We can accept school-leaving certificates (Abitur / advanced technical college certificate / subject-related entrance qualification ) with the following phrase from candidates for admission: “this certificate grants … the right to apply to study at colleges and universities in all federal states of the Republic of Germany (alternatively: in Baden-Württemberg).”

If you haven’t yet graduated from secondary school, please ask the officials in your school if the aforementioned phrase will be included on your school-leaving certificate.

Sufficiently far in advance of submitting their applications foreign applicants must arrange to have their school-leaving certificates checked and recognized by the appropriate authority. The certificate and its recognition must both be submitted when applying to the School of Design.

EU-Citizens should have their school-leaving certificates reviewed and recognized by the International Office of Pforzheim University.

Non-EU-Citizens can have their certificates reviewed by the the Center for International Students of the Universities of Applied Sciences in Baden-Württemberg, from which they can receive written recognition of their certificate’s validity. Please be sure that the following phrase is included in the recognition: authorization for “artistic disciplines” or “design” or “all faculties.”
After the validity is confirmed, you can add it to your application online. 
If your previous diplomas or certificates do not entitle you to study at an institude of higher education, you have the option of gaining these prerequisites by attending the Studienkolleg's two-semester prepratory programs. Please note, that we can only accept appplicants who completed the G- or T-course.
The confirmation process of your validity often takes a few weeks, please count that in. 
Please bear in mind that we can not consider non-validated applicants. 

The submission of a hardship application is only possible for admission-restricted courses of study. In the Faculty of Design, therefore, the possibility of being considered in the course of the special quotas, which are regulated in the HZVO, does not apply. More information can be found here.