The School of Art and Design, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, began enrolling design students in 1985. It is one of China’s earliest higher education institutions offering design and art education, and one of Guangxi’s largest bases for cultivating design and art talents.

The School offers nine undergraduate programs: Product Design, Digital Media Technology (Sino-foreign Cooperative Education), Visual Communication Design, Animation, Environmental Design, Digital Media Art, Costume and Apparel Design, Industrial Design, and Performance. It has a master’s program in Design as a first-level discipline and a professional Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program. Design, as a first-level discipline, is a key discipline of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Product Design is a National First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Site. Product Design, Visual Communication Design, and Animation are Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Sites under the Double 10,000 Plan. In addition, the Digital Media Program Group, consisting of Digital Media Technology (Sino-foreign Cooperative Education), Animation, and Visual Communication Design, is a Guangxi Advantageous and Characteristic Specialty Group. The Animation Creation Experimental Center and the Design Virtual Experiment Center have been rated respectively as the Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center and the Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The School is also the Guangxi Industrial Design Talent Cultivation Model Innovation Experimental Zone, the Guangxi Animation Talent Cultivation Base, and an Outstanding Interior Design Education Institution of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. At present, it has more than 2,000 undergraduate students and more than 200 master’s students.

The School boasts a well-structured, highly competent faculty team. It has 90 full-time faculty members, among whom 25 hold doctoral degrees, 18 are pursuing doctoral studies, 12 hold full senior professional titles, 30 hold associate senior professional titles, and 33 are master’s supervisors. More than 90 percent of the faculty hold master’s degrees or above. Three faculty members have been selected for the Guangxi Program for Thousand Backbone University Teachers, three have been appointed members of the Higher Education Teaching Steering Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and one is a university-level Distinguished Teacher.

In recent years, the School has won 3 first prizes, 2 second prizes, and 3 third prizes in the Guangxi Teaching Achievement Awards; 3 Guangxi Social Science Outstanding Achievement Awards; and 6 first prizes in the National Multimedia Teaching Courseware Competition. It has published more than 20 monographs and 15 textbooks, including 1 national planned textbook and 1 excellent textbook awarded by the China Electronic Education Society. Attaching great importance to cultivating application-oriented talents, the School implements a design talent training scheme that values practical capabilities and innovative capabilities equally, achieving sound outcomes. Its annual employment rate has remained above 92 percent. Students actively participate in various professional competitions, including flagship events such as the National College Student Advertising Design Competition and the National College Student Industrial Design Competition, and have won over 1,000 awards. It ranks among the top peer institutions in China in terms of the number and level of student awards.

The School was awarded the title of Innovation Design Research Institute in the field of virtual simulation by the China Industrial Design Association, and is the only institution in Guangxi to receive this title. Focusing on industrial demands of the metaverse, the School of Art and Design leverages interdisciplinary strengths of art and computer science to conduct information-based design research for diverse service scenarios in virtual simulation, including teaching, red culture exhibitions and displays, tourism, and commercial training. A batch of representative design outcomes have been developed and translated into real-world applications. Industry-education integration and innovative talent cultivation practices driven by virtual simulation technologies have achieved initial success. Among these achievements, the Metaverse-based Driving Training Simulation and Examination System and related results have been adopted by the industry, put into actual production and application, and promoted nationwide, generating favorable economic and social benefits.