The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts Arts, located in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, is the only higher art institution in South China approved by the Ministry of education. It has the right to grant master's degree. It is also one of the first batch of MFA professional degree awarding units announced by the State Council. It has been selected as the National College students' cultural quality education base and one of the eight major art academies in China. The university is the president unit of "art and Design Education Professional Committee of colleges and universities in Guangdong Province", the director unit of "Industrial Design Teaching Steering Committee of colleges and universities in Guangdong Province", the art education activities (Art) training base of colleges and universities in Guangdong Province, and the art and design education and training center of Guangdong Province.Guangzhou Academy of fine arts, formerly known as Zhongnan Academy of fine arts, was established in Wuhan, Hubei Province in 1953 with the approval of the Ministry of higher education. It was formed by the merger of Zhongnan Academy of literature and art, South China People's Academy of literature and art, Guangxi Academy of art and other related departments. In 1958, the University moved south to Guangzhou, renamed Guangzhou Academy of fine arts, and began to recruit undergraduates. In 1981, the University obtained the right to confer a master's degree. In 2004, the university built a new campus in Guangzhou University City, forming a pattern of "one school, two districts".As of January 2018, Guangzhou Academy of fine arts has two campuses, Changgang and University Town, with a total area of 564 Mu and a total construction area of 411884 square meters; it has eight secondary colleges and a teaching department of Ideological and political theory courses; it has 31 undergraduate majors, 55 professional directions, and has enrolled 24 majors; it has three first-class discipline master's programs, three master's degree authorization programs; and it has 400 full-time teachers By the end of September 2017, the university had 5303 undergraduates, 721 postgraduates, 16 international students, 1 General preparatory student and 6041 full-time students.