School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Mission Statement

 The leaders of SAIC are dedicated to advancing the School’s mission and supporting its objective as outlined below.

Mission
"To provide excellence in the delivery of a global education in visual, design, media, and related arts, with attendant studies in the history and theory of those disciplines set within a broad-based, humanistic curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences. To provide instruction for this education in a range of formats: written, spoken, media, and exhibition-based."

—Excerpted from the Art Institute of Chicago's Corporate Charter, originally obtained from the State of Illinois in 1879, and revised in 2004.

Objective
To assemble a diverse body of intelligent and creative students and faculty in an environment designed to facilitate and encourage the discovery and production of significant ideas and images and to provide for the development of individual excellence in undergraduate and graduate programs in the visual and related arts.

International Role

Active Student Exchange Partners (as of September 2024)

• University of New South Wales (Australia)
• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University (Australia)
• École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décortifs (France)
• Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts (France)
• The Bauhaus University Weimar (Germany)
• Berlin University of Fine Arts (UdK) (Germany)
• Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design (Israel)
• Gerrit Rietveld Academie (The Netherlands)Utrecht School of Fine Art (HKU) (The Netherlands)
• Seoul National University, College of Fine Arts (South Korea)
• Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) (Switzerland)
• The Glasgow School of Fine Art (United Kingdom)
• University College of London, Slade College of Fine Art (United Kingdom)

Additionally, faculty-led study trips abroad are a key way students learn beyond the bounds of SAIC's Chicago campus. Offered during summer and winter breaks, these highly specialized courses—recently led in England, Italy, Mexico, and South Africa—let students learn directly from SAIC faculty in offsite “classrooms” both in the US and around the globe. Because faculty propose these trips within the areas of their expertise, students are afforded an unusually close perspective on a fascinating topic.

National Role

As a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design (AICAD), SAIC works closely with peer institutions of art and design higher education, and participates in the AICAD Exchange Program. This program gives students the opportunity to maintain enrollment at SAIC while studying at any number of AICAD schools located throughout the United States and Canada. For the 2024–25 academic year, the following AICAD schools will participate in the exchange:

United States
ArtCenter College of Design (Pasadena, California)
Art Academy of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, Ohio)
California College of the Arts (San Francisco, California)
Cleveland Institute of Art (Cleveland, Ohio)
College for Creative Studies (Detroit, Michigan)
Columbus College of Art and Design (Columbus, Ohio)
Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle, Washington)
Kansas City Art Institute (Kansas City, Missouri)
Laguna College of Art and Design (Laguna Beach, California)
Maine College of Art & Design (Portland, Maine)
Maos Angeles, California)
Pacific Northwest College of Art – Willamette University (Portland, Oregon)
Ringling College of Art & Design (Sarasota, Florida)ryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, Maryland)
Massachusetts College of Art & Design – MassArt (Boston, Massachusetts)
MIlwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIlwaukee, Wisconsin)
Minneapolis College of Art & Design (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Otis College of Art & Design (Los Angeles, California)
Pacific Northwest College of Art – Willamette University (Portland, Oregon)
Ringling College of Art & Design (Sarasota, Florida)

Canada
Alberta University of the Arts (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Ontario College of Art and Design University  (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Singapore
LASALLE College of Art (Singapore, Singapore)

SAIC is a member of:

American Association for Higher Education
National Art Education Association
College Art Association of America
Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities
Illinois Art Education Association
National Conference of Artists
College Scholarship Service
Council for Advancement and Support of Education
Institute of International Education
National Association for Foreign Student Affairs
American Association of University Women
National Association of College Admissions Counselors
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
College Entrance Examination Board
National Association of Student Personnel Administrators
 

Institutional and Regional Accreditation

The Art Institute of Chicago is a private, non-profit corporation. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a professional college of the visual and related arts, accredited since 1936 by the Higher Learning Commission.

Higher Learning Commission 
230 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500 
Chicago, IL 60604-1411

Education Program Certification

The BFA in Art Education (BFAAE) and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) art education programs are certified by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

Art Therapy and Counseling Program Accreditation

The Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs upon the recommendation of The Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education.

Architecture Program Accreditation

The Master of Architecture and Master of Architecture with a Track in Interior Architecture programs are accredited by the National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB). NAAB formally granted SAIC accreditation for the professional MArch effective January 1, 2011, with continuing accreditation through 2031.  

The National Architectural Accrediting Board provides the following statement:

“In the United States, most 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 professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards.

Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

Main Focus

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) focuses on interdisciplinary art and design education. SAIC's curriculum encourages students to experiment, investigate, and think critically. SAIC has an open curriculum, so students don't declare a major and are encouraged to study across disciplines and engage in critique as a fundamental part of the creative process.