The academy of Art and Design at Lanzhou Jiaotong University was established in June 2003. Adhering to the educational spirit of "erudition, diligence, perseverance, and ingenuity," the academy takes "rooted in the integration of science and art, committed to beautifying life" as its educational mission and aims to cultivate "morally and artistically accomplished, versatile and specialized" new-type technical talents required by social development. It has formed an educational structure primarily focused on undergraduate and postgraduate training, supplemented by international cooperative education programs, and has refined two distinctive educational features: "the inheritance and innovation of Dunhuang art" and "the cross-integration of art disciplines with rail transit."

The academy currently offers five undergraduate majors: Visual Communication Design, Product Design, Environmental Design, Animation, and Painting, all of which admit students under the art category. It also has a master's degree program in design and has developed distinct characteristics and strengths in fields such as urban and rural transportation environmental design, metaverse digital media art, visual communication design, transportation product design, contemporary illustration art, and the inheritance and innovation of Dunhuang art. The academy boasts research institutions including the Ministry of Education's Inheritance Base for Dunhuang Clay Sculpture Craftsmanship, the Gansu Animation Base, the Virtual Interaction Research Institute, the Modern Advertising Strategy Research Institute, the Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence Research Center, the Urban and Rural Transportation Environment Research Institute, and the Transportation Vehicle Research Institute.

In terms of faculty, the academy has 66 staff members, including 31 with senior professional titles and 15 with doctoral degrees.

The academy adheres to a teaching-centered approach with research and creative work as its forerunners, promoting a synergistic relationship among teaching, research, and creative endeavors, and has achieved outstanding results. From 2003 to 2024, the academy has published 108 monographs and textbooks, 1,055 research papers, and applied for 411 patents. It has received one first prize for Gansu Provincial Teaching Achievement Award, three awards at the provincial education department level, three Gansu Dunhuang Literature and Art Awards, three first prizes and three second prizes for the Gansu Fine Arts Jin Tuo Jiang Award, one Higher Education Scientific and Technological Progress Award, one Gansu Provincial Technical Expert Award, one selection in the 14th National Fine Arts Exhibition, four selections in the Gansu Provincial Chinese Painting and Oil Painting Selection Exhibition for the 14th National Fine Arts Exhibition, and one registration of scientific and technological achievements by the Gansu Provincial Science and Technology Department in 2024. Teachers and students have achieved remarkable results in various exhibitions and competitions, with two selections in international fine arts exhibitions, 11 in national fine arts exhibitions, and 216 in provincial and ministerial-level exhibitions and competitions; they have won 28 national first prizes, 79 second prizes, 175 third prizes, 4 bronze prizes, and 154 excellence awards; at the provincial and ministerial level, they have garnered 14 gold medals, 16 silver medals, 4 bronze medals, 18 special prizes, 452 first prizes, 520 second prizes, 682 third prizes, and 324 excellence awards. Additionally, they have secured one project under the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles' 2023 Youth Literature and Art Creation Support Program.

In recent years, the academy has witnessed a steady increase in vertically funded projects, undertaking six National Social Science Fund Art Projects, one National Natural Science Fund Project, one National Cultural Innovation Project, four Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Projects, one Ministry of Education Project for the Inheritance Base of Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture, one Cultural Department National Cultural Innovation Project, one Cultural Department Science and Technology Innovation Project, 11 Gansu Provincial Social Science Planning Projects, three Gansu Provincial Natural Science Fund Projects, three Lanzhou Municipal Social Science Planning Projects, and 11 Gansu Provincial Science and Technology Department Soft Science Special Projects, with a total project funding exceeding 5.63 million yuan.

The academy will persist in the close integration of science, art, and technology, adhering to a people-oriented and rigorous academic approach. Under the national strategy of promoting cultural development and prosperity, it will grasp the pulse of the times represented by the "Belt and Road" Initiative, the construction of Gansu as a cultural province, and the innovation zone for Chinese civilization, keeping pace with the times. It will delve deeply into, protect, and inherit local traditional cultural arts and intangible cultural heritage, actively incorporate new media technologies, and strive to establish itself as a distinctive art and design academy with leading educational and disciplinary standards among western universities.