It’s no surprise that the continent that gave the world Italian Renaissance, Rococo, impressionism, and surrealism is also home to some of the best higher education institutions for Art. Currently the World’s best according to the QS 2016 ranking, is the Royal College of Art in London, which offers 24 distinctive programmes across the disciplines including sculpture, painting, animation, printmaking and photography in its School of Fine Art alone. Meanwhile, the University of the Arts in London also has a strong international reputation and is ranked 5th. Several other continental European HEIs also rate highly, including EHEVF 2016 India and South Asia participants Politecnico di Milano (10) and Aalto University (17). Whilst The Royal Academy of Art in the Netherlands (39), the Royal University College of Fine Arts (42) in Sweden, and the Academy of Fine Arts (44) in the Czech Republic are all well-respected. Fine art degrees, which usually take 3 years, allow students to hone the studio skills associated with becoming an artist whilst providing the theoretical, historical and critical foundations of the subject. Post-graduate degrees, often lasting 1 year, can take the form of intensive study in a particular area or subject or be interdisciplinary.
