Our Members —
Leading & Transforming Design Education in Ireland
Being a member of Design Educators Ireland offers opportunity for professional dialogue and creates a platform for staff to share best practice.
We have a collective aim of maintaining high standards within Design Education in Ireland.
NCAD is one of Ireland’s foremost creative and cultural institutions. Founded as the Dublin Society Drawing School in 1746, today NCAD offers the largest range of art and design degrees on the island of Ireland at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Our role has continually evolved to reflect the needs of community and industry, enabling NCAD to imagine future possibilities and shape the world around us.
Our studio-based approach to teaching and research creates the environment for critical enquiry, radical experimentation and creative learning, helping our students and staff to address many of the real challenges confronting society, culture and contemporary business.
NCAD is ranked amongst the Top 51-100 Art and Design Colleges in the world in the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2023.
IADT is a leader in higher education with a specialist focus on the development of future makers, shapers, technologists, thinkers, storytellers and creators who lead and innovate in a changing digital world.
From full-time undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to accredited part time courses, IADT has earned the reputation as Ireland’s leading creative, cultural and technological institute by consistently providing innovative, relevant and future-facing courses.
Home to the National Film School (NFS), the Institute’s design, technology, film and visual arts programmes have an international profile and reputation.
At TU Dublin’s School of Art and Design we believe that our role in the new technological university is to foster and shape a new critical understanding of the dynamic interaction between society and technology and we are determined that the creative arts will have a key strategic part to play in this process.
Our vision is to lead education, practice and research for Ireland’s creative and cultural industry and act as a national and international benchmark for the creative arts. Our fundamental values are excellence in scholarly activity through creative practice and research combined with a student-centred learning environment encouraging creativity, flexibility and innovation. Engagement with the real world has always been central to our school over the years. We intend to build on our track record by delivering creative programmes with a strong industry, professional and community focus.
For nearly 170 years we have been educating, inspiring and empowering people seeking a creative future. We are proud to be recognised as one of Europe’s leading Fine Art, Design and Creative Media schools.
With over 1,250 students across our five campuses in the Mid-West of Ireland, we are a hub of energy and imagination, a supportive creative community and a place of Art, Design, and Media research, innovation and enterprise.
LSAD offers a wide range of creative undergraduate and postgraduate programmes including MA and PhD by research as well as flexible and other education opportunities across our campuses in Limerick and Clonmel.
Design students at TUS Athlone have a track record of winning awards at local, national and international student’s assessment schemes and competitions. Graduates enjoy excellent employment prospects in Ireland and overseas, and are employed in graphic design for both print and screen, advertising agencies, publishing houses, printing, the arts, the film and television industries and in teaching roles in second level, PLC and third level courses.
The School of Design is home to a variety of undergraduate and postgrad programs and research activities from Architecture, Product Design, Design for Health & Wellbeing, Design Research, Human Factors and Digital Fabrication. The School represents the very best in new collaborative approaches to design education for and about people, the spaces they inhabit and the products and service systems they use. The UL School of Design was the first School of Design situated within a University in Ireland.
The School of Design and Creative Arts is based at the ATU Galway City and ATU Connemara campuses.
The school currently has three departments:
Department of Creative Arts & Media
Department of Creative Education
National Centre of Excellence in Furniture Design and Technology
The creative industries are among the world's most rapidly growing economic sectors. The suite of academic programmes available at the school provides a broad range of creative career options.
Our programmes have a strong practical, skill-based ethos. We aim to strike a balance between theory and practice, thinking and doing, art and craft, and design and making. We also embed new technology and digital practice into our programmes in addition to the more traditional techniques and creative processes.
The School is deeply engaged in collaboration with industry partners, community, and other organisations in a wide variety of projects, initiatives, and research.
The Department of Design & Creative Media ATU Donegal is a vibrant, dynamic and modern learning environment where you can pursue your academic and career ambitions with confidence.
Our courses enable you to turn your artistic talents into a successful creative career, and our small studio-based classes have the latest technologies to support design-led creative thinking and the acquisition of core business skills.
The Yeats Academy of Arts, Design & Architecture at ATU Sligo is a catalyst for creativity located in Ireland’s ‘Creative West’. Through the centuries, creativity from art, architecture and design to literature and music have flourished from this region. The region has played a critical role in the works of many internationally renowned creative talents most notably in the works of William and Jack B. Yeats.
We provide accessible learning experiences across seven creative disciplines that engage with and build on the rich cultural legacy and genius loci of our region. We illuminate the value of creativity and cultural contribution to society, and seeks to make a lasting contribution, locally and globally.
MTU Crawford College of Art and Design is a diverse & creative community exploring art, design, technology, culture, visual arts education & media. Crawford College of Art and Design (CCAD) is a vibrant multi-campus College, which has been providing education in the arts for more than 100 years.
Crawford graduates are among Ireland’s top artists, curators, designers, media practitioners, art therapists and art educators. Whatever your creative aspirations are – we are there to support you on your journey to finding your individual voice. At the Crawford, your education is led by you.
Design Innovation at Maynooth University is a department of interdisciplinary expertise that combines industrial, entrepreneurial and academic excellence in Design. We are focussed on developing research and user-centred, applied practitioners that create impact through design innovation in industries across Ireland and Europe.
We distinguish ourselves from other design courses by placing an emphasis on research methods, user-experience, marketing, business models and the commercial justification of new product proposals, as well as core science and engineering subjects.
Established in 1849, Belfast School of Art (BSoA) is a School in Ulster University’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The School forms part of the University’s landmark Belfast campus, located in the heart of the famous Cathedral Quarter. Through a wide portfolio of teaching, research and civic activities, BSoA academics and technical staff play a central role in the cultural and creative life of the city.
The Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music at DkIT is home to a range of design related programmes. Students have access to state-of-the-art facilities and discipline-specific lab spaces. We host a popular series of public events including exhibitions, showcases and conferences that enrich the cultural life of the Institute and region. We are very proud of the contribution of our graduates to the region and their successes in their chosen careers.
Griffith College is Ireland's largest independent third level institution with locations in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Established in 1974, Griffith College enjoys a national and growing international reputation for student success.
The Design Faculty is based in the Dublin campus and it offers internationally recognised undergraduate Design degree programmes in Fashion Design, Interior Design, Visual Communication, complemented by a wide range of professional, short term and springboard courses in the area of design and the built environment. We are a designated educational institute of Quality & Qualifications Ireland (QQI). Many of our former students have gone on to enjoy distinguished careers in Ireland and internationally.
South East Technological University (SETU) creative platform of Media, Design and Music at SETU Carlow supports opportunity, growth and innovation within emerging young talent across the creative sector. Our undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral community have been bridging emergent design, practice and research spaces for the past 50 years, influencing Irish industry, economy, society and culture. SETU Carlow is home to designCORE Research Centre and Enterprise Ireland’s Design+ Technology Gateway, and through exceptional learning and collaboration, we provide a space where we transform the ambitions of learners, researchers, businesses and our communities to imagine and co-create better futures.
SETU Wexford Campus School of Art & Design (WCSAD) provides a stimulating environment to develop as a designer.
Studying in Wexford you will gain a strong sense of creative focus and significant understanding of place and context. By studying in a close creative community with your fellow students and staff you will develop and expand your creativity with the ability to sustain a unique design practice and world view.
The Design (Visual Communication) programme at SETU Waterford is a four-year degree course, which prepares students for employment in the advertising and design area. The course reflects academic and creative input, which is required for the dynamic nature of commercial graphic design. The degree has been designed to be innovative, consisting of studio practice, design history, marketing, legal and visual culture.