About RISD

students walking on the sidewalk in front of the red brick Waterman Building on RISD’s campus

RISD is a nonprofit college and museum founded in 1877 in the city of Providence, RI. Today 2,606 students from 60 countries engage in more than 40 full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, supported by a committed faculty and worldwide network of more than 33,000 alumni.

By cultivating expansive and elastic thinking, RISD equips artists, designers and scholars to generate and challenge the ideas that shape our world.

Student-to-faculty ratio (all students, Fall 2025)

8:1

Average class size (undergraduate classes, Fall 2025)

15

Undergraduate students (degree-seeking, Fall 2025)

2,163

Graduate students (Fall 2025)

443

Domestic students of color (undergraduate, Fall 2025)

43%

International students (undergraduate, Fall 2025)

33%

First-Year-to-Sophomore Retention Rate (undergraduate, Fall 2025)

93%

Six-Year Graduation Rate (undergraduate, Fall 2025)

92%

Want more information? Explore our fact book.

For detailed data regarding admissions, enrollment, diversity, finances and more, you can search the online RISD fact book, which is updated regularly by our Institutional Effectiveness office.

Access our interactive fact book

Our history

Started by a group of women well before any woman had the right to vote in the US, RISD has always embraced art and design’s capacity to stoke curiosity and spur progress.