Founded as the Dublin Society Drawing School in 1746, today NCAD offers the richest and most diverse education in art and design in Ireland. Our campus is in the Liberties, an area of Dublin which first developed in the 12th century, and remained outside the city walls. Its name derived from the independent privileges and rights which were enjoyed in the area.
For centuries, it has been a district where things are made. From Huguenot silverwork, wool and silk weaving and tanning to whiskey distilleries and beer breweries, and more recently, digital industries, our community is one of makers.
Making remains at the core of NCAD with our schools of Design and Fine Art offering a studio-based learning experience that responds to both the digital and material world. NCAD today is an organisation strengthened by close connections to our community in Dublin 8, and partners across the fields of Irish education, industry, culture and social enterprise. We attract students from around the world. Active in international networks, we create new forms of knowledge with research partners across Europe.
Students are at the heart of everything we do, and we are continuously proud of the versatility, confidence and imagination of our graduates. The range of the career paths followed by our graduates is an unequivocal demonstration of the value of the education they receive. Experimentation in the studio, learning through doing, deep understanding of materials and processes, as well as the criticality that is embedded across all pathways, prepare graduates to thrive in and beyond the worlds of art and design.
Art and design education at NCAD stimulates the creativity and imagination we all need to make our environment more sustainable, our societies more inclusive and all our lives richer.
