Admission requirements
- schoolleaving qualification entitling them to study at a university
- or relevant subjectlinked university entrance qualification
- or general subject-linked higher education entrance qualification for vocationally qualified persons
Application
Application for a place at the academy comprises several components, whereby the applicant's portfolio of works constitutes the basis for pre-selection by the admissions committee. The portfolio should reflect the applicant's interests and an intensive study of content and subjects of the applicant’s choice. Note: The digital application should be a digitized portfolio, with a physical form as a starting point.
The application will be made via the online application portal.
Applications are made exclusively in digital form. The digitized works can be submitted from March 15 to April 15, 12:00 noon.
Please note the information on the application portal.
For orientation please note the Information for the Information for student applicants Diploma Visual Arts and Art Education and the Information for the digital application 2023/2024
You can upload your documents to the application portal until 12 noon on 15 April 2025.
1 | Short letter of application specifying desired area of study.
2 | Curriculum vitae [with full details of school education and vocational pretraining].
3 | Passport photo
4 | Certificates and pretraining references [cf. Admission Requirements]. Foreign academic certificates must be evaluated separately and should be submitted along with the „Antrag auf Bewertung von Bildungsnachweisen“ (=application for evaluating foreign academic certificates) to the Academy as soon as possible.
5 | Digitised portfolio with at least 20 artistic works. Time-based digital works can be uploaded via an upload function in the upload portal, the link to be entered in the application portal.
6 | Personally signed declaration that the applicant completed the submitted works unaided. ( A declaration form is available here .)
7 | Proof of any internships (if already completed)
8 | For foreign applicants, any proofs of language proficiency - B2 level (if already acquired).
You can upload your documents to the application portal until 12 noon on 15 April 2025.
If the end of the application period (14 April) falls on a weekend, the application documents must be uploaded on the preceding Friday. Applicants may only apply for one area of study.
Applicants from non german speaking countries must provide proof of sufficient German language skills. The minimum requirement is Level B2 according to CEFR. Applicants who have obtained the general or subjectrelated university entrance qualification outside the scope of the German Basic Law (Constitution) i.e. abroad, must before applying, have submitted all of their certificates (which have to be recognized) along with the „Antrag auf Bewertung von Bildungsnachweisen“ (=application for evaluating foreign academic certificates) to the Academy as soon as possible so that the recognition can be granted before 15th of May. Applicants from China, Vietnam and Mongolia should always submit the APS Certificate. Further details are available from the Secretary’s Office.
Incomplete applications are not eligible for consideration. The academy is excluded from liability for loss or damage of submitted application documents.
Aptitude test
Applicants who meet the admission requirements are admitted to the aptitude test. Applicants must prove in an aptitude test that they have a distinct artistic-creative talent and aptitude for their chosen subject area.
The aptitude test is divided into
- pre-selection
- oral examination
For the pre-selection, in which admission to the oral examination is decided, applicants must submit their own work (portfolio), which enables the assessment of artistic talent and aptitude.
The oral examination is conducted as an individual examination and consists of an interview on artistic and technical questions lasting approximately ten minutes. The original artistic portfolio uploaded digitally in the application portal must be brought along to this appointment.
Larger originals and interactive works can be presented on your own hardware. The date for the oral examination will be communicated to the admitted applicants by email. The decision on the examination result is made by a committee.
The aptitude test can only be repeated once for the same subject area.
Pre-study practical
The pre-study practical is a period of practical work lasting at least eight weeks or an apprenticeship certification exam in a relevant line of occupation which must be completed before commencement of study.
International applicants
Applicants from countries in which German is not spoken must submit proof of sufficient fluency in German. The minimum requirement is level B2 according to CEFR. Applicants whose school-leaving qualification entitling them to study at a university was issued outside the territory covered by the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, i.e. in a different country, should submit the required credential and certificates to the academy at the earliest opportunity to permit recognition before 15 May (application date). The previous school education abroad must be presented in detail in the curriculum vitae. Applicants from China and Vietnam should always upload the APS certificate. The secretariat can provide further information.
