Fachbereich Design / Designwissenschaften

Fachbereich Kunst / Kunstwissenschaften

Master’s courses

The master’s courses at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design are directed at graduates of bachelor’s or ‘Diplom’ courses with an artistic/design emphasis. All applicants have to take a course-specific entrance test; interested graduates of other disciplines who have relevant qualifications may also be admitted to a master’s course after taking this test. Most courses also require proof of relevant practical placements or comparable practical experience along with this test.

The objective of every master’s course is the preparation of an individual master’s thesis. Upon successful completion of this thesis, students receive the title of Master of Art. The duration of the course is flexible and depends on the number of semesters of the degree previously completed: the duration can range from a two-semester course (if applicants have a four-year bachelor’s degree in the same subject with 240 ECTS credits or a comparable ‘Diplom’ degree) to a four-semester course (if applicants have a three-year B.A. degree or ‘Diplom’ degree in the same subject, or for graduates of other artistic/design disciplines or other areas).

Studying and working at the Design Campus

Master’s courses at Burg Giebichenstein are project-oriented and offer students wide-ranging opportunities to further explore the theoretical and practical aspects of their discipline and to implement these in their project work. The excellent facilities available on the Design Campus at Burg Giebichenstein, which include numerous specialist workshops, give students the opportunity to carry out practical experimentation that will aid them in their design work. In general, master’s students can propose their own projects or choose from various project options offered in the relevant master’s course. In addition, there are interdisciplinary modules that deal with theory-based design issues, social questions and artistic/design themes. The highly communicative atmosphere on the Design Campus and the close contacts to students and teaching staff from other master’s courses and to the Art Campus are conducive to a lively exchange of knowledge and ideas. In many master’s programmes, interdisciplinary work is explicitly encouraged.