National Art School: Courses, Admission, Cost

The National Art School, also known as NAS, is a socially significant Australian visual arts organisation with inceptions that can be followed back to 1843. Arranged within the historic walls of the old Darlinghurst Gaol, the school has a rich convention of creative practice and has delivered generations of a significant number of the nation's most popular artists. The campus offers a select number of full-time programmes, including B Fine Art and M Fine Art, and exhaustive scope of part-time and intensive short courses. The NAS utilizes practice-driven teaching techniques and keeps up a high staff-to-student ratio. Intensive instruction by more than 80 famous rehearsing artists and art historians happens in a studio environment. Drawing, art history and their connections to contemporary culture are taught every year in the undergraduate programmes. Master study is offered in the studio disciplines of ceramics, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture.

The fully accredited B Fine Art programme is intended to build up the creative freedom, knowledge and experience required for a career as an expert artist and the academic thoroughness required for further study at postgraduate level. The programme is conveyed full-time over three years and includes a thorough study of studio rehearses and historical and theoretical reflection supported by individual tutorials, peer discussions and reviews. To be offered a place in a course, students should meet the course entrance necessities and be chosen in competition with other qualified candidates. Entrance into B Fine Art is competitive with the selection based on an interview procedure and portfolio evaluation. Situated in downtown Darlinghurst, National Art School recognises various English language tests as evidence of English language capability.

The Australian Government offers a number of grants to students from a range of nations through programmes such as the Australian Development Scholarship Programme, the Australian Leadership Awards and the various Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships. The National Art School has a range of student support services. These include counselling services, to support the development and wellbeing of students. Every student is welcome to take part in the Student Representative Council (SRC). The SRC provides a representation of students to the school through the Academic Board and a close working relationship with the management of the school. The SRC likewise offers various extracurricular exercises, including the yearly student ball. The NAS Library and Learning Centre provides specialist resources to facilitate the study, research and practice of visual art. It contains the NAS library, NAS digital laboratory and the Library Stairwell Gallery, a dedicated student exhibition space. The library is a specialist collection relating to the theory and practice of fine arts. It holds a range of materials available for loan, including books.