NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti

Mission Statement

NABA was founded with the aim of challenging the inflexibility of the traditional academic world, introducing new visions and experiments. It is an academy that is evolving by looking to the future to perceive the signs of change, welcoming the diversities of the contemporary world. 

NABA is not just a place of education guiding students to create their professional identity and personal expression. It is also a place of production, enabling students to experiment a plurality of experiences, thus acquiring independence in design, empowering them to consciously position themselves within the design scene and the international professional system.

Complex projects, in diversified languages based on cultural areas of reference, generate new and innovative content, thanks to artistic production and application to the production sectors of companies.

The teaching methodology is interdisciplinary, the result of a true vocation for research and relations with the artistic and professional context. A collaborative network of institutions and partners facilitating sharing, growth and enriching knowledge beyond the perimeters of the Academy in the fields of fashion, design, visual arts, media and new technologies, graphics and communication.

International Role

At NABA, we believe that studying abroad is an important part of becoming culturally sensitive, globally aware artists and designers. We therefore nurture relationships with prestigious international universities where NABA students may study abroad.

NABA is a member of Galileo Global Education, a post-secondary education group focused on higher education in the fields of applied arts, design communication and management. It also has an extensive network of partners across the globe that offers students amazing study abroad opportunities. 

NABA's partner universities and institutions include:

London College of Fashion in the United Kingdom
BTK in Germany
UE Madrid and ELISAVA Escola Superior de Disseny in Spain
Bilgi University in Turkey
Aalto University School of Art and Design and Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Finland
Santa Fe University of Art and Design, NewSchool of Architecture and Design, Pratt Institute, Cornell University, San Francisco State University, West Virginia University in the United States
Pearl Academy of Fashion in India
Kyoto University of Art & Design and Nagoya University of Arts in Japan
UVM in Mexico
Instituto Profesional AIEP in Chile
Universidad UNIACC and Diego Portales University in Chile
Los Andes Universidad in Colombia
Hongik University in South Korea
Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Israel
East China Normal University, Tsinghua University, China Academy of Art, Donghua University, Beijing Normal University, Shanghai University of Engineering Science and Soochow University in China
RMIT in Australia
Media Design School in New Zealand

National Role

NABA is the largest private academy in Italy in arts and design. On a national level NABA offers:
To study in Milan and Rome, the international capitals of Culture, Art, Design and Fashion;
To collaborate with companies and institutions in projects, internships and to benefit from many other opportunities;
To gain a multidisciplinary, global, experimentation-oriented approach;
To learn from prestigious faculty members and internationally renowned professionals;
To attend programmes in Italian and English and obtain a degree that is legally recognised by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), as well as at an international level;
To study at a multi-awarded and globally ranked institution, named Best Italian Academy and in the Top 100 worldwide in Art&Design by QS World University Rankings® by Subject, and selected among the leading Design and Fashion schools by DOMUS Magazine and FRAME Publishers.

Students and graduates of NABA have access to the school's network of relationships with prestigious companies and been successfully placed in leading firms in the fields of art, design, fashion, graphics and media including – among others – 3M, Accor Hotels, Adidas, Arctic Paper, Arena, Armando Testa, Assolombarda, Auchan, Bestway, Bulgari, Canon, Cap, Cargo, Cartiere Paolo Pigna, Cassina, Catrice, Cisco, Converse, Cosmopolitan, Dalani, Easyjet, Ethiad Airways, Fondazione Teatro alla Scala, Forbo, Fondazione Cinema per Roma, Freeda, Fremantle Media, Frette, Havaianas, Henkel, Honor, HP, Ideal Standard, John Richmond, Kuraray, laFeltrinelli, La Triennale di Milano, Lampo, Lectra, LOVO, Luxottica, MAXXI Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, MM Spa, Missoni, Nestlè, Pernod Ricard, Porsche, RCS, Repower, Riva 1920, Rosato, San Benedetto, Seletti, Shang Xia, Skira, Sodexo, SUNNEI, Toshiba, Tucano, Wella – Art Hair Studios, Whirlpool.

Main Focus

NABA Values:
Learning by thinking

Our programmes constitute a continuous sequence of multidisciplinary experiences generating research and projects in the artistic and professional contexts of current trends.

Learning by doing

Ideas become projects, strategies, techniques and technologies, turning into prototypes and in some cases developing into products for the companies we work with.

Teaching by learning

Learning by doing is also teaching by learning and this has changed the relationship between teachers and students: classes and groups have transformed into work teams that liaise continuously with companies and research institutes.

Experience forms the methodological skeleton through which innovation insinuates itself and guides us in planning the future together.

NABA was selected by the QS World University Rankings® by Subject Art & Design as the Best Academy of Fine Arts in Italy and among the top 100 universities in the world, by Frame to be included in the Masterclass Frame Guide to the 30 World’s Leading Graduate Design, Architecture and Fashion Design Schools, as well as by Domus Magazine as one of the Europe’s Top 100 schools of Architecture and Design.