Guangxi Arts University (GXAU) is located in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is one of China’s eight comprehensive public undergraduate art institutions and the only comprehensive public undergraduate art university in South China. GXAU is co-established by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, an excellent institution in the Ministry of Education’s undergraduate teaching evaluation, and a university supported by Guangxi for the doctoral program development.
The university traces its origins to the “Guangxi Provincial Basic School Art Teacher Training Class” proposed in 1938. With a history of over 80 years, it was upgraded to an undergraduate institution, “Guangxi Arts College,” in 1960. Graduate education began in 1980.GXAU comprises three campuses: Nanhu Campus and Xiangsihu Campus in Nanning, and Guilin Campus. It houses 16 teaching units, including the College of Fine Arts, College of Design, College of Chinese Painting/Lijiang Painting College, College of Music, Dance College, College of Humanities, College of Film, Television and Media, College of Architectural Arts, College of Plastic Arts, College of Fine Arts Education, College of Music Education, College of Marxism, College of General Education, College of Continuing Education, and International Education Centre, as well as one Art Research Institute. The university covers a total area of 41.2 hectares and has over 12,000 full-time students.
GXAU currently offers three first-tier master’s degree programs in Art Studies, Design Studies, and Journalism and Communication Studies, along with seven professional master’s degree programs in Fine Arts and Calligraphy, Music, Design, Dance, Drama and Film, Landscape Architecture, and Journalism and Communication. It has 40 undergraduate programs, forming a comprehensive higher art education system. Among them, Fine Arts and Music and Dance are designated as Guangxi first-class disciplines. The university boasts 10 national first-class undergraduate major construction sites, 4 Guangxi first-class undergraduate major construction sites, 1 national experimental teaching demonstration center, and 18 provincial-level research centers (bases).
GXAU has established educational cooperation and exchanges with over 70 overseas institutions and national art organizations from 23 countries and regions. The university has continuously created and successfully operated a series of brand activities, including the China-ASEAN Music Week, China-ASEAN Architectural Art Forum, China-ASEAN Dance Forum and Festival, China-ASEAN Biennial Art Exhibition, and China-ASEAN Design Forum and Biennial Exhibition. Among these, the “China-ASEAN Music Week” has become one of China’s top three new music creation platforms. Together with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, GXAU successfully bid to host the 2021 “World New Music Festival.” In 2025, the university successfully hosted the 8th Biennial Conference of the East Asian Regional Association of the International Musicological Society. These activities provide a high-level exchange and exhibition platform for artists from China and abroad and consolidate GXAU’s pivotal role in China-ASEAN art exchanges.