The “Art Academic Branch” is one of the six academic branches in Iran’s higher education system. This group encompassing subgroups such as architecture, urban planning, applied arts, visual arts, performing arts, and music. According to statistics, students in the art education group constitute seven percent of the total student population in Iran. National policy documents consistently emphasize the need for transformation and modernization of the education system; therefore, monitoring and evaluating the education system in the comprehensive scientific plan is of great importance. The aim of this research is to assess the status and identify the challenges of the higher art education system in Iran. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and the statistics presented are derived from data provided by the Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education. In terms of the time frame, this research examines the period from 2011 to 2020, which is a ten-year span following the approval of the comprehensive scientific Plan. In the first section of the present research, the status of the components of higher art education, which include "human resources" (students, faculty), "academic disciplines and educational resources," and "space and facilities," is addressed. In the second section, the existing challenges in this field are examined based on the principles of the comprehensive scientific plan. The findings of the research indicate that the lack of a strategic document for the higher art education, insufficient attention to the mission-oriented approach of art universities, neglect of localizing art education models in Iran, the inconsistency of statistical data from the higher art education system with the indicators of the sixth five-year development plan, the uneven distribution of art disciplines and higher education institutions based on the principle of educational justice, the absence of admission criteria for art students aligned with the job market, skill enhancement, and entrepreneurship, the ineffectiveness of the assessment and admission system for art students, the mismatch of the promotion guidelines for faculty members with the nature of art disciplines and the skills of art faculty members, the lack of a quality assurance system in art universities, and the disregard for the expansion of art disciplines considering territorial planning are among the challenges facing the higher art education system in Iran.