Marist Globally Ranked in Top 50 Fashion Schools
By Makena Gera
Marist has been ranked number 11 in the United States and number 38 globally for their fashion design program in major fashion publication, Business of Fashion, annual listing.
Every year, Business of Fashion, world-renowned fashion publication and a daily news resource for members of the industry, release what they consider to be the top 50 schools for fashion design. This global ranking is an “objective assessment of fashion schools around the world,” according to their website, and it is considered a go-to resource for the entire fashion industry.
This ranking of global fashion schools is based off of three main criteria; global influence, learning experience, and long-term value, such as career readiness and alumni employment satisfaction. In each category, Marist scored high enough to be ranked in the global top 50.
SOURCE: Marist Department of Media Relations Flickr Album
According to a press release from Marist’s department of Media Relations on Nov. 8, the fashion program’s impressive statistics throughout the past decade are what has set it up to achieve such high recognition. Growing from 200 to over 500 students, the program has increased exponentially.
Since 90 percent of fashion majors at Marist study abroad, there is increasing emphasis from the fashion department for students to do so in places such as Florence, London, Paris and Hong Kong—Business of Fashion has recognized Marist’s global influence in this aspect. They continue acknowledging its long-term value, as over 88 percent of fashion majors being employed in the industry within six months of graduation, according to the press release.
“It’s an honor to be named one of the top fashion colleges in the world,” said Radley Cramer, director of the Fashion Program. “This recognition acknowledges how far our program has come.”
Countless opportunities to get involved in the industry, whether it’s an internship through Marist in Manhattan or studying abroad, help students gain a “global perspective on design, merchandising, and the supply chain,” as Cramer stated.
The various other schools that Marist is ranked with are extremely large, international institutions that have the opportunity to attend countless international design competitions and gain recognition.
SOURCE: Marist Department of Media Relations Flickr Album
For Marist, a significantly smaller school in comparison, it’s wonderful just to be “on the radar” said Cramer. “These other institutions have many multiples of the number of the number of students that we have, so for us to get in there is a really great honor.”
It is the second year in a row that Marist’s fashion department has been ranked with the best fashion schools in the world. According to Business of Fashion’s report, Marist students who were surveyed “rated their work placements above average compared to other schools ” and identified the school’s strengths in resources, teaching, and career preparedness. Marist has been growing the department tremendously over the past decade, and “as they’ve been seeing the results [internally] for a while, it’s great to get some external validation” said Cramer.
The Marist fashion program will continue growing and improve in the coming years, specifically with the addition of a new 50,000 square foot facility dedicated to art and fashion set to open in 2018. According to the press release, it will house “a high-tech makerspace, digital, textile, and product development labs, gallery spaces...and a fashion archive facility.” Additionally, with the expansion of the fashion design program and the ability for students to complete it in it’s entirely at the Florence campus, Marist is on track for increased international recognition.