Top 100 Fashion Schools In The World – 2012 Ranking

WardrobeTrendsFashion’s 2012 Top 100 Fashion Schools list, includes a ranking of the World’s Top 100 Fashion Schools, based on a methodology that assesses academic reputation, employer reputation, quality of teaching, and diversity. Over the past couple of months, we conducted a survey to find the best fashion schools in the world. To generate the list, we surveyed more than 74,000 former students, fashion houses, fashion recruitment consultants, fashion designers, and industry professionals.

(Photo: Autumn Winter Mannequin Collection via Visual Merchandiser)

WardrobeTrendsFashion today announced the 2012 Best Fashion Schools rankings, featuring top-performing fashion institutions in the World. The Best Fashion Schools rankings evaluate data on more than 300+ fashion schools. Studying in a world-renowned fashion school is practically everyone’s dream. A shortlist of 100 top fashion institutions have been ranked according to 3 factors: learning experience, influence, and value.

However it is not an easy task to decide which of these elite colleges you want to be in. WardrobeTrendsFashion’s rating is based on a simple and pragmatic survey that asked how valuable each fashion school’s program really is; WardrobeTrendsFashion ‘Fashion School Rankings’ is designed to help prospective students navigate this increasingly complex fashion education landscape. The tenets of our methodology remain the same, but each year we aim to refine. This year, the factors we have considered include:

  • Annual tuition: Art and design schools are generally expensive, although tuition can vary drastically and, at many colleges, it increases each year. The number you see on each college’s page does not include room and board and incidentals. While tuition is not the most heavily weighted category on our list of criteria, we did factor the cost into our rankings as it relates to the cost of living in the area where the corresponding school is located.
  • Famous successfully placed alumni: Famous alumni are something that we consider, yes, but we also reward schools with great placement rates. Just because a school hasn’t produced a marquee name (yet) doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Every single one of these schools has placed students in major fashion houses, commercial labels and other important fashion businesses. Behind every Alber Elbaz, Nicolas Ghesquiere and Alexander Wang is a talented support staff helping to ensure everything runs smoothly. And getting paid good money to do it.
  • Student and alumni feedback: We surveyed thousands of past and present students about their experiences at each school.
  • Other measurements: We also considered the quality of the faculty, the practical and business training on offer, social life, career counseling and financial aid options.
  • Others of note: We spend hours upon hours researching and reporting on these schools — each school name below links to a page detailing our findings. No list is entirely scientific, but it is objective. Keep this in mind if you don’t see your favorite school here or disagree with the ranking your alma mater received.

London’s Central Saint Martins (CSM), takes the No. 1 spot, followed by Parsons School of Design at No. 2 and Bunka Fashion College at No. 3. All of these schools are comparable in terms of academics, quality of staff, and amazing campuses.

Discover the top 100 fashion schools worldwide with WardrobeTrendsFashion in the table below.

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2012 Top 100 Fashion Schools In The World

Global Rank#School NameCityCountryScore
1Central Saint MartinsLondonUK98.8
2Parsons School of DesignNew YorkUSA98.7
3Bunka Fashion CollegeTokyoJapan98.5
4Royal Academy of Fine ArtsAntwerpBelgium98.1
5Fashion Institute of TechnologyNew YorkUSA97.8
5Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture ParisienneParisFrance97.7
7Istituto MarangoniMilanItaly97.4
8ESMOD, ParisParisFrance97.2
9University of WestminsterLondonUK97
10Royal College of ArtLondonUK96.8
11London College of FashionLondonUK96.7
12Studio BercatParisFrance96.6
13Kent State UniversityKentUSA96.5
14Academy of Art UniversitySan FranciscoUSA96.4
15Shenkar College of Engineering and Design (Ramat Gan)Tel AvivIsrael96.3
16Drexel UniversityPhiladelphiaUSA96.1
17Otis College of Art and DesignLos AngelesUSA96
18Savannah College of Art and Design OR SCADSavannah/ AtlantaUSA95.9
19Rhode Island School of DesignRhode IslandUSA95.8
20Columbus College of Art & DesignOhioUSA95.6
21University of CincinnatiCincinnatiUSA95.3
22University of BrightonBrightonUK95.2
23La CambreBrusselsBelgium95.1
24Pratt InstituteNew YorkUSA95
25California College of the ArtsSan Francisco/OaklandUSA94.6
26PolimodaFlorenceItaly94.5
27AMFI - Amsterdam Fashion InstituteAmsterdamNetherlands94.2
28Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University)MelbourneAustralia94.1
29Ryerson UniversityOntarioCanada94
30School of the Art Institute of ChicagoChicagoUSA93.9
31Tafe Institute of TechnologySydneyAustralia93.8
32Fashion Institute of Design and MerchandisingLos AngelesUSA93.7
33University of Applied ArtsViennaAustria93.5
34Massachusetts College of Art and DesignBostonUSA93.4
35Kingston UniversityLondonUK93.1
36RavensbourneLondonUK93
37George Brown CollegeOntarioCanada92.8
38University of MissouriColumbiaUSA92.7
39LaSalle CollegeQuebecCanada92.6
40Raffles SingaporeSingapore, Shanghai, Sydney, MumbaiSingapore92.3
41Fashion Design Institut (FDI)DusseldorfGermany92.2
42Iowa State UniversityIowaUSA92.1
43Paris College of ArtParisFrance92
44KOEFIA (International Academy of Haute Couture and Art of Costume)RomeItaly91.9
45Instituto Europeo Di DesignBarcelonaSpain91.8
46National Institute of Fashion TechnologyNew DelhiIndia91.7
47Melbourne School of FashionMelbourneAustralia91.6
48LIM CollegeNew YorkUSA91.5
49Stephens CollegeColumbiaUSA91.4
50University of DelawareNewarkUSA91.3
51University of North TexasDentonUSA91.2
52Philadelphia UniversityPhiladelphiaUSA91
53Aalto University's School of Arts, Design and ArchitectureHelsinkiFinland90.9
54Nottingham Trent UniversityNottinghamUK90.8
55Beijing Institute of Fashion TechnologyBeijingChina90.7
56University for the Creative ArtsKentUK90.6
57Royal Danish Academy of Fine ArtsCopenhagenDenmark90.5
58The Swedish School of TextilesBorasSweden90.4
59Copenhagen School of Design and TechnologyCopenhagenDenmark90.3
60Arts University Bournemouth (AUB)PooleUK90.1
61Haute Ecole D'Art Et De DesignGenevaSwitzerland90
62Accademia Costume & ModaRomeItaly89.9
63Kunsthochschule WeissenseeBerlinGermany89.8
64Edinburgh College of ArtEdinburghUK89.7
65Pearl AcademyNew DelhiIndia89.6
66Bath School of Art & DesignBathUK89.5
67University IUAV of VeniceVeniceItaly89.4
68Manchester School Of ArtManchesterUK89.3
69Northbrook CollegeSussexUK89.2
69University of NorthamptonNorthamptonUK89.2
71Limerick Institute of TechnologyLimerickIreland89
72Iceland Academy of the ArtsReykjavikIceland88.6
73Oslo National Academy of the ArtsOsloNorway88.5
74School of Art and Design at Middlesex UniversityLondonUK88.4
75Domus AcademyMilanItaly88.3
76AMD HamburgHamburgGermany88.1
77University of SalfordSalfordUK88
78Institut Français de la ModeParisFrance87.9
79Design School KoldingKoldingDenmark87.8
80Southampton Solent UniversitySouthamptonUK87.7
81The Art Institute of VancouverVancouverCanada87.6
82University of Central LancashireLancashireUK87.5
83De Montfort University (DMU)LeicesterUK87.4
84Northumbria UniversityNewcastle upon TyneUK87.3
85National Institute of DesignAhmedabadIndia87.2
86Glasgow School of ArtGlasgowUK87.1
87Royal Academy of ArtHagueNetherlands87
88University of East LondonLondonUK86.5
89The Art Institute of CaliforniaCaliforniaUSA86.4
90University Of Technologies & DesignKiev or KyivUkraine86.3
91Massey UniversityWellingtonNew Zealand86.2
92Beckmans College of DesignStockholmSweden86.1
93British Higher School of Art and DesignMoscowRussia86
94Jean SchoolAmsterdamNetherlands85.9
95Mexico University Ibero AmericanaMexico CityMexico85.8
96Willem de Kooning AcademyRotterdamNetherlands85.7
97Gerrit Rietveld AcademieAmsterdamNetherlands85.6
98Jannette Klein UniversityMexico CityMexico84
99Liverpool John Moores UniversityLiverpoolUK83.8
100Lisbon Design SchoolLisbonPortugal83.7