The College of Fine Arts (COFA) has undergone many transformations over the years, with its historical lineage going back to the formation of The Sydney Mechanics School of Arts in 1833, which then evolved into Sydney Technical College in 1878. 

The College of Fine Arts at UNSW, as it is today, came about when The City Art Institute (as it was then known) came under the auspices of the University of New South Wales in 1990. COFA is situated on the corner of Oxford St and Greens Rd in the heart of Paddington, one of Sydney’s most interesting suburbs. All COFA degrees are conferred by The University of New South Wales.

' COFA is unique in that it is the only art and design College in Australia that teaches practical, intensive, studio-based subjects such as Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Printmaking, Photomedia, Ceramics, Object Design, Jewellery, Textiles and Graphics Media alongside innovative and cutting edge courses in the fields of art history, design management and digital multi media enabling a truly cross disciplinary approach to be applied to all COFA programs of study (www.cofa.unsw.edu.au)'.

Collaborations occur between COFA and international institutes such as The Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, The Central Academy of Fine Arts in China and ZKM in Germany.

'COFA  has a high profile and an outstanding success rate with national awards and scholarships by students and graduates, including the Archibald Prize, the Fullbright Scholarship for the Visual Arts, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, the Helen Lempriere Art Traveling Scholarship, the Samstag Award and the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award (www.cofa.unsw.edu.au)'.

COFA also has one of Australia’s largest art libraries with a large collection of visual and electronic materials, books and journals and providing full access to UNSW Main Library’s 2.7 million items.

UNSW is a member of the Group of Eight (GO8) Universities as well as the international network of research-intensive universities, Universitas 21 (U21).

Courses at the College of Fine Arts

Bachelor of Digital Media
Digital Imaging
Video
Sound
Interactive Media
2D and 3D Animation
Motion Graphics.

Bachelor of Fine Arts
Painting
Drawing
Printmaking
Sculpture
Performance and Installation
Photomedia
Time Based Art
Ceramics
Jewellery
Textiles

Bachelor of Art Education

Bachelor of Design

Bachelor of Art Theory

Bachelor of Design/ Bachelor of Art Edcuation

Masters by Coursework
Art Administration
Art & Design Education
Design
Art
Digital Media
Cross-Discplinary Art & Design (Fully online)
Design (Singapore)

Masters by Research
Master of Fine Arts
Master of Art Education (Honours)
Art Theory
Design (Honours)
Philosophy
Art Administartion (Honours)

PhD Programs
Visual Anthropology
Visual Culture
Art Education
Art History and Theory
Fine Arts
Design
Media Arts

Non-Award courses
short courses available

Past students - Established and famous artists
Janet Lawrence
Del Kathryn Barton
Stephen James

Contact Details for the College of Fine Arts
Corner of Oxford Street and Greens Road
Paddington, NSW 2021
AUSTRALIA
www.cofa.unsw.edu.au