Welcome from the Director

Professor Sarah Glennie

NCAD is one of Ireland’s foremost creative and cultural institutions. Since taking up the role of Director in 2018, I have experienced the creative energy of the campus and am proud to be part of a community dedicated to creating a rich and lively learning environment for all students. NCAD is a special place, walking through the blue arch on Dublin’s Thomas Street brings you to a unique campus of studios, workshops and learning spaces where the community of students and staff are engaged creatively in exploring and understanding the world.

Our studio-based approach to teaching and research creates the environment for critical enquiry, radical experimentation and creative learning, helping our students and staff to address many of the real challenges confronting society, culture and contemporary business. NCAD is a creative community, and one of Europe’s leading higher education institutions for visual disciplines.

For over 270 years NCAD has represented excellence in art and design education. Our role has continually evolved to reflect the needs of community and industry, enabling NCAD to imagine future possibilities and shape the world around us. Studying at Art & Design College is different. It is about learning through practice and research, through making, through doing and through creating. NCAD has always had critical practice at the heart of its curriculum.

Our graduates, whether in Design, Fine Art, Education or Visual Culture are equipped to approach situations, questions or challenges through a process of creative thinking that they learn while students here. They are well qualified to bring their creativity and skills to many different careers when they leave NCAD, and NCAD graduates have gone on to make their mark in many areas of the economy and society. It is a great privilege to be part of the journey that is NCAD. 

Photograph: Matthew Thompson