courses in the following academic departments;

- Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects
- Art and Technology Studies
- Fashion Design
- Fiber and Material Studies
- Film
- Video,
- New Media
- Painting and Drawing
- Performance
- Photography
- Printmedia
- Sculpture
- Sound
- Visual Communication

Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate studies in art and design at SAIC offer students the opportunity to pursue an individualized course of study following the First Year Program. The undergraduate curriculum can be understood as a sustained, structured dialogue between making and thinking. The ability to explore ideas—by painting, making prints, creating performances, making photographs, videos, and films, or by combining media—requires that students develop both technical and critical competencies. Students develop the ability to respond with sophistication to visual phenomena and learn to organize perceptions and conceptualizations both rationally and intuitively.

Undergraduate Degree Programs
Bachelor of interior architecture
BFA with emphasis in art education
BFA with emphasis in art history, theory and criticism
BFA with emphasis in writing
BFA and BA in visual and critical studies

Graduate Programs

Fluency with media is expected at the graduate level, and study at the School instills a sense of advanced competency in art making and art practice. SAIC provides an extraordinary range and diversity of curricular offerings through studio and academic departments, and students are encouraged to work as multidisciplinary arts practitioners. The School prepares the graduate student for entry into institutions, organizations, and workplaces through the integration of theory and practice and by stressing the importance of access and agency within the world at large. The excellence of the School's graduate degree programs resides in its faculty of practicing artists and scholars, and their ability to transmit their areas of expertise.

Programs
Master of Architecture
Master of Architecture with Emphasis in Interior Architecture
Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy
Master of Arts in Art Education
Master of Arts in Art Therapy
Master of Arts in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism
Master of Arts in New Arts Journalism
Master of Arts in Teaching
Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies
Master of Design in Designed Objects
Master of Design in Fashion, Body and Garment
Master of Fine Arts in Studio
Master of Fine Arts in Writing
Master of Science in Historic Preservation Dual degrees
MA Modern Art History, Theory & Criticism
MA Arts Admin & Policy

Post-Baccalaureate and Certificate

It is exciting to contemplate the serious concentrated time graduate school affords. It is a chance for students to further develop a sense of purpose in their work and in their lives, a time when professional friendships and mentor relationships are formed—relationships that often continue to influence a person's development for decades to come.

Programs
Post-Baccalaureate certificate in fashion, body and garment
Post-Baccalaureate certificate in studio
Post-Baccalaureate certificate in writing

Adult Continuing Education

SAIC is a prestigious leader in Adult Continuing Education in the Chicago area, offering personal and professional enrichment courses to hundreds of adults each semester. Adults not currently matriculated into any of the School's degree programs may still enroll in Continuing Studies Adult Program and/or degree program courses as an Adult Continuing Education (ACE) student. Because this is not a degree program, there are no admittance policies or procedures. Adults must be at least 18 years of age and have received a high school diploma or its equivalent.