The National College of Arts (colloquially known as NCA) is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

located in

Lahore, Punjab Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, Pakistan.

Overview

The National College of Arts – Federally Chartered Institute, is the oldest art school in Pakistan and the second oldest in

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

. The college is ranked as Pakistan's top art school. It consists of over 700 students. The college runs faculty and student exchange programs with the

School of Fine Arts The School of Fine Arts or College of Fine Arts is the official name or part of the name of several schools of fine arts, often as an academic part of a larger university. These include: The Americas North America *Alabama School of Fin ...

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

and the

Instituto Superior de Arte The University of Arts of Cuba / Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) was established on 1 September 1976, by the Cuban government as a school for the arts. Its original structure had three schools: Music, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. History T ...

. It also hosts the

UNESCO Chair The UNESCO Chairs program was conceived as a way to advance research, training and programme development in higher education by building university networks and encouraging inter-university cooperation through transfer of knowledge across borders. ...

in architecture.

History

The institute was originally founded in 1876 as the ''Mayo School of Industrial Arts'' and was one of the two art colleges created by the

British crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

in reaction to the

Arts & Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

. It was named in honor of the recently assassinated British

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

Lord Mayo Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, (; ; 21 February 1822 – 8 February 1872) styled Lord Naas (; ) from 1842 to 1867 and Lord Mayo in India, was a prominent British statesman and Conservative politician. He served as Chief Secreta ...

in 1876.

John Lockwood Kipling John Lockwood Kipling (6 July 1837 – 26 January 1911) was an English art teacher, illustrator and museum curator who spent most of his career in India. He was the father of the author Rudyard Kipling. Life and career Lockwood Kipling was b ...

became the school's first principal and was also appointed as the first

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of the

Lahore Museum The Lahore Museum (; ) is a museum located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1865 at a smaller location and opened in 1894 at its current location on The Mall in Lahore during the British colonial period, Lahore Museum is Pakistan's larg ...

which opened the same year in an adjacent building. In 1958, the school was renamed the National College of Arts and Mian Barkat Ali was appointed as principal. Designated the premier art institution in the country, it was transferred to the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

from the Ministry Industries in the 1960s. It received degree-awarding status in 1985 and created its first graduate programs in 1999. In 2011, the college received its own

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

and became a degree awarding institute (DAI).

Undergraduate programmes

* Department of Fine Arts * Department of Design ** Visual Communication Design ** Ceramics Design ** Textile Design ** Product Design * Department of Film and Television * Department of Architecture * Department of Musicology * Department of Cultural Studies

Graduate programmes

* Master of Visual Art * Master of Interior Design * Master of Multimedia Art * Mphil in Cultural Studies

Notable alumni

Farooq Qaiser Farooq Qaiser ( Punjabi, ; 31 October 1945 – 14 May 2021) was a Pakistani artist, newspaper columnist, TV show director, puppeteer, script writer, and voice actor. He was known as the creator of the fictional puppet character Uncle S ...

- Artist, Columnist, TV Director, Puppeteer, Script Writer, and Voice Actor *

Imran Abbas Syed Imran Abbas Naqvi (born 15 October 1982) professionally known by his stage name Imran Abbas, is a Pakistani actor and model who works predominantly in Urdu television and films. Abbas made his acting debut with ''Umrao Jaan Ada'' in 20 ...

- Model and Actor *

Sumaira Tazeen Sumaira Tazeen (Urdu: سمیرا تزین) is a Canada-based Pakistani artist who specializes in contemporary miniature art. A gold medalist from National College of Arts, Tazeen has presented her work to various influential personalities around ...

- Artist *

Murtaza Jafri Murtaza Jafri () is a Pakistani painter, draftsman, sculptor and college professor. He is also a principal and vice chancellor at National College of Arts since August 2013. Early life and education He studied in Fine Arts at National Co ...

- Painter and Sculptor *

Meesha Shafi Meesha Shafi () is a Pakistani-born Canadian singer, actress and model.Salima Hashmi Salima Hashmi (; born 1942) is a Pakistani painter, artist, former college professor, anti-nuclear weapons activist and former caretaker minister in Sethi caretaker ministry. She has served for four years as a professor and the dean of Nationa ...

- Artist and Educator *

Shahzia Sikander Shahzia Sikander (born 1969) is a Pakistani-American visual artist. Sikander works across a variety of mediums, including drawing, painting, printmaking, animation, installation, performance and video. Sikander currently lives and works in New ...

- Artist * Faisal Qureshi - Actor and humorist *

Ammar Aziz Ammar Aziz is a Pakistani documentary filmmaker and poet. He's a recipient of the International Federation of Film Critics Award. His debut feature-length film A Walnut Tree had its world premiere at IDFA and North American premiere at Hot Docs ...

- Filmmaker and poet * Anila Quayyum Agha - Artist *

Satish Gujral Satish Gujral (25 December 1925 – 26 March 2020) was an Indian painter, sculptor, muralist and writer of the post-independent era. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, in 1999. His ...

- Artist *

Ayesha Omar Ayesha Omar (; born 12 October 1981) is a Pakistani actress. Considered a style icon in her home country, Omar is one of the most popular and highest-paid actresses in Pakistan. In 2012, she released her first singles "Chalte Chalte" and "Kha ...

- Model and Actress *

Affan Waheed Affan Waheed () is a Pakistani television actor, model and RJ. He is best known for his roles as Musaf in ''Aik Pal'' (2014), Atif in '' Khamoshi'' (2017)'','' Shafay in '' Bay Dardi'' (2018), and as Badar in ''Do Bol'' (2019). Waheed made his ...

- Artist and Actor *

Bhai Ram Singh Bhai Ram Singh (1858–1916) was one of pre-partition Punjab (British India), Punjab's foremost architects, dominating the scene for nearly two decades from the 1890s. Amongst his works is the Durbar Room, Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight, En ...

- Architect *

Wahaj Ali Wahaj Ali (born 1 December 1988) is a Pakistani actor known for his appearance on Urdu television. After making his television debut with the soap serial ''Ishq Ibadat'' in 2015, Ali gained critical praise for playing Bangladeshi freedom fighte ...

- Actor *

Talhah Yunus Talhah Yunus (born 21 October 1996) is a Pakistani rapper, songwriter, filmmaker and musician. He graduated from the National College of Arts in filmmaking. He is a part of the hip hop duo Young Stunners along with Talha Anjum, having the musi ...

- Filmmaker and Activist * Asfar Hussain - Singer and Song Writer *

Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in December 1928 in what was intended to be retaliation for the deat ...

- Activist

Rawalpindi and Gilgit sub campuses

The college established its second campus in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

in 2005. In 2024, NCA opened its third campus in

Gilgit Gilgit (; Shina language, Shina: ; ) is a city in Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kas ...

with an associate degree program.

References

External links

NCA official website
{{authority control Universities and colleges in Lahore Educational institutions established in 1875 Art schools in Pakistan Pakistani art 1875 establishments in British India Film schools in Pakistan The Mall, Lahore Public universities and colleges in Punjab, Pakistan