Top 50 Creative Media & Entertainment Schools and Colleges in the World 2022
2022 Update! The official rankings have been calculated based on the performance of students work submitted to an independent industry panel.
Since 2011, The Rookies has been supplying reliable performance information about colleges and universities to students, their families, academics, university leaders, governments, and business. The results for 2022 are based on a staggering 58,443 portfolio reviews, completed by a team of over 150+ industry professionals.
The Rookies World School Rankings® are not like other education based ranking systems. They are driven and judged by industry professionals without the interference of paid advertising dollars that cloud the judgement of other ranking sites.
• Scott Thompson, founder of Think Tank Training Centre.
We feel that traditional school rankings – that include peer and employer reviews, faculty-to-student ratio, citations and other data – are not adequate when ranking creative schools. This might work in industries with more traditional career paths, but when it comes to technical and creative roles things are much more complicated, and we need to take a different approach.
Our answer to this is quite arduous, but very accurate. The process involves reviewing thousands of digital portfolios from graduating students. These portfolios are the equivalent of a final exam for traditional industries, and provide an incredibly accurate dataset of how well the university or college has prepared their students for industry level skills.
Learn more about how we rank schools.
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Talk to an AdvisorExamples of student work submitted from these top schools and colleges
Follow these links below to view some of the incredible entries that our judging panel were tasked with reviewing. These entries showcase the quality of work created by students which helped rank their schools.
Detailed information about the top schools and colleges for Top 50 Creative Media & Entertainment
The following schools are the Top 50 Creative Media & Entertainment educational facilities for 2020 and offer great courses and curriculum that produces students that are ready for the challenges faced by professional artists working in Top 50 Creative Media & Entertainment. Follow the links below to find out more about these schools, their facilities, team, success stories, student artwork and more.
1. New3dge
New3dge, located in Paris, is a private school of higher education specialized in the fields of Game Art, 3D Animation&VFX and Concept Art. We have tailored our student program and our teaching methods alongside some of the major players in these fields. We recruit our educators from our network of respected professionals around the globe. At New3gde, we give our students the opportunity to learn skills and work with cutting edge technology in an ever-evolving environment, guaranteeing their...
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2. Savannah College of Art and Design
Savannah College of Art and Design prepares talented students for creative professions through engaged teaching and learning in a positively oriented university environment. SCAD is continually recognized for educational and professional excellence, affirming our commitment to the highest standards of achievement in art and design in the U.S.SCAD constantly researches and reimagines programs to instill the critical skills and knowledge students need to succeed in their chosen careers....
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3. The One Academy of Communication Design
In 1991, The One Academy of Communication Design was established as a private art college and our academic strengths lie in the practice of our teaching philosophy “Masters Train Masters”, where we believe excellent graduates stem from great educators. Since our humble beginning over three decades ago, we have come a long way from there, having being ranked as the World’s No.1 Best Concept Art & Illustration School in 2019, World’s No.2 Best Production ...
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4. SCHOOL-ING
School-ing was born out of a love for 3D and VFX, a vocation for teaching and the desire to help revolutionize the way of teaching and learning.School-ing is a specialized school that seeks to give a twist to traditional training, to bring the reality of the professional market closer to the classroom and offer tools so that students can develop their artistic and creative potential....
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5. School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts has been a leader in the education of artists, designers and creative professionals for nearly seven decades. With a faculty of distinguished working professionals, dynamic curriculum and an emphasis on critical thinking, SVA is a catalyst for innovation and social responsibility. Comprised of more than 6,000 students at its Manhattan campus and nearly 37,000 alumni in 75 countries, SVA also represents one of the most influential artistic communities in the world....
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6. Gnomon
For over twenty years, Gnomon has educated many of the world’s best digital artists. Called “the MIT of visual effects” by Fast Company magazine, Gnomon offers a variety of educational options to help students reach their goals in the entertainment industry, with both degree and vocational certificate programs, specialized courses for high school students and over 100 individual courses for professional enrichment. Visual effects artists launched Gnomon with the support of the entertainment indu...
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7. Ringling College of Art and Design
Since 1931, Ringling College of Art and Design has cultivated the creative spirit in students from around the globe. The private, not-for-profit, fully accredited college offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in eleven disciplines and the Bachelor of Arts in two. The College’s rigorous curriculum employs the studio model of teaching and immediately engages students through a comprehensive program that is both specific to the major of study and focused on the liberal arts. The Ringling College ...
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8. Think Tank Training Centre
Think Tank Training Centre was born out of a passion for sharing industry knowledge with the next generation of artists creating assets, animation, or VFX for the top Film, Television, and Game companies across the globe. Think Tank has ranked in the top 3 creative entertainment schools in the world by the prestigious Rookies online community the past three years in a row. The school is known for its intimate, personalized support for each student during and beyond the programs. Our training ...
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9. ArtFX School
ArtFX is a private digital arts college, training its students in CGI, VFX, 3D Animation and Video Games. Located in Montpellier (France), the school was created by professionals of the film, video games and visual effects industries.As the only school in Europe specializing in compositing CGI into live-action footage, ArtFX is a reference for CGI and CG animation training. At ArtFx you will develop professional level skills and build a solid network of contacts thanks to our close partnerships ...
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10. 3dsense Media School
3dsense Media School is a leading digital arts school in Asia, preparing students for careers in the creative entertainment industry since 2003. We focus on providing industry-based training for Visual Effects, Animation, Game Art, Motion Design, Concept Art, Illustration and Toy Production. Since 2015, 3dsense has been consistently ranked amongst the Top 10 Art Schools globally by “The Rookies World School Rankings”, the world’s most respected ranking system for creative media schools. Bes...
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11. SF Film School
We are a professional education institution specifically for CG and VFX (Visual Effects). Our branches are in Seoul and Busan of South Korea. A lot of our graduates are currently working for the top VFX and 3D animation companies in the world. We welcome all the students regardless of the amount of experience that they have. Our systematic education curriculum guides any students who have no previous experience into a CG and VFX professional. If a student already has previous experience, we focu...
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12. Howest University of Applied Sciences - Digital Arts and Entertainment
Digital Arts & Entertainment (DAE) is a state-of-the-art, yet accessible, English-taught Bachelor’s degree. Fully accredited, 3 years, amounting to 180 ECTS credits. DAE is taught at Howest, a modern and unconventional university of applied sciences, situated in a small but beautiful historic city in Flanders, Belgium, in the heart of Western Europe. At DAE you can choose between 4 study majors: Game Development, Game Graphics Production, Independent Game Production or 3D Production & VFX. It...
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13. Cleveland Institute of Art
CIA offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in 15 majors across art, design, craft, and integrated media. We extend our programs to the public through gallery exhibitions, artist lectures, a continuing education program for adults and children, and the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, an art and independent film program. With 655 full-time students and 670 total students, CIA offers a personal educational experience with the benefits of a larger institution. Students choose from 15 majors a...
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14. Artside School
ARTSIDE is a private higher education institution founded by Digital Art professionals, with a strong desire to offer innovative training that meets the expectations of International studios.More of 70 teachers come from the largest international studios and share this desire to train future talents. They offer with Artside a professional education and share their workflow and tools used in production and offer our students a complete professional network. Our students develop an in-d...
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15. butic The New School
butic is actually the only focused online school simultaneously authorized by leading companies like Autodesk, Adobe, Chaos Group, Itoo Software or Epic Games Unreal Engine, something extremely important in order to get a high quality and certified education recognized around the world.“The only constant is change”, so training in the field of new technologies is essential to progress in today's digital world, but attending to online remote education (especially when focus...
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16. Lost Boys | School of Visual Effects
With its roots as an internationally renowned boutique visual effects studio, Lost Boys offers specialized programs in VFX Compositing, Effects, and CG Lighting for feature film VFX & Animation productions delivered by highly esteemed instructors within a studio environment. Thanks to our long history as leaders in visual effects production, our active industry participation, and our track record of producing the top fresh talent for world-class studios, we are experts in guiding our students to...
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17. Netherlands Film Academy
The academy is the only recognised institute in the Netherlands that offers training to prepare for the work in the various crew disciplines. Specialisation is possible in fiction directing, documentary directing, screenwriting, editing, producing, sounddesign, cinematography, production design, and interactive multimedia/visual effects....
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18. PIXL VISN | media arts academy
PIXL VISN was founded in 2010 by industry professionals Andrei Stirbu and Robb Innes. We offer an accelerated 15-month 3D Animation and Visual Effects training program in a modern facility equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, located in the heart of Cologne, Germany. Instructors at PIXL VISN are a part of the industry: They work in relevant positions at major studios around the world helping to create major Hollywood feature films, hit television series and blockbuster video games. Our grad...
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19. Animum Creativity Advanced School
We constantly network and advise with Industry Stakeholders and academic partners globally to ensure we are constantly industry relevant. We network with Epic Games, Unity 3D, Rokoko, Reallusion, GSU, NYU, Southern Institute of Technology, Ara Institute, Yoobee Colleges, and more.Students are regularly hired by Epic Games, Weta Group, Eleven FX, Graphic Monk, Geo AR....
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20. University of Hertfordshire
The School of Creative Arts is the oldest part of the University of Hertfordshire, and its roots date back to 1890 with the formation of St Albans School of Art that later merged with the University in the 20th century. The School prides itself on its devotion to teaching creativity and the skills required to enable students to reach the goals they want from a degree and future career. It combines a wealth of physical resources that cover all aspects of creative arts production from animation...
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21. YRGO
Yrgo is a higher vocational college situated in Gothenburg Sweden.Our programs main focus is architectural visualization where our students spend two years studying both practical applications, theory and doing internships at companies all around the world. Our first year focused on learning 3d visualization with programs like 3ds Max, Sketchup, V-ray, Corona, Revit and Autocad. We also place a high value on teaching what makes good images, so photography and Photoshop is a given.On top of this ...
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22. ECV
Since 1984, our ambition has been to turn our students’ creativity into a source of professional success. Sharing, exchanges and meetings with professionals ant the professional world are the keys to success. ECV immerses its students in a community of creative talents, to help them thrive, within the school but also once the enter the professional world.Over the years, our experiences, our independence and our initiatives have allowed us to developp the largest network of creat...
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23. Nanyang Polytechnic SDM
Nanyang Polytechnic SDM is a future-ready school of tech-savvy creatives and we are on a mission to empower learners for work and life. We are co-creators with the creative industries for growth and sustainability. We are Singapore’s most established school for the design and media industries given our pioneering efforts in the areas of architecture, animation and visual effects, experiential product and interior design, game art and development, interaction design, motion graphics and visual communication...
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24. cg5 Academy
We are teaching CG graphics based on sincerity and trust so that those who study CG can achieve their desired goals....
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25. ISART Digital
ISART Digital is an international school of higher education in video games and 3D-VFX animation. The school is based in Paris & Montreal and has a partnership with the Tokyo University of Technology. The school is ranked number 1 in Europe and Quebec (Canada) by LinkedIn, on professional integration in the Game and Interactive Media Design market. This leading position is the result of a studio-oriented policy: - Professional experience is at the heart of the studies, in an alternating structur...
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26. Futuregames
With schools in Sweden in Stockholm, Boden, Skellefteå and Karlstad; in Norway in Nordreisa; and soon in New Zealand in Dunedin, Futuregames offers a whole range of different types of education and at many different levels, from short courses for experienced professionals to full time programs for future game developers just getting started in the industry. With almost 20 years of experience Futuregames has consistently ranked as one of the best game educations in the world and our form...
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27. Flinders University / CDW Studios
In partnership Flinders University and CDW Studios have created a very unique study environment where you are being taught by an instructor who currently works as a professional in that industry. Our instructors are world class, and have experience freelancing and working for some of the world’s top entertainment providers and creators, such as Blizzard Entertainment, Rising Sun Pictures, Disney, Warner Brothers and Lego just to name a few. By employing industry professionals CDW Studios and Fli...
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28. The Game Assembly
For nearly 15 years, we have educated highly skilled game developers for the games industry all over the world. Based in Malmö and Stockholm, Sweden, we educate Game Artists, Game Programmers, Level Designers, Game Animators and Technical Artists. Every education is 1,5-2,5 years and one third of the education is an internship at a game company. We have well experienced staff working full time within the educations.Half of the students’ time at The Game Assembly consists of...
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29. Universal Arts School
UA School has been educating artists for over 25 years. It is one of the best animation schools in Spain, Europe, and worldwide, according to Animation Career Review. The range of careers offered is sure to please the needs of any student. If you are interest in pursuing a career in Animation, Video Games, Visual Effects, or Cinema, we have expert academic advisors that will help you choose the right career path for you from our extensive course catalogue. Our instructors are industry profess...
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30. FX ANIMATION Barcelona 3D & Film School
FX ANIMATION Barcelona ArchViz School, pioneer in the field of architectural visualisation training and with 14 years of experience, offers you the possibility to complete your professional profile as an interior designer or architect thanks to its high performance training. Our specialised training and live online methodology (for English or Spanish speaking students) will allow you to master the leading software in the sector with great technical and visual depth, which will allow you to carry...
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31. Game Academy
Game academy is a French school located in Avignon, in Vaucluse, which trains game developers and game artists. Created in 2016 by Mr. Kevin Vivier, Game Academy aims to meet a growing demand for high-performance and modern elements in the video game and serious gaming market.Today, the school is composed of 6 trainers who each had a unique professional background. Game Academy prepares more than 80 students to work in the video game industry with technologies such as Unreal Engine, Z...
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32. Florida Universitària
FLORIDA is a Valencian worker co-operative created in 1977 working in the field of education. It has a wide experience in education and training in several education levels: Higher education (university degrees, postgraduate courses and Master degrees), Vocational Education and Training (higher and lower levels), continuous training and Secondary and Primary Education.The University qualifications provided by Florida Universitaria are officially recognised by the University of Valenci...
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33. Ecole MoPA
The history of MoPA is intrinsically linked to that of Supinfocom, created in Valenciennes in 1988. It was the first French school entirely dedicated to CG imaging. In the year 2000, it opened in Arles.Over the next few years Supinfocom Arles forged its own path, gaining a reputation for excellence and winning its first international prizes. Since then the school has trained over 500 top-level professionals who are now working throughout the world and the list of prestigious prizes continues to ...
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34. Bellecour Ecole
Bellecour Ecole is a specialized art school in the fields of applied arts / design: graphics - multimedia - space - Product - Fashion and Creative Industries: 3d animation - FX - gaming - concept art. Bellecour Ecole provides training to +3 and +5 (Artistic Director, 3D director, )....
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35. ESMA
ESMA CG School is a hiher education institution located in Montpellier, Toulouse, Nante, Lyon and Montreal, with more than 25 years of experience.Recognized for the quality and richness of its artistic teachings, the school offers two courses related to CG Animation and FX: a Prépa Entertainment and a Professional Cycle CG Animation & FX.Our ambition: to offer a teaching in adequacy with the professional environment in order to prepare our students for the various artistic professions and to...
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36. Breda University of Applied Sciences
Nearly every course/project is team-based where individual contributions are assessed and used to develop a games industry professional that is ready to be effective from the 1st day of internship or graduate job. We want students to start with a foundation in either art, programming or design and then develop production abilities to participate in cross-discipline game development teams that emulate industry.Year 1 is focused on small teams (3-5) and comprises of 3 discipline f...
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37. BRASSART
Our 6 sectors promote this creativity. From graphic design to audiovisual, from 3D animation to video games, from graphic arts to illustration and comics, students, after a preparatory year, will be able to make a choice of life. Making your passion a profession is possible!...
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38. Escape Studios
At Escape Studios, we offer undergraduate, postgraduate and short courses in Visual Effects (VFX), Game Art, Animation and Motion Graphics. We work with an impressive list of industry partners to design and deliver our courses, from MPC, DNEG, Framestore and The Mill, through to Jellyfish Pictures, Milk and BlueBolt, to name just a few! We’re leaders in digital arts, ranked 5th in the world by the Rookies, a Rookies Certified School, a Houdini Certified School, and the only Unreal Engin...
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39. University for the Creative Arts
Our respected gaming courses sit within the University for the Creative Arts’ (UCA) School of Film, Media and Performing Arts, and enjoy exciting collaborative opportunities, state of the art facilities and outstanding industry links. In addition to our core gaming courses at UCA’s Farnham campus – BA (Hons) Games Arts, BSc (Hons) Games Technology and MA Games Design – there are also BA courses in games design and computer animation at our Rochester campus. UCA prides itself that appro...
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40. BigRock
BigRock, Institute of Magic Technologies, is the first training center of visual effects in Italy. BigRock represents a state-of-the-art reality in the 3D animation scene in Europe and trains hundreds of new computer graphics students every year. BigRock is a private training centre for Computer Graphics, Concept Art and Virtual Reality located in Venice, Italy. Here since 2005 we train the next generation of artists for the industry of Visual Effects, Videogames, 3D Animation, Concept Art an...
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41. PlaygroundSquad
PlaygroundSquad is a higher vocational education in game development, stationed in Falun, Sweden. PlaygroundSquad is a polytechnic where students quickly enter the job market towards the gaming industry. We train our students in game development for two years to get them into work as quickly as possible.We have three disciplines of study; programming, game design and game art.The education consists of four semesters over a two year period time....
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42. Staffordshire University
We are the Connected University. We’re connected to the needs of our students, to business and to society. Our city campus in Stoke-on-Trent is the University’s nerve centre. We deliver world class healthcare education at our specialist Centres of Excellence in Stafford and Shrewsbury. And a global network of more than 20,000 people study our degrees internationally.Our industry connections and emphasis on experience make our graduates among the most employable in the UK. A leading universit...
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43. M3DS Academy
M3DS Academy is an Autodesk Authorized Training Center for visual arts. M3DS Academy offers a variety of educational options to the students, that want to be included in the creative industry. Through our courses we develop professional 3D artists which earn international certification, with developed portfolio and professional career development....
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44. Norwich University of the Arts
Norwich University of the Arts is a dynamic, modern and creative community providing arts, design, architecture and media education from a unique campus at the heart of the city. Norwich University of the Arts (NUA) has established itself in arts, design and media education for over 170 years. But while our history can be traced back to 1845, our outlook is forward-thinking.From a city centre campus that boasts cutting-edge facilities, to an approach to teaching which saw us awarded Gold under...
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45. CICE, The Professional School in New Technologies
CICE, the only Official Training Center in Spain for more than 20 multinational companies, is already a community of more than 70,000 students coming from more than 30 different countries. The School provides the Official Training and all the homologations of the leading companies thanks to the collaboration of certified teaching professionals recruited from the most prestigious Spanish production companies.Our permanent challenge is and has always been along these 37 years, to train our student...
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46. Voxel School
The Voxel School Professional School of Digital Arts emerges as a transversal model of communication between areas of vital importance for the Digital Economy sector: The video game sector , animation , digital special effects , architectural visualization and design , all of them in its different aspects. The center is managed by professionals from the animation, video game, film, special effects and new technologies industry strongly linked to university management and teaching for more tha...
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47. Academy of Art University
Since 1929, Academy of Art University has helped prepare aspiring artists and designers for professional careers by offering 135+ accredited degree options in more than 40 areas of study. Choose from animation and visual effects, game design and development, illustration, fine art, communications, filmmaking, and more. We are first and foremost a professional school—a purpose-based art and design school where students develop their talents and acquire the specific skills sought by the creative ...
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48. Lightbox Academy
Lightbox Academy is a Digital Arts School located in Madrid that came into being thanks to the most lauded Animation Film Production Company in Spain: Lightbox Animation Studios. The school’s academic offer encompasses the production pipelines in animation, series and videogames.Having started with a foot already in the door allows Lightbox Academy to present a training program adapted to the real workflow in any studio or production company nowadays. The s...
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49. Artline Institute
We help students that dare to dream big to start their career and become an accomplished artist, working at leading companies trough our world-class support program.Our mission is their creative career. That is why we’ve created a world-class support program which helps our students not only to get a degree, and become a sought after digital artist, but to build an exiting creative career.At Institut Artline, we focus on each and every student individually. We help them ...
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50. The Animation Workshop/ VIA University College
The Animation Workshop/VIA University College (TAW) enjoys a strong and wide reputation due to the top educations we provide for the international film industry, yet we are much more than a school. The Animation Workshop is located in Viborg, Denmark. It is a part of VIA University College’s School of Business, Technology and Creative Industries and has expertise in the areas of education, culture, communication, and business development. To this effect, it benefits from a strong international n...
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Talk to an AdvisorHow we calculate global school rankings
Data is based on the quality and performance of student work that is submitted to our judging panel for the Rookie Awards.
The Judging Process
Each entrant is reviewed by members of the official Judging Panel which includes over 150+ highly influential and respected industry veterans. The Judges were asked to score entries based on criteria including — creative skills, technical skills, presentation, variety of skills, complexity, raw talent, and employment potential.
School Calculations
Based on the results of student submissions we received this year we have released the following in-depth breakdowns about the best schools.
Each school is awarded a final score based on the performance of each student representing their academic facility.
When analysing the average scores of each student per school there are three possible data formulas available to use: mean, median and mode.
The Rookies uses median. The median is the middle point of a number set, in which half the numbers are above the median and half are below. A median is intrinsically understandable. It is the middle number when the values are put in order.
- Schools with < 14 student entries are excluded from ranking.
- Incomplete student entries are removed from calculations. No penalties.
- Each student receives a performance score. Max 100 points.
- Median students score calculated per school. Max 100 points.
- Each category finalist receives 2 bonus points toward School Score.
- Each category highly commended receives 4 bonus points toward School Score.
- Each category runner up receives 6 bonus points toward School Score.
- Each category winner receives 10 bonus points toward School Score.
Having the ‘employability of the Artist’ as a judging criteria is key, for in the creative fields you can be free of constraint and let the ideas flow but getting and building a career requires an additional ability to be practical and having ideas that can be executed and maintained.
• Darryn Melrose, former Chief Executive of Media Design School.
Is your school missing from this global ranking?
Over 500 international schools submitted their student work to the Rookie Awards 2022 and were reviewed by industry professionals. To make sure your school is considered for next year's rankings, and to learn more about how to get your school certified, please use the live-chat system located at the bottom-right of this page.