RISD has entered the 21st century guided by three basic tenets. As strong advocates for the arts, RISD administrators, faculty, alumni and visiting speakers constantly reinforce the need for public support of the arts and provide a context within which the arts may be understood and appreciated by the larger public.

RISD's curriculum recognizes the need for ecological sensitivity and encourages student artists and designers to consider environmental issues in creating works of cultural aesthetic benefit. And finally, RISD understands the need to think globally, to teach its students about the many cultures and ways of thinking that will give them the necessary perspective to help shape the world in which we live.

Driven by the vision of the administration and guided by a faculty of outstanding artists, designers, architects and scholars, students are educated on the premise that to design is an art and to make art requires design. The notion of design at RISD is predicated on the fine arts, with a consensus among faculty that the curriculum for graphic design, industrial design, the architectures, furniture design, apparel design and textile design should rest on a solid foundation in the fine arts.

Philosophically, the College believes in the value of a holistic education, one that balances the emphasis on the professional major with an equally important expectation that a student be versed in the humanities, literature and the social sciences. RISD recognizes that not all students will ultimately be practicing in their professions: they may in fact choose other professional endeavors.

Students receive an educational experience underscored by rigorous requirements and reviews, complemented by fully one-third of their program concentrated in the Liberal Arts. This combination ensures that focused study is supplemented by a broad understanding of the context in which artists, designers and art educators pursue their chosen fields of work.