Application: Fine arts

6.4% of students at the Fachhochschule Ottersberg are foreigners coming from some 20 different nations, and the tendency is increasing. We not only welcome, but also promote, this rich interchange with people of other cultures, world views and backgrounds, and are pleased to receive applications from abroad.

To be admitted to the Faculty of Fine Arts, foreign applicants have to meet the following requirements:

1. Higher education entrance qualification to study in Germany (for further information, see below)
2. Artistic aptitude
3. German language proficiency (for further information, see below)

1.) Higher education entrance qualification
If applicants are not German nationals, and their higher education entrance qualification has been obtained in a country other than Germany, we will determine whether such applicants satisfy the necessary Germany requirements. The same applies to Germans who have obtained a higher education entrance qualification abroad.

Higher entrance qualifications obtained in an EU country, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway are generally accepted as equivalent. In other words, applicants with a higher education entrance qualification obtained in any of the above-mentioned countries may enrol in any course which they would be entitled to enrol in, if studying in their home country.

Please enclose the following with your application:
-  Certified copies of your education certificates obtained abroad, such as school-leaving certificates
- and/or degrees or diplomas, and if applicable number of years studied and/or apprenticeships etc.
-  2 passport photos
-  A tabular curriculum vitae;
-  Proof of your proficiency in German (see Point 3)

Applicants from the Peoples Republic of China are requested to submit the certificate issued by the Academic Examinations Authority Beijing (APS).

If you do not have a higher education entrance qualification for Germany (for Chinese applicants: no APS certificate) please await our response to your application.

Two possibilities are open:
a. According to the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act, it is possible to be admitted to a course, provided that an ‘outstanding artistic ability’can be demonstrated. In order to assess this, you are requested to submit a portfolio with approx. 20 pieces of your artistic work. If the portfolio is deemed to satisfy the necessary standard, then the applicant will be invited to take an examination. This - purely artistic – examination lasts one day, and takes place here in Ottersberg three times a year. On successfully passing the examination, applicants are then entitled to study at our Fachhochschule.

Dates for submitting portfolios, and the examinations, correspond to those for the Fine Arts course (see "dates").

b. Applicants also have possibility to take a special examination, and upon passing this are entitled to study at a German higher education institute.
As only some 500 students study at our Fachhochschule, we do not have the appropriate facilities to offer this possibility to applicants.

If you should be interested in taking this examination, please contact the Institut für ausländische Fachhochschulbewerber, c/o Fachhochschule Hannover, Hanomagstr. 8, 30449 Hannover, Tel. 0511/9296-2190,
e-mail: mailto:applicants@fh-hannover.de
home page: http://www.fh-hannover.de/de/ifaf/studienkolleg
For the Federal State of Lower Saxony, the city of Hanover is the closest to Ottersberg. However, if desired, applicants may also decide on another higher education institute of their choice in Germany.
Upon passing this special examination, those interested are welcome to apply again, or submit the required document.

2.) Artistic Aptitude
Successfully passing the admission examination, demonstrates that applicants are in possession of the necessary artistic aptitude. The examination takes place three times every year here in Ottersberg.
Please submit a portfolio with 15 -20 items of your own work, and enclose a letter signed by you confirming that it is your work.
The size of the portfolio or works should not exceed DIN A 0. You are requested to submit the following types of work:

-  Drawings (e.g. nature studies, object drawings)
-  Coloured work
-  If applicable, photographs of clay modelling work.

Information pertaining to dates for submitting portfolios, as well as examinations, is to be found at our home page under "dates".

3.) Proof of proficiency of German
The following is required:

- Proof that DSH-2 (German language proficiency examination for admission to a higher education institute, Level 2) has been passed or
- Proof that the examination “Test of German as a Foreign Language (TestDaF)”, Level 4 has been passed.
If above-required proof of language proficiency cannot be provided, the admission commission will invite the applicant to an interview before making a final decision. In this case, applicants must provide proof that they have either passed TestDaF, Level 3 or DSH-1.
 
For any further questions pertaining to the admission procedure, please contact Ingrid Engelhardt at Tel. 04205-39 49-12, or
e-mail: ingrid.engelhardt[at]fh-ottersberg.de

Answers to general questions regarding studying and staying in Germany, as well as possible means of financing studies, can be found at the home page of the Deutscher Akademischer Auslandsdienst (German academic foreign exchange service) www.daad.org. In addition, this page also provides information regarding residence and work permits.

*) Information about acquiring the required German proficiency, as well as examinations both in Germany and abroad, is provided at: http://www.goethe.de/dll/prf/deindex.htm  and http://www.testdaf.de