Thanks to the prestigious partnerships established by NABA's Media Design and New Technologies Area, confirming the excellence of its teaching methodology and the constant updating of its Faculty, the Academy is a Toon Boom Centre of Excellence, an Unreal Academic Partner, and certified as a GitHub Campus. NABA is also the first Academy of Fine Arts accredited as a Rookies Certified School and the only Italian Academy to be recognised as a Houdini Certified School.
Certifications and partnerships of NABA's Media Design and New Technologies Area: Toon Boom Centre of Excellence
The Toon Boom Centre of Excellence (COE) program is designed to encourage post-secondary institutions to provide a superior learning environment for students aspiring to a career in animation or storyboarding through comprehensive exposure to Toon Boom software. The COE certification attests that the BA in Film and Animation offered by NABA meets a high standard of depth, breadth, and quality in its curriculum. This qualification benefits graduates by ensuring they acquire skills highly sought after by renowned animation studios worldwide, which require an in-depth knowledge of the Toon Boom 2D animation software.
Each year, Toon Boom compiles clips of personal and academic projects from students and educators into a showreel that celebrates technical competence and creativity. Each selected clip, created using Toon Boom Harmony and Storyboard Pro software, must feature high-level animation, with fluid movements, dynamic effects, and expressive characters. The 2024 Toon Boom Educational Showreel includes the thesis short film "Seraph" by Andrea Rebecca Marchini, an Alumna of the BA in Film and Animation. Her project has already been awarded best animated short at the 2023 NABA Cinema Awards.
Certifications and partnerships of NABA's Media Design and New Technologies Area: GitHub Campus
NABA's Media Design and New Technologies Area is also a GitHub Campus. GitHub is a cloud-based platform that enables the storage, sharing, and collaboration of code writing. Within this platform, the GitHub Education project brings technological and open-source collaboration to students and educators worldwide, bridging the gap between programming education and a tech career. This project is accessible globally through GitHub Global Campus, of which the NABA Area is a part as a GitHub Campus. This portal gathers educational programs for current and future students, allowing them to connect with peers, access industry tools, learn about new events, and participate in assigned courses.
Certifications and partnerships of NABA's Media Design and New Technologies Area: Unreal Academic Partner
The BA in Creative Technologies is an Unreal Academic Partner. This programme , promoted by Epic Games, is designed to offer exclusive benefits to higher education institutions that prepare the next generation of creators/developers for roles in interactive 3D and wish to accelerate their courses based on Unreal Engine, Twinmotion, and Reality Capture software, which are used for creating interactive and immersive digital content. The offered benefits include enterprise software licenses, subscriptions to premium services (such as ArtStation and Sketchfab), co-marketing opportunities, and Marketplace credits for class and research projects.
Certifications and partnerships of NABA's Media Design and New Technologies Area: Rookies Certified School
The Rookies is a cutting-edge platform that acts as a catalyst for exploring digital arts, developing essential skills, and building a career in the sector. Founded in Australia in 2009, it is widely recognised globally as the premier community for digital art, connecting users with the best higher education institutions, industry partners, and leading brands worldwide. The Rookies Certified School certification obtained by NABA represents a significant recognition of excellence, placing the Academy among the top institutions suited to prepare artists for a career in the Creative Industries. It enhances NABA's reputation and credibility, facilitating student recruitment by major industry players.
Certifications and partnerships of the NABA’s Media Design and New Technologies Area: Houdini Certified School
The BA in Creative Technologies is recognised as a Houdini Certified School for the Academic Year 2024/25, following an evaluation process focused on the technical proficiency demonstrated by students in the previous year in using SideFX Houdini, the world-leading software for creating procedural systems for games, cinema, and VFX. This certification provides significant advantages for education, such as personal licenses for home study, free commercial licenses for graduates, and close collaboration between the institution and the software developers. NABA is the only Italian academy recognised by SideFX as a centre of excellence in Houdini training.
