The New School

The New School, private coeducational institution of higher learning in New York, New York, U.S. The New School for Social Research was established in 1919 as an informal centre for adult education by a group of independent-minded scholars that included economist Thorstein Veblen, historian Charles A. Beard, and philosopher John Dewey. It soon became the first American university to specialize in the continuing higher education of adults. Among the early lecturers were John Maynard Keynes, Bertrand Russell, and W.E.B. Du Bois. The school received its charter in 1934. That same year it established a graduate faculty in political and social science that was staffed mainly by refugee academics from Nazi Germany, who gave the school a Continental focus with a heavy emphasis on European philosophy and social thought.

The university consists of The New School for Social Research, which grants advanced degrees in the social sciences; The New School for Public Engagement, including adult education, management, and urban studies; Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts; Parsons The New School for Design, an art and design college that had a Paris branch; Mannes College The New School for Music, which became an academic division in 1989; a later addition, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, which emphasized experience and mentorship; and The New School for Drama, which since 1994 has collaborated with members of the noted Actors Studio. Total full-time enrollment at The New School is approximately 10,000.