Teaching of modern plastic art in Sudan was associated by the educational system established by the British colonialism in the early 1930s of the past century. The subject of fine art was introduced through the primary and intermediate stages of education at Bakh al-Rida Teacher Training Institute. In the same direction, the British administration established a department for the study of fine art at Gordon Memorial College, currently the University of Khartoum. This department was later on developed to become the School of Design in 1946. Many memorable graduates graduated from this School, including the artists Al-Salahi, Shibrain, Rabah, Ahmed Abdul al-A'l and others.

Meanwhile, the expertise of the bulk of plastic artists currently active in the field of Sudanese plastic art has evolved and their numbers are greater as compared to the previous generations due to the expansion of the basins of academic education and qualification during the 1980s and 1990s eras and the beginning of the second millennium due to the fact that a considerable number of art education and fine art departments has been set up in Sudanese universities (in addition to the College of Plastic and Applied Art at Sudan University where the affiliates of this University witnessed tenfold increase during these years as compared to the 1950s and 1960s period.)

There is no disagreement over the fact that the bulk of the local and regional plastic art production nowadays is made by graduates of the plastic art institutes and colleges, though we should not belittle the production of talented artists at the plastic art associations and societies who have not received academic training in plastic art specializations.  Therefore the production of graduates in Arab and international art institutes and colleges represents the largest and most influential source on the plastic art movement in terms of both cultural content and purport. We consequently envision a huge wave of methodical shift that is expected to be spearheaded by the College of Plastic Art and Design at Al-Neelain University at the academic, moral and aesthetic levels by developing and training capacities and upgrading skills in order to achieve the ultimate goal of teaching plastic art disciplines that disseminate inventive values that achieve the aesthetic and functional goals on the basis of intellectual values so as to uplift the college to the level of international standards and actualize the goals and professionalism related to teaching the disciplines of fine art and refining these by experience and contracts with contacts worldwide. This will have a more authentic and deeper impact on the movement of teaching fine arts, design, culture and Sudanese heritage in general as well bringing about a creative upswing in the performance of fine art, design and artistic formation, considering that these are closely associated with moral, visual and material advancement in the life of the Sudanese society.

From these general visions and perceptions, the College of Plastic Art and Design seeks to achieve a number of the following goals:

● Development of academic and educational concepts and training by providing students with the latest methods and methods of producing art in its various beautiful and design specializations by evaluating them through the basic roots of building capabilities to keep pace with global taste and labor markets to create a new boom in institutions that accommodate graduates of fine art and design in Sudan and open a vivid space for society To be present and a strong connoisseur of his different and varied production.

● Expanding the horizons and capabilities of students in this college through a new vision to capture the ideas and contents of human comprehensiveness that are compatible with their cultural background and the overall current issues of their society and their nation.

● Contributing consciously in the fields of artistic expression by making use of educational experiences, techniques and various means so that are disciplines may jointly preset what we call "the culture of the beautiful", along with advancement of students' stockpile of knowledge and practical expertise in order to capitalize on this the current media influx that is based on "the image" in the world of today where the culture of the beautiful that is proposed by the original artwork has increasing force of conviction at exhibition halls, TV screens, publications, public streets and private homes. It is therefore a culture that is destined to receive response in the Sudanese consciousness as well as response by society in its different educated and uneducated sectors. It is well known that appreciation of the aesthetic requires both training and receptiveness…..just like reading and writing.

● Creating a personality that possesses all the intellectual, expressive, and critical abilities and aesthetic taste of artworks and their various issues through contact with the experiences of others, thinking about theoretical studies and presenting ideas and solutions for the promotion of human values ​​and goals, and - as Professor / Ahmed Abdel Aal, the former Dean of the College of Arts, has underpinned this point by stating that: "If I, or others, produce a painting, that would be desirable, but locating a sublime intellectual, social and philosophical topic for art would be more beneficial for society and the art movement itself."

●  Development of students' abilities to build an objective or imaginative perception through fine art productions by developing them to advanced levels, which in practice calls for sorting, selection and preservation of what is necessary in the components of creative work.

● Achieving a breakthrough in the field of design arts by training and attracting visiting professors to inoculate our students with new ideas for design projects and to keep up with global models by visiting external colleges and design studios in advanced colleges by creating smart partnerships.

● Students gain more experiences in  cultural, cognitive and aesthetic doses, added to the need for them to fuse with society and visit the rich parts of Sudan through field visits by viewing Sudan as a large cultural repository with diverse natural and residential environments where students in their different specializations get acquainted with social and cultural milieus of there regions, in addition to practicing academic work and training pertaining to drawing, painting, design, photography…..etc. .

● Opening the postgraduate portal for qualification at the Master PhD levels through research and programs in the different disciplines of art that make the college a target for students in view of its scientific institutional role and its contribution to the promotion of financial resources of the college and the university.

The circle of knowledge of the artist and the graduate of this college is not complete without a measure of the artist's vivid fusion with the lives of citizens in terms of abode, attire, agricultural tools and means of livelihood. The location of the artist and the graduate is renewed regarding all this not only in his capacity as a professional but also as a new social leadership that contributes to bolstering and renovation of the fabric of life through the port of upgrading public taste as well as the port of dedicating his specialization to the service of the society development movement.

Dr. Khalid Mohammed Ali

Dean/ College of Plastic Art and Design