Academy of Art University

Its deep roots in San Francisco put it at the center of West Coast art education for decades. Over the course of the 20th century the school grew from a training ground for commercial artists into a degree-granting institution serving students who wanted careers in art, design, fashion, and related fields. Because it was privately owned and for-profit, it could adapt its curriculum and operations to market conditions more easily than a public art school, a flexibility that later helped it become an early adopter of online instruction.

The university's move into distance learning followed the general pattern of online higher education. As the internet matured, the institution developed distance-learning programs alongside its on-campus programs, eventually offering a large online component that lets students earn degrees in art-related subjects without relocating to San Francisco. Programs such as its online art history degree advertise the ability to build a strong foundation for an art education while pursuing a creative career, a direct appeal to working adults who could not attend full-time on a campus.

The online offerings draw on the same subject areas as the campus curriculum, from design studies to the history of art. Students take courses online with the support of the university's existing faculty and infrastructure, and the broad availability of these programs has made the school a destination for aspiring artists who live far from the Bay Area. Accreditation by accrediting bodies accepted for this type of institution covers its degree-granting programs, allowing students to pursue credentials through the online channel.

The Academy of Art University's significance in the history of online higher education lies in the type of subject matter it moved online. Much early online education concentrated on business, technology, and general studies, where text-based discussion and document submission suited the medium. The applied arts were considered harder to teach at a distance because they depend on visual portfolios, studio work, and hands-on critique. The university's large online component demonstrated that even portfolio-heavy art and design education could be delivered through internet-based courses, expanding the reach of a San Francisco institution to students worldwide.

It also illustrates the broader pattern of for-profit schools embracing online delivery ahead of many public institutions. Its combination of an almost century-old campus tradition with a modern digital operation shows how the oldest commercial forms of American higher education carried over into the internet era, and how the promise of online access attracted audiences, such as adult learners seeking art degrees, that campus-based programs had not consistently served. For those reasons it appears regularly in accounts of for-profit and online institutions in the arts.