1. About Our Team
Founded in 2004, the School of Art and Design(SOAD) currently has 36 faculty and staff, including 25 full-time teachers, 4 professors, 7 associate professors and 4 doctoral candidates, from different regions of China as well as the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Malaysia. SOAD is an innovative and united team with excellent professional quality, powerful research spirit and rigorous teaching attitude,
Outstanding titles achieved by the faculty include “Special Achievement Medal” by People’s Government of Guangdong Province for our academic leader who is the only recipient in Guangdong Province art and design field;winner of the “Outstanding Contribution Award of China’s Design Career”; mentor for National Art Fund project; winner of “South China Excellent Teacher” and recipients of “Students’ Favourite Teacher”. Moreover, SOAD’s faculty are famous painters from home and abroad, national industry appraisal experts, senior professional designers of various majors. Some of the teachers serve as vice presidents, senior consultants, directors and other important positions in international and domestic professional associations at all levels. Teachers’ design projects, design works and artistic works have been granted national, government and professional awards, even some of their works have been collected by national museums and foreign art museums.
2. Majors and Resources
Design is SOAD’s key discipline., the three majors covering Environmental Design, Graphic Design and Product Design, as well as another nine concentrations. Environmental Design includes Interior Design, Landscape Design and Exhibition Design. Graphic Design covers Advertising Design, New Media Art Design and Digital Interaction Design. Product Design produces Luggage Design, Jewellery Design and Intelligent Furniture Design. SOAD boasts rich resources: Painting Room, Luggage Room, Jewellery Technology Lab, Model lab, Room 306 for Macs, Ceramic Workshop and other training and exhibition facilities like Art Gallery, Art Hall.. These resources and facilities provide an excellent platform guarantee and support for experimental techniques.
SOAD strengthens collaboration with trade associations and businesses of designs to realize integration of teaching and production. At present, the school-enterprise cooperation agreements have been signed with more than 10 industry associations and enterprises, including Guangdong Commercial Art Design Industry Association, Guangzhou Creative Industry Association, Guangdong Logo Industry Association and Guangzhou Sanweijia Information Technology Co., Ltd., which have further expanded employment channels for our students and built a platform for our graduates’ employment. SOAD provides high-quality talents with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labour for the modernization of the motherland and the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area. At present, the 906 undergraduates enrolled from more than 10 provinces across the country, majority of them are from Guangdong province.
3. Teaching and Scientific Research Achievements
SOAD actively explores teaching practice and reform, establishing Hakka Culture and Art Research Centre, and three professional studios design for environmental, visual and product studies to integrate Hakka traditional culture into teaching, scientific research and talent training. In recent years, the production, study and research teaching achievements of art education based on Hakka culture have been outstanding. Media such as Information Times, Today’s Headlines, China University Website and Southern Metropolis Daily have publicized and reported the achievements of “Integration of Art Education and Hakka Culture” of our school, which has gained good social response.
In the past three years, works by SOAD teachers and students have snatched more than 60 design patents and won 106 awards of competitions at different levels (36 national prizes and 28 first prizes at provincial level). Typical design patents include Creative Office Supplies with the Style of Aerospace Culture, Multi-Functional Modular Furniture and Kirin Delivering Luck. As to academic competitions, our students’ works “Dolphin Island” won the first prize in the 2019 (12th) China College Student Computer Design Competition (Internet of Things Application/Digital Media Animation Game category), Pinghaiji won the first prize in Guangdong Division of 2020 Chinese College Student Computer Design Competition, My Youth, My Colour was awarded the first prize of film and television works in Guangdong Division of the 10th National College Student advertising Art Competition. Besides, our students also won the first prizes of calligraphy in other competitions.
SOAD teachers conducted and completed 36 social science research projects, including 2 Guangdong Philosophy and Social Science projects, 5 Guangzhou Philosophy and Social Science projects, 36 projects from Finance Department and Education Department of Guangdong Province as well. Our teachers also conducted and completed 2 sub-projects of China National Natural Science Foundation, and published 46 research works. More than 80 academic papers and over 120 works have been published in national core journals and other journals at or above the provincial level, some of which have been included in the full text of the Four Indexes.
