About UArts
For more than 140 years we’ve been developing innovative creative leaders – because we see you differently.
It’s true that our top-level faculty provides a rigorous arts, design or writing education; but to be honest, so do most art schools.
UArts is much more: we’re the only art school in America that makes it possible to work and collaborate across traditional boundaries. More than 30 minors are open to all students, so animators can study guitar, industrial designers can minor in ceramics, creative writers can take classes in illustration.
We are more because you are more.
Innovative education for 140 years.
Established in 1876, the university was formed by the merging of two century-old institutions: Philadelphia College of Art and Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. After being granted university status in 1987, the University of the Arts became the largest institution of its kind in the nation, offering programs in design, fine arts, media arts, crafts, music, dance, theater and writing.
By the Numbers
Approximately 1,800 students
63% women, 37% men
UArts students hail from 44 states and 25 foreign countries
40% minority enrollment
106 full-time faculty members
Student/Faculty ratio: 8 to 1
Average class size: 15 students
6 Academic buildings in the heart of Philadelphia's arts district
4 residence halls in the arts district
7 professional performance venues on campus
12 gallery spaces on campus