Parsons Paris currently offers bachelor's and master's degree programs, as well as study-abroad and summer programs that reflect several core areas of study at Parsons School of Design in New York. These programs include:
Students make full use of the setting in Paris and Europe by connecting with local creative practitioners, cultural and civic organizations and events such as Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Maison et Objet design trade show, and Paris Fashion Week. The school features a teaching faculty of French and European design educators as well as visiting professors from around the world. Classes are held at 45 Rue de Saint-Roch as well as other sites in Paris. Students are able to supplement their studies through online classes or by spending up to two years at the main Parsons campus in New York City. All courses are taught in English.
History
Background
The New York Times has described the new Paris campus as "both the oldest and newest overseas branch of an American university". The presence of Parsons in Paris dates back to 1921, when Frank Alvah Parsons opened the Paris Ateliers of the then New York School of Fine and Applied Art. The following year, the school made its home on the oldest planned square in Paris, the Place des Vosges. The school offered courses in architecture, interior decoration, stage design, and costume design, adding poster and graphic design a year later. After closing before the onset of World War II in 1939, Parsons restarted its activities in Paris in 1948 offering a summer course combining travel and study. It reopened the School, which became known as Parsons Paris. In 1980, Parsons expanded its Paris program, entering into an educational partnership with the American College in Paris, to offer Bachelor of Fine Arts and study-abroad options. Beginning in 1986, students matriculating in the Parsons Paris program were eligible to receive a degree from Parsons School of Design. In 2008, the contract between Parsons School of Design and Parsons Paris expired, and following a ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce in favour of Parsons, the Parsons name was dropped in 2010. That institution, now called the Paris College of Art, is no longer affiliated with The New School.
The new campus
President of The New School David E. Van Zandt announced that Parsons School of Design was opening a new academic center in Paris Fall 2013. Its primary academic building is on Rue Saint-Roch in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. In 2019, Parsons Paris announced plans for opening a site at the Komunuma visual arts complex in Romainville in 2020, adding to its main venue in central Paris. Students will divide their time between the two locations.
