Futures Bold & Curious
NCAD offers the richest and most diverse education in art and design in Ireland. Founded as the Dublin Society Drawing School in 1746, NCAD has been central to art and design in Ireland for over 270 years. Located in the heart of the Liberties, a district where making and creating have been core activities since the twelfth century, our Thomas Street campus is currently home to a community of 1,500 undergraduate, graduate and part-time students across four disciplines: Design, Education, Fine Art and Visual Culture. “We have a shared belief in the transformative potential of an NCAD education to equip our graduates with the bold curiosity and the new thinking which society critically needs. We are ambitious to find new ways to work with each other and the wider community, to continuously redefine and expand the boundaries of creative practice, to make a difference and, as our mission states, to change the world.” Futures, Bold & Curious, NCAD Strategic Plan 2019-2024
NCAD is a unique place, with a special energy all its own. Walking under the blue arch on Thomas Street for the first time and into a campus of studios, workshops, and learning and social spaces is an unforgettable experience.
Today, as the national centre of excellence in Art and Design, NCAD offers the richest and most diverse education in art and design in Ireland. Our vision for our students is that of a studio-based, learning-by-doing experience that responds to both the digital and the material world. Students are at the heart of everything we do, and ‘making’ is at our core.
Just as NCAD is a national institution like no other, an NCAD education is like no other. Our era is one of fast and sometimes troubling change, and as a society we face many challenges. Learning and research at NCAD stimulates the imagination, creativity and critical thinking necessary to meet these challenges. Our graduates and research community include artists and designers who have changed the face of their fields. Their creative work meets the highest levels of achievement, from major international galleries and exhibitions to the catwalk and high street, and in health care and essential services. With close connections to our community, we also actively forge partnerships across Irish education, industry, culture and social enterprise as well as internationally.
With a new Strategic Plan in place and a strong vision for our future, we are on an exciting journey. Whether you are considering your options for studying at third level for the first time, or looking for the right college in which to continue your studies at masters or doctoral level, thank you for considering NCAD.
Professor Sarah Glennie
Director, NCAD
