Central Academy of Fine Arts

About Central Academy of Fine Arts

CAFA is an independent, degree-granting public institution directly affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education. Its historical line begins with the National Beijing Fine Arts School founded in 1918. Following institutional mergers, the Central People’s Government approved the name Central Academy of Fine Arts in January 1950. The academy remains active in 2026, with current admissions for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral study. The institution is organized around visual and spatial disciplines rather than a broad comprehensive-university curriculum. Its current academic units encompass Chinese painting, calligraphy, oil painting, printmaking, sculpture, mural painting, experimental and technology art, humanities, design, architecture, urban design, art management and education, conservation, and the Sino-French Institute of Art and Design Management. It also operates graduate and continuing-education units, but applicants should distinguish degree programs from preparatory or non-degree courses advertised by continuing education. CAFA’s 2026 undergraduate prospectus identifies three campuses used for undergraduate teaching: Wangjing in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, Yanjiao in Sanhe, Hebei, and Shanghai in the Lingang area of Pudong. Campus assignment depends on the program. The Shanghai-based Sino-French program has a separate structure, including study in France during the third year. Prospective students should therefore compare the curriculum, teaching language, campus sequence, and award conditions of their intended route rather than treating CAFA as a single-campus experience.

For mainland Chinese undergraduate applicants, CAFA’s 2026 process differs by program. Many specialist art routes require the relevant provincial art examination, CAFA’s own school examination, and a qualifying Gaokao cultural score. Some routes use online and on-site specialist testing, while Chinese painting in the brush-and-ink category and calligraphy use on-site examinations. Other programs are admitted through the ordinary undergraduate process or use provincial examination results without a CAFA school examination. Applicants must follow the exact rules for their chosen category rather than assume that every program requires the same portfolio or test sequence. For the 2026 cycle, registration for CAFA-tested undergraduate programs ran from 15 to 19 January 2026, with a CNY 160 examination fee. Those dates have passed and must not be reused for a later intake. The published 2026 plan proposed 1,140 regular undergraduate places, excluding specified overseas-Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan routes, subject to the final Ministry of Education allocation. International applicants follow separate undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral procedures. CAFA published dedicated 2026 international admissions notices and subsequently posted 2026 proposed-admit lists, confirming that these routes were active. Because the detailed international requirements are program- and level-specific, candidates should consult the relevant official prospectus for academic credentials, Chinese-language evidence, application materials, specialist assessment, and immigration documentation. CAFA’s international preparatory course is a separate pathway and does not itself constitute admission to a degree.

CAFA’s academic profile is centered on art-making, design practice, architecture, visual culture, conservation, and related research. The academy’s current units cover both established studio traditions and newer interdisciplinary fields, including Chinese painting, calligraphy, oil painting, printmaking, sculpture, murals, experimental and technology art, design, architecture, urban design, art history and theory, art management and education, and cultural-heritage conservation. The structure of study varies substantially by route. In the 2026 undergraduate plan, students entering the modeling-art category spend their first year in foundational study before moving into departments such as oil painting, printmaking, sculpture, or mural painting. Chinese painting applicants choose between modeling-foundation and brush-and-ink pathways at admission. Undergraduate degrees normally take four or five years, depending on the program. CAFA also offers academic and professional graduate study, and its 2026 materials confirm active master’s and doctoral recruitment. Instruction should be approached primarily as Chinese-medium study. CAFA’s international-student course guidance states that international students take the same required and elective professional courses as Chinese students, supplemented at undergraduate level by Chinese art history, an introduction to China, and Chinese-language study. The database likewise identifies Chinese as the language of instruction. An important exception is the Shanghai-based Sino-French art and design management program, where official 2026 information describes a mix of Chinese and English coursework plus a year in France. Applicants should verify program-specific language and portfolio expectations before applying.

Key Highlights

• Public, full-time institution directly affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education
• Historical origins trace to the National Beijing Fine Arts School founded in 1918
• Current degree provision extends through bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels
• Undergraduate teaching operates across Wangjing, Yanjiao, and Shanghai campuses

Student Life & Environment

Student life at CAFA is closely tied to making, exhibiting, and discussing art. The official 2026 undergraduate handbook’s Wangjing campus map identifies teaching buildings, sculpture and design-architecture facilities, a museum, a school-history museum, a library, multipurpose and performance spaces, and a circular theatre. These facilities place exhibitions and visual research within the everyday campus environment rather than separating them from academic work. The same handbook shows multiple student residences and dining halls at Wangjing, together with an international-student residence, a basketball hall, and landscaped leisure space. This supports a residential campus experience for at least part of the undergraduate population, although housing arrangements vary by campus and student category. The 2026 charter lists annual accommodation charges for Wangjing, Yanjiao, and Shanghai, confirming institution-managed housing at all three locations. Students should expect their daily routine and peer group to depend heavily on program location. Wangjing provides the principal Beijing setting and the most clearly documented concentration of campus facilities. Yanjiao lies outside central Beijing in neighboring Hebei, while Shanghai students in the Sino-French program follow a separate multi-location sequence that includes France. International applicants should obtain written confirmation of housing eligibility because campus accommodation availability and placement should not be inferred solely from domestic-student materials.

Location & Surroundings

CAFA’s registered address and Wangjing campus are at 8 Huajiadi South Street in Beijing’s Chaoyang District. This is the academy’s principal urban setting and the location most closely associated with its museum, library, studios, student services, dining, and residences. For an art student, studying in Beijing also places national museums, galleries, historic sites, cultural organizations, and creative communities within the wider metropolitan environment, although access and travel time depend on the destination. Not every student studies exclusively in Beijing. The Yanjiao campus is at 177 Yanshun Road in the Yanjiao Economic Development Zone of Sanhe, Hebei, east of Beijing. Students assigned there should plan for a suburban, cross-boundary location rather than assume daily life in central Beijing. The Shanghai campus is at 1099 Huanhu South Second Road in Lingang New City, Pudong. It supports the Sino-French Institute of Art and Design Management and is geographically separate from CAFA’s northern campuses. Applicants should identify the precise campus and any required mobility before accepting an offer. Campus location affects housing, commuting, local living costs, access to Beijing or Shanghai cultural resources, and—in the Sino-French program—the need to budget and prepare for an overseas year.

Costs & Career Outcomes

For domestic undergraduates in 2026, CAFA’s official charter lists annual tuition of CNY 15,000 for most studio, design, architecture, experimental-art, and conservation units; CNY 8,000 for the School of Humanities and the School of Art Management and Education; and CNY 45,000 for the Sino-French Institute of Art and Design Management. Students in the Sino-French route must also pay the French partner’s applicable tuition during the third year. Official guidance cited the partner’s 2025 charge only as a reference, so candidates should request the amount applicable when they travel. The 2026 charter lists annual accommodation at CNY 900 for Wangjing and Yanjiao and CNY 1,200 for Shanghai. These amounts should not be assumed to include meals, art materials, equipment, travel, insurance, visa costs, or personal expenses. The academy reports national, institutional, and socially funded grants for students with financial need, but eligibility, award value, and availability require individual confirmation. International degree tuition was not stated in the accessible official pages used for this profile, so it is intentionally omitted. Career preparation is discipline-specific. Studio routes build sustained technical and creative practice; design, architecture, conservation, art history, and arts-management routes lead toward different professional and research settings. The Sino-French program explicitly develops art research, criticism, writing, cultural management, exhibition planning, and art-market knowledge. CAFA does not provide current, comparable graduate employment or salary figures in the sources reviewed, so applicants should assess departmental curricula, graduate exhibitions, placements, professional licensing implications, and alumni outcomes directly with the relevant school.