The Best Maker School List 2021

The Best Maker Schools 2021

The maker movement and its do-it-yourself ethic has come to higher education. For years now, empowered by the internet, inventors, artisans, tinkerers and hackers of all descriptions have been coming together to share ideas and techniques and show off their creations. The culture that has grown up around those gatherings, be they online or at the 200 Maker Faires held annually before the pandemic or in the more than 2000 communal makerspaces around the world, is one of learning by doing, complex problem solving, collaboration and entrepreneurialism. Increasingly, those ideas have been picked up by traditional academic institutions.

This year for the first time Newsweek has teamed up with Make:, publisher of Make: magazine and books, to find The Best Maker Schools in Higher Education. These are universities, community and junior colleges, vocational and trade schools with curricula that encourage learning by doing; are supported by educators committed to collaborative problem-solving; have well-developed makerspaces, labs, and studios; and which support diverse, interactive communities that engage in knowledge and skill sharing. Our goal was to highlight institutions with innovative programs that demonstrate the ingenuity and community engagement that are hallmarks of the maker movement.

This non-ranked list was generated by recommendation through a survey tool in collaboration with an international community of educators, administrators, students and maker leaders. To be considered for the list, recommended schools had to demonstrate excellence or competency in the following areas:

• Integrated learning-through-doing orientation
• Mentoring / guidance / coaching for making
• Physical makerspaces / fablabs / workshops / studios
• Accessible spaces and tools that support independent, collaborative projects
• A diverse, active community of makers

We hope potential students – as well employers looking for candidates with 21st Century skills – will find this list useful.