The Art College of Northwest University was founded in 1985, which was strongly supported by Professor Zhang Qizhi, then president and famous scholar. It is one of the earliest art education institutions in comprehensive universities in northwest China.

There are five undergraduate majors in design (including public art, environmental design and visual communication design), animation and fine arts, and six professional directions in art appreciation and restoration, decorative art design, visual communication, environmental art design, animation and digital media art. Only Shandong Province organizes the unified examination of fine arts, and other provinces recognize the results of the unified examination. It has two first-class master's degree authorization points in art theory and fine arts, and one master of arts (MFA) professional degree authorization point.