National College of Arts


The National College of Arts is a public university located in Lahore Punjab, Pakistan.

Ovrview

National College of Arts is the oldest art school in Pakistan and the second oldest in South Asia. As of 2016, the college is ranked as Pakistan's top art school. It consists of over 700 students. The college runs faculty and student exchange programs with School of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the Instituto Superior de Arte. It also hosts the UNESCO Chair in architecture.

History

The institute was originally founded in 1875 as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts and was one of two art colleges created by the British crown in British India in reaction to the Arts & Crafts Movement. It was named in honor of the recently assassinated British Viceroy Lord Mayo in 1875. John Lockwood Kipling became the school's first principal who was also appointed as the first curator of the Lahore Museum which opened the same year in an adjacent building. In 1958, the school was renamed as the National College of Arts. Designated the premier art institution in the country, it was transferred to the Ministry of Education from the Ministry Industries in the 1960s. It received a degree-awarding status in 1985 and created its first graduate programs in 1999. In 2005, a second campus in Rawalpindi was opened. In 2011, the college received its own charter and became a degree awarding institute.

Departments

The college established its second campus in Rawalpindi in 2005.