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.

If you have obtained your higher education entrance qualification (Abitur) abroad, you can gain admission to a degree course at Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences through state recognition of your foreign school-leaving certificate. Translations of the foreign certificate into German are not recognized.

General information on the recognition of foreign educational qualifications in Germany can be found here.
 

Persons with German citizenship and a foreign HZB

If you are a German citizen and have obtained your higher education entrance qualification (Abitur) abroad, you must have your foreign school leaving certificate recognized by the following office:

Stuttgart Regional Council
Dept. 7 School and Education
Recognition office
P.O. Box 10 36 42
70031 Stuttgart

The recognition of your certificate (with an average grade for the allocation of study places in German) must be submitted before applying to the Hs Pforzheim.
 

Persons without German citizenship and with a foreign higher education entrance qualification

If you have obtained your higher education entrance qualification (Abitur) abroad (also applies to EU citizens), you must apply for the examination and recognition of your foreign school leaving certificate at the following office:

Studienkolleg Konstanz
HTWG Konstanz
Brauneggerstr. 55
78462 Konstanz
Germany

You send your university entrance qualification (school leaving certificate) to the Studienkolleg. They will confirm that the certificate corresponds to the German university entrance standard (Abitur / Fachhochschulreife / Fachgebundene Hochschulreife). Once you have received this confirmation, you can attach it to your application. Please make sure that this confirmation states: Authorization for "artistic subjects" or "design" or "all subjects".
If your degree is not sufficient for studying in Baden-Württemberg, the Studienkolleg Konstanz offers a 2-semester preparatory program. Please note that we can only accept applicants who have completed the G or T course.
Please bear in mind that it may take a few weeks before you receive recognition.

The recognition of your certificate (with an average grade for the allocation of study places in German) must be available before applying to HS Pforzheim. We expressly point out that we cannot consider applications without this recognition.

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.