Jiangnan University

Mission Statement

The School of Design at Jiangnan University has a history dated back from the modeling department of Wuxi Institute of Light Industry founded in 1960. It is the main birthplace of modern design education in China, and the pioneer and modeling college of design education reform in China. After over 60 years of construction and continuous reform, especially undergoing the transformation of the new economy and the information industry, it has become a high-level design discipline featuring light industry with distinct influence at home and abroad. It is one of the most active international practice contributors as well as the demonstration base for training outstanding design talents for the industry. As a pioneer in the practice of integrating art and engineering in China, it has won five times the National Teaching Achievement Award, and is the one of the few institutions in the country that is continuously supported by the key construction project of the first, second and third phases of the national 211 Project.The school is committed to build a first-class design school that is dedicated to innovative, international, and research-oriented design education, focusing on interdisciplinary system innovation. Flowing the trend of the national light industry development, the design discipline adheres to the problem-oriented and systematic design concept to solve the problems of people's livelihood, and is in a leading position in China in terms of school-running level and overall strength, with distinctive characteristics of light industry.

International Role

Standing on the big trends of developing from the single shape art to interdisciplinary development of design discipline, School of Design stresses on the problem-oriented and people-oriented humanistic design basis and design criteria, to explore design research itself, thus providing better services for industry, economy and social livelihood. The school has reached bilateral cooperation agreements in terms of teaching and research cooperation with more than 50 internationally renowned design schools and design enterprises. School of Design, Jiangnan University is a member of the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media (Cumulus), and a member of the DESIS Network. Being the host for the 2018 Cumulus Wuxi Conference, the school hosts international conferences every year to promote international knowledge exchanges and collaborative research. The Experience Design Frontier Methodology and Technology Research Center, Healthcare Design International Joint Laboratory, International Joint Research Laboratory for Regional Architecture Heritage and Future Strategy, International Joint Research Laboratory for Brand Future Experience Design are the major hubs for international joint research collaborations.

National Role

After over 60 years of construction and continuous reform, especially undergoing the transformation of the new economy and the information industry, it has become a high-level design discipline featuring light industry, and having an important influence at home and abroad. It is one of the most active international practice contributors as well as the demonstration base for training outstanding design talents for the industry. As a pioneer in the practice of integrating art and engineering in China, it has won four times the National Teaching Achievement Award, and is the one of the only two institutions in the country that is continuously supported by the key construction project of the first, second and third phases of the national 211 Project.

The design discipline has ranked the highest level in the fifth round of discipline evaluation by the Ministry of Education, ranked in the top 2% of the best disciplines in China for three consecutive years, ranked at the top level in the evaluation of art and design majors, ranking 51-100 in the 2023 QS Global Art and Design Discipline Rankings. The school is a member of the National Steering Committee for Graduate Education of Art Majors, the Vice President Unit of China Industrial Design Association, and the Deputy Director Unit of the Education Working Committee of China Arts and Crafts Society.

School of Design has strong tradition in partnership with industry. Our graduates have won the good reputations in the society. Many of them work in famous companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Haier, Midea, TCL, Huawei, Konka, Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design Group, etc. And most of first class design Schools in China have professors who graduated School of Design, Jiangnan University.

Main Focus

Responsible, respected and research-oriented design education.

The school is committed to build a first-class design school that is dedicated to innovative, international, and research-oriented design education, focusing on interdisciplinary system innovation. Flowing the trend of the national light industry development, the design discipline adheres to the problem-oriented and systematic design concept to solve the problems of people's livelihood, and is in a leading position in China in terms of school-running level and overall strength, with distinctive characteristics of light industry.

The design education system of the school is composed of BA, MA and PhD, and the school is known for its design practices and also strong links to the industries.