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A prestigious Italian fine arts academy hopes its new London campus will be the ¡°first step¡± towards a ¡°truly international platform¡± for creative education, its managing director has said.

Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA), founded in Milan in 1980, will open its first international campus in East London at the start of the 2026-2027 academic year, after expanding into Rome in 2019.

Launching with an initial offering of three bachelor¡¯s programmes ¨C design, fashion design and fashion marketing ¨C alongside a foundation year, the academy¡¯s English-taught degrees will be accredited by Regent¡¯s 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ London. Future courses are likely to include a visual arts undergraduate degree, as well as postgraduate qualifications.

Based at the Here East campus in Stratford¡¯s Olympic Park, NABA¡¯s neighbours?will include UCL East, Loughborough 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ and the Liverpool Media Academy; it will share a cafeteria with the latter, managing director Daniele Bisello o Ragno told?Times Higher Education. ¡°We will have two student communities together: one talking?about music and one talking about art,¡± he said.

The London branch is ¡°the first step in a broader international strategy,¡± said Bisello o Ragno. ¡°We envision this campus as a replicable model; a sort of a hub for experimentation, collaboration and growth.¡± The next international branch is likely to be in 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, he added. ¡°The goal is to build a truly international platform for creative education.¡±

¡°It¡¯s the right time to go?beyond our borders,¡± Bisello o Ragno said, pointing to the anticipated drop in student numbers as Italy¡¯s birth rate declines. ¡°London, we believe, is the best place to start this process of internationalisation.¡±

The capital, acknowledged Bisello o Ragno, isn¡¯t exactly short of art and design institutions. ¡°This is why we thought a lot about London. But even though there is very high competition, I think NABA can bring a unique voice to the UK landscape: the excellence of Italian design with our industry-linked educational approach.¡±

NABA¡¯s small class sizes could be a particular draw, he said. In Milan, the academy teaches a maximum of 35 students per course each year; in London, that figure will not exceed 28. These small cohorts, he said, enable the institution to ¡°foster individual talent¡±.

¡°The best way to go into this market is by collaborating with our competitors,¡± the managing director said. To this end, NABA and 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of the Arts London: Central Saint Martins are currently running a joint summer course in fashion aimed at undergraduates; students have already completed three weeks at UAL¡¯s London campus and will begin a further two weeks in Milan. ¡°We want to be in dialogue with this new ecosystem,¡± said Bisello o Ragno.

Nevertheless, NABA doesn¡¯t expect a significant domestic intake in its initial years of operation in London. ¡°We have a really strong network of retail agencies worldwide, and we see strong interest from regions such as 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Latin America and continental Europe. We expect to have 90 per cent of our population coming from abroad in our first years.¡±

In five years¡¯ time, Bisello o Ragno expects to have a 500-strong student cohort. ¡°We¡¯re going to take the first couple of years to really understand the market and make the right decisions,¡± he said. ¡°But I think everything is well planned.¡±

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com