Curriculum Information

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The Academy of Art University offers some of the most distinguished graduate programs in the world in all fields of art and design. The graduate curriculum is focused on skills mastery, allowing students to truly master their craft while working on self-designed final projects. Once students enter Master's candidacy they have the opportunity to develop a final thesis project with Directed Studies in their last year

All Academy graduate programs are fully accredited; for accreditation information, please read below.

WASC Accreditation

The Academy of Art University is proud to announce that it has been granted regional accreditation by the Senior Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is one of the six regional associations that accredit public and private colleges and schools in the United States.

Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation will aid the Academy of Art University in developing and sustaining its world-class education, and will continue to assure the educational community, the general public, and other organizations that the Academy of Art University is committed to achieving the highest standards of educational quality and effectiveness.

Read more about what this means for the Academy of Art University.

Accreditation/Memberships

The Academy of Art University has been approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education of the State of California to grant the degrees of Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Associate of Arts (AA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), and Certificates. The Academy is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) located at 985 Atlantic Avenue #100, Alameda, California, 94501, (501) 748-9001 and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), which is located at 11250 Roger Bacon Drive, Suite 21, Reston, Virginia, 20190, (703) 437-0700, to offer degrees of Associate of Art, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, and Certificates. The BFA Interior Architecture & Design program offered on campus is accredited by The Council for Interior Design Accreditation (formerly FIDER) as a Council for Interior Design Accreditation Accredited Professional Level Program.

The Academy is also an institutional member of the Career College Association (CCA), the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), and a member of the International Council of Design Schools (ICDS) and the College Art Association (CAA).

NAAB Accreditation

In the United States, most state registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit US professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted a 6-year, 3-year, or 2-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards.

Master’s degree programs may consist of a preprofessional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree that, when earned sequentially, constitute an accredited professional education. However, the preprofessional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

Accreditation for Online Programs

Online degree programs at the Academy of Art University are accredited. All online Associate of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Master of Fine Arts (excluding Architecture) programs are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The BFA in Interior Architecture and Design program delivered online is not currently accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (formerly FIDER). However, ACICS has approved the online BFA program in Interior Architecture and Design at the Academy of Art University, which offers the same curriculum as the Council for Interior Design Accreditation approved on-campus program.

The Academy of Art University admits students of any race, color, age, religion, and national or ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. The Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, religion, physical handicap, sexual preference, or national or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, and other school-administered programs.