The College of Pan Tianshou Art and Design of Ningbo University was founded in June 2015. Endowed by the artistic education philosophy of the great master Pan Tianshou, the strong support from the CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee and Ningbo Municipal People's Government, profound local cultural resources, and the achievements of economic and social development, the college was established by leveraging the comprehensive advantages of Ningbo University and integrating the resources of art and design disciplines within the university. In April 2019, upon the decision of the university, the Department of Architecture was merged into the college, which was then renamed the College of Pan Tianshou Architecture and Art Design.
Guided by the concept of "Design is Productivity" put forward by Mr. Pan Gongkai—Honorary Professor of Ningbo University, renowned Chinese artist, art educator, art theorist, expert in architecture and urban design, and former President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and China Academy of Art—the college aims to build a first-class modern school of architecture and art design with distinctive local characteristics and innovative leadership, and cultivate high-end applied and interdisciplinary art design talents with international vision, innovative awareness, creative ability and entrepreneurial spirit. It emphasizes deepening practical teaching, adheres to the core philosophy of "Integration of Production, Education, Research and Application", takes academic innovation as its lifeblood, scientific research and production as its core, and local service as its feature, striving to establish a unique position among art and design colleges in China. The college also attaches great importance to consolidating basic teaching. With Professor Zhou Zhiyu, a renowned Chinese design education expert from the School of Design of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, serving as the Director of the Academic Committee, it upholds Mr. Pan Gongkai's development philosophy of "Cross-border Integration", sets up the Department of Foundation Studies, and strives to build a solid-based and innovative basic art and design teaching system featuring "Collaborative Empowerment of Various Disciplines".
The college is committed to building a high-quality academic exchange platform. It has appointed Professor Tony Jones, Chairman of the United States Artists Alliance and former Dean of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as the Pao Yu-kong Chair Professor. The Tianting Pavilion Art Lecture Hall has invited many distinguished domestic professors such as Pan Gongkai, Cheng Baohong and Lin Mu, as well as overseas professors and experts from institutions including the Kansas City Art Institute, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Ohio University, the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Russia, Bunka Gakuen University in Japan, the Royal College of Art in the UK, and Politecnico di Milano, to give short-term lectures, conduct master classes and workshops.
The college comprises five primary academic departments: the Department of Architecture, the Department of Industrial Design, the Department of Visual Communication and Digital Media Design, the Department of Environment and Interior Design, and the Department of Fine Arts; two teaching divisions: the Department of Foundation Studies and the Department of Fine Arts and Public Art; three university-level research centers: the Ningbo University Research Center for Pan Tianshou's Artistic Thought and Contemporary Education, the Ningbo University Research Center for Pan Gongkai's Architecture and Urban Design, and the Ningbo University Research Center for Industrial Culture; and twelve college-level research centers.
Currently, the college offers five undergraduate programs: Architecture (a provincial-level first-class undergraduate program construction site in Zhejiang Province, accredited by the national architecture program evaluation and conferring Bachelor of Architecture degrees), Industrial Design (a provincial-level first-class undergraduate program construction site in Zhejiang Province), Visual Communication Design (a provincial-level first-class undergraduate program construction site in Zhejiang Province), Environmental Design, and Fine Arts (Teacher Education).
The college covers three disciplines: Design Science, Architecture, and Art Theory. It has one academic master's degree program in Design Science, and two professional master's degree programs in Design and Fine Arts and Calligraphy. The Design Science discipline has two research directions: Art Design and Its Historical Theory and Industrial Design and Its Theory. The professional master's program in Design includes four directions: Product Design, Human Settlement Environment and Architectural Design, Visual Communication and Media Design, and Fashion and Apparel Design. The professional master's program in Fine Arts and Calligraphy covers three directions: Mixed Media Painting, Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, and Art Education. Among them, the interdisciplinary discipline of Design Science is a key construction discipline of Ningbo University.
The college has a faculty of 119 members, including 93 full-time teachers, 9 professors, 10 specially-appointed researchers, 29 associate professors, 13 specially-appointed associate professors, and 53 doctors. The faculty team also includes 1 provincial-level famous teacher, 1 Qianjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor of Zhejiang Province, 1 candidate for the Provincial Young and Middle-aged Academic Leaders Training Program, 1 Yongjiang Scholar Chair Professor of Ningbo City, and 3 recipients of Ningbo Talent Project support. Currently, the college has 835 full-time undergraduate students (including 16 international students) and 203 full-time postgraduate students (including 1 international student).
The Party Committee of the college gives full play to its core political role in guiding the direction and overall development. It focuses on three dimensions: faculty Party building centering on discipline development, student Party building centering on cultivating talents with moral integrity, and administrative Party building centering on management and service. It promotes the high-quality development of the college through high-quality Party building, implements the "Four Responsibility Lists", and advances the construction of an honest and upright college. In 2023, the First Student Party Branch was selected as a demonstration site for the second batch of "Integration of Party Building and Business Development". In 2024, the faculty Party branches of the Department of Architecture, the Department of Industrial Design, and the Department of Visual Communication and Digital Media Design were approved for 6 provincial-level Party building projects under the "100 Art Colleges Partnering with Villages" and "Strengthening the Nation Initiative" programs. The college's application for the "Yong Youth College Student Art Festival" was approved as a second-batch "One College, One Brand" discipline cultural brand project of the university, and the "Art Nourishes Elegance: Series of Activities for the Dissemination and Practice of Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture" was approved as a key project of the third-batch "One College, One Brand" discipline cultural brand. The Faculty Party Branch of the Department of Visual Communication and Digital Media Design was selected into the Party Building Leadership Program. In recent years, many advanced models have emerged among the Party member teachers of the college, with two Party member teachers awarded the title of "Most Beautiful Young Teachers".
In the past five years, the college has secured 234 vertical projects, including 3 national-level projects, 31 provincial and ministerial-level projects, and 24 municipal-level projects. It has published 74 academic papers, including 36 papers in authoritative journals, 25 papers in Class A core journals, and 13 papers in Class B core journals; published 22 academic monographs; won 3 Outstanding Achievement Awards in Philosophy and Social Sciences of Zhejiang Province; undertaken 143 horizontal projects; established 3 university-level research centers and 5 university-enterprise cooperation platforms, with a total research funding of over 30 million yuan; obtained 144 intellectual property patents; and achieved nearly 100 artistic creation exhibition awards and collections, as well as organized various exhibitions for many times. The college has hosted a number of high-level academic conferences and forums, such as the "Opportunities and Strategies—Forum on Mixed Media Painting and Education", the "Future, Cognition, Inclusion 2022 International Symposium on Design Ergonomics", the "Forum on Urban Organic Renewal and Architectural Locality", the international conference "Bridge Between East and West—International Communication of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Fine Arts", and the "International Academic Conference on Public Design and Safety".
Over the past five years, the college's teachers have undertaken 31 provincial and ministerial-level teaching reform projects and developed 22 provincial-level first-class courses. They have won 1 first prize in the 4th National College Teachers' Teaching Innovation Competition, 1 second prize in the 6th National College Young Teachers' Teaching Competition, 1 special prize in the Zhejiang College Young Teachers' Teaching Competition, and 1 special prize and 1 first prize in the Zhejiang College Teachers' Teaching Innovation Competition. In terms of serving local economic and social development, the college gives full play to the distinctive advantages of disciplines such as architecture, art design, and fine arts, builds a multi-dimensional university-local government and university-enterprise cooperation system, and has completed a large number of urban construction and urban environment design and technical consulting projects. Meanwhile, it continuously deepens the practice of "Art Empowering Rural Revitalization", and helps build beautiful villages and implement the cultural strong city strategy through establishing "Master Artist Studios" and teaching practice bases, carrying out projects such as ancient village protection, public art creation, and cultural tourism IP development. The college actively meets the construction needs of Ningbo's "246" Trillion-level Industrial Clusters, establishes in-depth cooperation with leading manufacturing enterprises, and forms a collaborative innovation mechanism integrating production, education and research.
The college has 13 off-campus practice bases, including 1 provincial-level college students' off-campus practice education base of Zhejiang Province during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, promoting the interaction between in-class and out-of-class teaching in an all-round way. The students trained by the college are welcomed by employers for their strong practical ability, high comprehensive quality and solid professional foundation, and their graduation exhibition of outstanding works has won wide acclaim. In addition, under the guidance of the college's teachers, students have achieved excellent results in Category A and B academic competitions such as the National College Students Advertising Art Competition, the National College Students Architectural Design Competition, the Zhejiang College Students Industrial Design Competition, and the Zhejiang College Students Photography Competition. In the past five years, students have won 200 national-level awards including 1 national special prize and 35 national first prizes, and 467 provincial-level awards including 102 provincial first prizes; won 3 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 3 bronze medals in the Zhejiang China International College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition; and 1 gold medal in the Zhejiang "Challenge Cup" series of competitions.
