Although authorities say that interior design started with the birth of art itself—and that is, a long, long time ago—interior design as a formal study didn’t come until roughly 50 years ago. Thanks to popular British daytime shows like the 60 Minute Makeover and Changing Rooms—which spawned in the United States an hour-long television reality program Trading Spaces—interior design as a profession was born sometime in the 1970s.
The last 20 decades saw almost all major cities around the world opening schools or programs that cater to interior design as a profession. In 2011, there are at least a thousand schools that offer interior design worldwide, and choosing the best one can be hard.
In celebration of our third year since launching, we are proud to announce our very own list of the world’s best schools of interior design.
So here’s our list of the best 100 interior design schools, in no particular order:
Scuola Lorenzo de' Medici, or Lorenzo de' Medici School in English, is a private institution of higher education based in Florence but has satellite campuses in Tuscania, Rome, and Venice. LdM began primarily as an Italian language institute in 1973 and later on expanded education to arts and design sciences.
For over 30 years, LdM has been a primary study abroad provider to art students from all over the world, with all three LdM campuses hosting a variety of study-abroad students from more than 30 colleges and universities across North America and all over the world, which includes Clemson University, Illinois State University, Iowa State University, Marist College, Marymount University, New England School of Art and Design, North Carolina State University, Suffolk University, The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Catholic University of Daegu, Sookmyung University, Toyo Eiwa University, and Universidad Mayor.
LdM boasts its unique learning environment as “a school immersed in the city” and its Florence campus as a “classroom without walls”.
Florence Design Academy
Florence Design Academy is one of the specialist schools in Italy that teaches in English, out of the factor that many of its students come from abroad. Florence Design Academy offers both academic and master courses in Interior Design, Graphic Design and Industrial Design.
Like Lorenzo de' Medici School, Florence Design Academy enjoys being situated at the heart of the embodiment of art itself: Florence. According to a 2010 study, Florence has been nominated as the most desirable destination for tourists in the world and, it seems, also for art and design students as well.
What turned out to be The Interior Design School was originally fast-track diploma course for people needing a career change in commercial and residential design, meeting the new demand that was brought about by paradigm shift towards Architecture, Interior Architecture, Interior Design and Interior Decoration. Over time, The School began offering additional short courses, evening classes, then Interior Design degree courses.
Learning at The Interior Design School is based around a programme of live projects to emulate as much as possible a practicing design studio, with each project presented to and assessed by a practicing interior designer. Every year, the Diploma curriculum is re-assessed to maintain standards in keeping with the industry. The faculty encompasses expertise in all the various subjects.
Istituto d'Arte Applicata e Design, or IAAD, is an applied arts institution founded in 1978 in Torino. For thirty years, IAAD has been widening its scope, and in 2005 following its accreditation by European Accreditation Board of Higher Education Schools (EABHES)—which allows the obtainment of European Bachelor and Master of Science in Design—IAAD introduced the Interior and Furniture Design Major.
Formerly the Vancouver College of Art and Design, Visual College of Art and Design of Vancouver is a college of creative applied arts that offers several diploma programs including Interior Design.
Visual College of Art and Design started as a branch of the Victoria College of Art and Design, and for over 35 years operated in Victoria, BC. Facing rapid growth due to increasing number of students, the development of new programs and modernizing equipment allowed them to move in downtown Vancouver in 2009.
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York
Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a prestigious college for design, fashion, art, communications, and business located at the heart of the fashion capital of the world itself, in New York City. It consistently ranks among the top five fashion schools in the world, and it is the ninth largest school in upscale Manhattan, with a student body of more than 10,000 students.
FIT offers seventeen majors through the School of Art and Design. It is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research.
Founded in 1964, Académie Grandes Terres is an art and design school that provides two-year training in interior architecture, graphic design or advertising stylist for work opportunities in interior design, graphic design, illustration, fashion design and art design.
The program's learning approach involves less on theory and more on practical exercises performed by small groups to attain the best "real-world" learning as possible.
New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury
New York Institute of Technology, also known as New York Tech (or NYIT) is a private research university in New York City. Its Old Westbury campus, the largest in the area, offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design program which has been accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) since March 1984.
The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design offered by the college is a 4-year program and involves studio design projects, profession-specific coursework, community oriented projects, and externships in the field. During the junior or senior year, every students are required to complete a 256-hour externship in a professional design studio.
Founded in 1981, Crèapole Ecole de Creation Management is an applied arts school located in the very heart of Paris, between Louvre and Beaubourg. The school provides training in interior design, as well as fashion, visual communication, product design, transportation design, art design and animation.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public research university located in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, just 1.5 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip. Its School of Architecture (SOA), which is part of the College of Fine Arts at UNLV, is the only program accredited for architecture in the state of Nevada.
The Bachelor of Science in Interior Architecture and Design degree is a four-year undergraduate program that provides for the interior design profession. The professional development of the students is further enhanced by the program's unique relationship to the extraordinary industrial and artistic development of the City of Las Vegas, which provides opportunities to engage in innovative and creative design projects. UNLV also offers Distance Education program which extends educational outreach and access of University courses, degree programs, and research opportunities to the local and global communities.
Located at the very heart of Spain, Escuela de Artes Decorativas Madrid is a specialist arts and design school founded in 1963 and the only learning center recognized by the International Federation of Interior Architects (IFI). It is also accredited by the International Council of Design Schools (ICDS), Organization International Education Through The Arts (INSEA), Madrid Design Association, and the Spanish Association of Independent Schools of Education (DPA).
Escuela de Artes Decorativas Madrid offers two programs: Interior Design and Interior Architecture, both of which are three-year study.
The University of California, Berkeley, also referred to as Cal, California, Berkeley or UC Berkeley, is a public research university located in Berkeley, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, and part of the public university system in the state of California, collectively named as University of California.
The University of California is widely regarded as one of the top public university systems in the world, with UC Berkeley ranking 22nd overall of top 100 universities according to the U.S. News and World Report. Also UC Berkeley ranks 2nd in Academic Ranking of World Universities, 28th in the QS World University Rankings, 8th in Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 1st in the Washington Monthly National University Rankings.
UC Berkeley’s Certificate Program in Interior Design and Interior Architecture provides students with a comprehensive interior design education that is of professional quality, affordable, and available to working individuals on a part-time basis. This program prepares students for the California IDEX exam, sponsored by the California Council for Interior Design Certification (CCIDC), and the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) exam. The Certificate Program has 1,140 hours of instruction divide in a total of 77 semester units.
Founded in 1988, the Whitehouse Institute of Design is one of the specialists schools in Australia devoted solely to art, design and media. The Institute offers Bachelor Degrees of Design with specializations in Interior Design, Fashion Design and Styling & Creative Direction.
The Bachelor of Design in Interior Design is a 3-year program, consisting of studies in Design Context, Design Communication, Design Methods and Design Synthesis.
Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university in Miami, Florida and the 15th-largest university in the United States. FIU is Florida’s primary graduate research universities, with awards close to 3,000 graduate and professional degrees annually. With freshmen acceptance rates dropping from 43% in 2006 to 34% in 2009, U.S. News and World Report cites FIU as the most selective university in 2010, and the most selective public university in Florida since the early-2000s.
FIU offers the Master of Interior Design curriculum that is composed of two years foundational undergraduate course work followed by three years of graduate course work.
Akademie der Bildend Künste München, or the Academy of Fine Arts of Munich in English, is one of the oldest and most significant art and design academies in Germany, having been founded in 1808. In 1946, the Academy was merged with the schools for arts-and-crafts and applied arts, respectively. In 1953, the name changed to its current form.
Akademie der Bildend Künste München offers several courses, including Interior Design.
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is also part of the public university system in the state of California, well as the second oldest of the ten campuses of the University of California.
Like UC Berkeley, UCLA is highly regarded. It consistently ranks within the top 20 in college and university rankings annually, and in 2011 ranks 25th in the U.S. News & World Report College and University rankings.
UCLA’s Interior Design program is offered in UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture Department.
Accademia di Belle Arti di Verona, or the Academy of Fine Arts of Verona in English, is a post-secondary school for studies in the visual arts, founded in 1764. The Academy is part of the University of Verona and represents its Faculty of Art. One of the oldest art academy in the world, Accademia di Belle Arti di Verona is listed as one of the five premier Accademie Storiche d'Italia, or Italian Historic Academies.
The Academic Diploma of 1st Level for Interior Design is offered by the Department of Design and Applied Arts and made up of 180 credits, or three academic years.
Interior Designers Institute is a private interior design college, which was founded in 1984 in Corona del Mar, California. As a small, progressive college, the Institute maintains high educational standards by practicing in an atmosphere where personal attention on each of the students is given high priority.
In 1990, the Institute moved to larger facilities in Newport Beach, California, offering additional classrooms and expanded student areas. Interior Designers Institute offers Certification program in Interior Design, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design and Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design.
The Interior Design Program at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti (Turin, Italy) is a 3-year program. Registrations for international students occur during the first two weeks of September. A high school diploma is needed to become eligible to take the Interior Design Program.
The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale (AiFL) is a private, applied-arts college located in southeast urban Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was founded in 1968 by the late Mark K. Wheeler and initially only offering diplomas in Commercial Art, Interior Design, and Fashion Illustration.
Facing rapid growth, the college was granted accreditation by the Accrediting Commission for Trade and Technical Schools of the Career College Association in 1971 and in 1987 authorization to award Bachelor degrees.
