The fashion news website Business of Fashion in its second annual Global Fashion Schools Rankings—placed FIT’s undergraduate programs sixth in the world and its graduate programs tenth. FIT and Parsons School of Design are the only American undergraduate institutions in the Top Ten and the FIT’s graduate programs made the listing at number ten for the first time this year.
The rankings are part of BoF’s annual report on the state of fashion education, which includes an in-depth analysis of key geographies and detailed profiles of the top 50 undergraduate and the top 25 graduate fashion programs.
The study represents a comprehensive analysis of fashion education and aims to provide an objective assessment of the top undergraduate and graduate fashion programs around the world. The data is based on 60 different data points gathered from 54 participating institutions, surveys completed by more than 10,000 students and alumni, feedback from more than 130 human resources professionals, global fashion influencers, fashion school academics, and BoF’s own analysis.
The BoF Global Fashion Schools Ranking is based on three criteria:
• Global Influence: the global reputation and influence of a school, which was determined by surveying industry professionals, recruiters, and academics around the world, assessing the selectivity of a school in admitting applicants, and analyzing the finalists of nine prestigious international fashion prizes
• Learning Experience: students’ experience while in school and their satisfaction with the caliber of fellow students, the quality of teaching, and the resources available at the institution
• Long-Term Value: students’ preparedness for the real world based on student graduation rates and student satisfaction about employment, career preparedness, and accessibility of alumni
For its undergraduate courses, out of a possible 100 points, FIT scored 58 for global influence, 47 for learning experience, and 49 for long-term value, resulting in an overall score of 77.9. For its graduate courses, out of a possible 100 points, FIT scored 60 for global influence, 42 for learning experience, and 47 for long-term value, resulting in an overall score of 68.1.
The survey notes that a number of institutions are connecting creativity and commerce through interdisciplinary curricula that allow students to combine design training with more specialized and demanding business, technology, and marketing courses.
“FIT is in the company of outstanding institutions throughout the world that are doing excellent work,” said Dr. Joyce F. Brown, president of FIT. “The accomplishments of our faculty, students, and alumni are to be credited for helping us earn our reputation around the world.”