The National Association of Schools of Art and Design is composed of schools and individuals representing the highest traditions and aims in the education of the artist and designer. These members have proven, by the fact of their membership and activity in the organization, their deep interest in fostering high standards for art and design education. Through its annual meetings, NASAD provides a national forum for discussion of the broadest considerations involving the education of the artist and designer. NASAD is the only accrediting agency covering the whole field of art and design recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

In 1944, representatives of art schools met in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by invitation of Mr. Richard F. Bach, then the museum's Dean of Education.Mr. Bach's intention was to focus attention primarily upon the new field of industrial design through the schools that had or could develop design education programs. In his first letter to the schools, he referred to the occasion as a "conference of schools of design." Because of the enthusiastic response of the schools, the meetings were continued on a conference basis until 1948. In that year, it was decided to establish a firm organizational structure and to use the meetings as opportunities to visit schools as well as to exchange ideas and consider the broad problems of art and design education.

The organization thus formed was called the National Association of Schools of Design with the following 22 schools as charter members: Auburn University, University of Alabama, Akron Art Institute, School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute of Technology, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Cincinnati Art Academy, University of Cincinnati, Cleveland School of Art, Cooper Union, University of Illinois (Urbana), Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design, Maryland Institute, Massachusetts School of Art, Minneapolis School of Art, Moore Institute of Art, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, School of Industrial Art, Syracuse University, Washington University, and School of the Worcester Art Museum.

The name of the Association was changed in 1966 to the National Association of Schools of Art, and in 1981, to the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, to reflect more accurately the broad interests of the growing organization. The membership now consists of leading art and design schools, college and university art/design departments, and artists and designers from all regions of the United States. This group has assumed increasing responsibility for the development of educational standards in art and design, and has contributed greatly to the feeling of mutual understanding and respect which now exists among schools and departments of art and design throughout the country.

1. To establish a national forum to stimulate the understanding and acceptance of the educational disciplines inherent in the creative arts in higher education in the United States.

2. To establish reasonable standards where quantitative measurements have validity, as in matters of budget, faculty qualifications, faculty-student ratios, class time requirements, library and physical facilities.

3. To foster the development of instruction of the highest quality while simultaneously encouraging varied and experimental approaches to the teaching of art and design.

4. To evaluate, through the process of accreditation, schools of art and design and programs of studio instruction in terms of their quality and the results they achieve, as judged by experienced examiners.

5. To assure students and parents that accredited art and design programs provide competent teachers, adequate plant and equipment, and sound curricula, and are capable of attaining their stated objectives.

6. To counsel and assist schools in developing their programs and to encourage self-evaluation and continuing studies toward improvement.

7. To invite and encourage the cooperation of professional art and design groups and individuals of reputation in the field of art and design in the formation of appropriate curricula and standards.

8. To establish a national voice to be heard in matters pertaining to the visual arts, particularly as they would affect member schools and their stated objectives.

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NASAD recognizes the need to find ways of clarifying and maintaining standards in art and design through the responsible education of artists and designers. By means of accreditation, it can encourage those institutions which consistently give students a sound basis for significant future accomplishments in art and design. Accreditation also imposes on those institutions the responsibility for continual effort to strengthen art and design education in general-in both accredited and not-yet-accredited schools. In addition, it provides a basis for public recognition of an institution's quality.

The acceptance of NASAD as the only recognized accrediting agency covering the whole field of art and design has placed upon the Association the following responsibilities: maintenance of high educational standards; safeguarding the profession against inadequately prepared educators and practitioners; dissemination of information on accreditation to institutions, counselors, teachers, parents and students; guarding against improper noneducational pressures of individuals and institutions; and consideration of other important educational problems and issues. The Association recognizes and accepts these responsibilities.