Students occupying the administration centre of the Sydney College of the Arts at Rozelle have said they will stay as long as it takes to stop Sydney University from closing down the campus on the former site of the Callan Park Mental Asylum.

About a dozen students have been living in the administration centre since they escorted academics out of the building and heavily barricaded the doors shut two weeks ago.

The action group is hoisting up food through a first-floor window using a rope and bucket.

After the collapse of talks between the University of New South Wales and University of Sydney about merging Sydney's art schools, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney said in July that Sydney University would move the Sydney College of the Arts to its Camperdown/Darlington campus to "avoid the unnecessary costs of remaining at Rozelle."

Longest-running university occupation since the 1970s: students

This weekend, photography student Dylan Griffiths said the occupation is the longest at the University since the 1970s.

He denied that students were breaking the law by trespassing.

"We have not been told to leave. We stormed the office. We politely asked the management to leave and we set up base here," he said.

"Sydney College of the Arts students love their art school and we are willing to defend it and we are going to put pressure on the University not to reduce staff by sixty percent, to maintain their facilities and let the SCA stay."

Occupying student Cecilia Castro shows her current sleeping quarters inside the college. ( ABC News: David Spicer )

Mr Griffiths said he is still attending class during the occupation which he predicted could last for as long as a year if need be.

He rejected the claim from the university that it cost too much to maintain the picturesque Rozelle campus.

"This is an art school not a business school. Artists need space."

The ABC was allowed into the occupation zone where the students appeared to be well organised and prepared for a long stay.

A whiteboard with a rotating roster of students listed to take part on different nights hangs on the wall.

Individual offices are being used as sleeping quarters, while rules including a ban on alcohol are being enforced.

The students also said they are being meticulous about not encroaching on the private property of teachers.

Master of Fine Arts student Cecilia Castro said she is missing her husband and daughter during the occupation but joked that she always wanted to live on the campus.

She said the university was poised to close the disciplines of ceramics, glass and jewellery.

"I believe in my teachers. I believe in art for everyone," she said.

In a statement to the ABC, the university said it supports the rights to peaceful protest.

"It is keeping in touch with the student occupation at the SCA in Rozelle, and has communicated with the students for health and safety reasons," the statement read.

"The University's plans for changes to the SCA will remain unchanged."

It would not comment on costs.

Similar fears across town at National Art School

Funding concerns at the National Art School in Darlinghurst have students concerned for the centre's future. ( ABC News: David Spicer )

Across town at the National Art School at Darlinghurst there is also concern about the future of the campus since the merger talks collapsed.

The school, which has operated out of the historic Darlinghurst Jail for almost a century, had its Open Day on Saturday, following reports in Fairfax media that the historic sandstone property had been transferred into the hands of the NSW Government's property arm, raising the possibility that it could be sold.

The incoming interim director of the school, Michael Lynch, said the NAS, currently funded by the State Government, should be recognised as a national centre of excellence like National Institute of Dramatic Art and funded by the Commonwealth.

"If we don't secure a funding line, then we are under threat," he said.

"My job is to revolve a longer term role that secures the future of the independent institution and the future of the site as a really important part of Sydney's creative life."