Rookies 2022 rankings reveal the world’s best CG schools
Background image: Clément Legouini
International student awards scheme The Rookies has announced the Rookies Global School Rankings for 2022, its latest annual list of the world’s best CG schools, based on 523 institutions from 91 countries.
France’s New3dge was ranked overall Creative & Media Entertainment School of the year, also placing top in the concept art and illustration category.
In other individual categories, Korea’s SF Film School was ranked first for visual effects, the US’s Ringling College of Art and Design for 3D animation, and Canada’s Think Tank Training Centre for game design.
One of the world’s most comprehensive ranking schemes for CG schools
Since its foundation in 2009, The Rookies – formerly known as the CG Student Awards – has grown to become one of the world’s largest and most prestigious awards schemes for young CG artists.
The 2022 awards attracted entries from 4,401 students worldwide, up 7% on last year.
Students’ portfolios were rated by a panel of over 200 judges, mainly VFX, games and concept artists.
Individual entries were scored on a range of creative and technical criteria, with the heaviest weighting assigned to employment potential, and a median score calculated for each school.
Further bonus points were awarded for each of a school’s students reaching the list of finalists for a category: a contribution raised significantly last year.
As with any subjective rankings, individual results are open to debate, and a school’s scores are obviously affected by the extent to which it encourages its students to enter for the awards.
However, the Rookies’ scoring system is transparent and based on a large pool of data, making its rankings the best guide we’re aware of to the quality of schools worldwide.
| Rookies World School Rankings 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | School | Location |
| 2D Animation | School of Visual Arts* | USA |
| 3D Animation | Ringling College of Art and Design* | USA |
| Architectural Visualisation | School-ing* | Spain |
| Concept Art and Illustration | New3dge* | France |
| Game Design and Development | Think Tank Training Centre | Canada |
| Motion Graphics | 3dsense Media School | Singapore |
| Product Design | SCAD* | USA |
| Visual Effects | SF Film School* | Korea |
| Overall (All Creative Media and Entertainment) | New3dge | France |
An asterisk indicates that the school also placed first in 2021.
Individual categories reveal world’s best VFX, animation and game design schools
There was little change in the winners of the individual categories, with six of the eight schools retaining their top spots from the 2021 rankings, including Korea’s SF Film School for visual effects.
In fact, two schools retained their places for the third year running: New York City’s School of Visual Arts for 2D animation, and Florida’s Ringling College of Art and Design for 3D animation.
Of the newcomers, Canada’s Think Tank Training Centre is actually regaining its first place for game design and development, with only Singapore’s 3dsense Media School entirely new to the list, for motion graphics.
In the list of the world’s overall best CG schools, France’s New3dge rises to the top spot, pushing last year’s leading school, the US’s SCAD, down into second place.
Further categories for team projects
In addition, the categories for ‘production excellence’ introduced in 2019, and based on the performance of the group projects created at a school rather than its individual students, have been repeated.
Fewer schools are listed than in the corresponding invidual categories, but you can see the results in the VFX and animation categories, and for game design on the Rookies website.
Read full listings of the world’s best CG schools in 2022 on The Rookies website