Parsons School of Design

About

For more than a century, Parsons has been inspired by the transformative potential of design. Today, the school’s groundbreaking academic programs carry forward that mission, making Parsons the number one design school in the U.S. and among the top three globally.

At the heart of a comprehensive university — The New School — Parsons draws on a range of academic fields to deliver a uniquely interdisciplinary education enriched by the resources of its home in New York City and branch campus in Paris. Here, the next generation of creative leaders engage in real-world learning and develop as critical thinkers and makers grappling with the pressing issues of our time.

Mission

Parsons students are designers, artists, and scholars who learn to apply the transformative capacity of design responsibly, creatively, and purposefully. Our diverse community of students and faculty explore multiple sites and scales of engagement, from on-campus research initiatives to partnerships that bring about change in New York and in the world.

Vision

Parsons’ future will be shaped by the core values that have defined our past: curricular innovation, collaborative methods, pioneering uses of technology, and experimentation. As part of The New School, Parsons shares an institutional vision that aligns with shifts in the global economy, society, and environment, which animate our mission and our values:

Educational Approach

We will fulfill our mission by extending The New School’s legacy as a nontraditional academic community, nimble and responsive to change, that:

• Creativity, innovation, and a desire to challenge the status quo, both in what and how we teach and in the intellectual ambitions of the school itself

• Social engagement, orienting students’ academic experience to help them become critically engaged citizens dedicated to solving problems and contributing to the public good

• Focuses on and engages with critical contemporary issues

• Prioritizes humanity and culture in designing systems and environments to improve the human condition, an approach that draws on design thinking and the liberal, creative, and performing arts

• Places project-based learning at the center of the educational experience

• Takes full advantage of our New York City location and connectivity to global urban centers