- Founded
- 1988
- Students
- 1,000
- Programmes
- 8
About Hochschule für Künste Bremen
The Hochschule für Künste Bremen (HfK Bremen), known in English as the University of the Arts Bremen, is a specialist state arts university combining a fine arts and design faculty with a music conservatory under one institutional roof - a distinction rare among German universities. It was formally established in its current form in 1988 through the merger of the Bremer Hochschule für gestaltende Kunst (art/design) and the Bremer Konservatorium (music), with institutional roots tracing back to an 1873 design class and an 1893 conservatory.
The HfK offers bachelor's and master's degree programmes across four subject areas: Fine Arts, Integrated Design, Digital Media, and Music (artistic and artistic-pedagogic tracks, including Historical Church Music, Jazz, Composition, and Music Education). A binational artistic PhD programme focused on Integrated Design and Digital Media has been running since 2020. The university hosts around 1,000 students from approximately 70 countries, employs 65 professors and over 150 teaching associates, and organises roughly 400 public events per year.
As a state university in the city-state of Bremen, HfK charges no tuition fees for any student regardless of nationality. The mandatory semester contribution for 2026/27 is €431.40, which includes the Deutschlandsemesterticket (public transport), an administration fee, student union fee, and a cultural semester ticket.
One of the few German universities combining a full conservatory and an art/design school within a single institution
No tuition fees for international students; semester contribution ~€431 includes Germany-wide public transport ticket
Students from approximately 70 countries; strongly international orientation
Master Digital Media programme taught entirely in English
Binational Artistic PhD programme (since 2020) in Integrated Design and Digital Media
Main Art & Design campus in Bremen's Überseestadt creative harbour district; Music Faculty in the historic city centre
Key facts
- Type
- Kunst- und Musikhochschulen
- Founded
- 1988
- Students
- 1,000
- International
- Students from approximately 70 countries
- Faculties
- 2
- Programmes
- 8
Study programmes
8 accredited degrees at Hochschule für Künste Bremen.
Showing 1–8 of 8 programmes
Admissions & fees
What it costs
No tuition fees for any student (domestic or international) at this state university in Bremen. The semester contribution for Winter Semester 2026/27 is €431.40, comprising: Deutschlandsemesterticket €226.80, administration fee €63.00, student union fee €105.00, student body contribution €34.00, and cultural semester ticket €2.60.
Admission requirements
All applicants - including international students - apply through the online portal at application.hfk-bremen.de. Foreign educational qualifications are assessed for comparability with German qualifications during the application process; original certificates with certified German translations are required. APS certificates (mandatory for Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese degree-seeking applicants under German consulate rules) are not explicitly listed in HfK's own materials but remain a visa prerequisite for those nationalities. Language requirements for degree programmes: a German A2 level is the minimum for sitting the entrance exam; B1 is required for enrolment in Fine Arts, Music Artistic Education (except Singing and Composition), and Design Master's programmes; TestDaF 3 or B2 is required for all other programmes. The Master Digital Media programme accepts English-language applicants. All programmes require a portfolio (visual arts/design) or audition recording/video (music) as part of the artistic entrance examination. Visiting/exchange students are not required to document a specific language level.
Application deadlines
For incoming exchange/visiting students: Winter Semester - April 1 to May 15; Summer Semester - October 1 to November 15. Deadlines for degree-seeking applicants vary by programme; check application.hfk-bremen.de for current intake periods.
How international applicants apply
No uni-assist: almost all degree programmes run through the HfK's own application portal (application.hfk-bremen.de, CampusNet), followed by an in-person entrance examination (music exams take place at Dechanatstrasse 13-15, 28195 Bremen). Foreign certificates are checked for comparability during the application; A2 German is expected at the entrance exam and B1 (TestDaF 3/B2 for some programmes) by enrolment, with exemptions available on request. Exceptions to the portal route: the Lehramt Musik cooperation degree and the Master Digital Media (media informatics) are applied for via the University of Bremen, and ERASMUS+/freemover visiting students apply through the International Office without an entrance exam.
Languages of instruction
Teaching is in German. Foreign applicants must prove good oral and written German: A2 expected for the entrance exam; B1 certificate for Artistic Education music programmes (except Singing and Composition) and for Fine Arts and Integrated Design master programmes; TestDaF 3 or B2 for all other degree programmes. Changes to the Faculty of Music language requirements were announced on the application page.
Entry requirements, intake dates and language levels differ for every degree.
Student accommodation
What Hochschule für Künste Bremen publishes about housing. German universities do not allocate rooms themselves, so the links below are where applications actually go.
The university's housing page
Deadlines and application forms are published here, and they change every intake.
Open housing pageCampuses & locations
Main campus for Faculty of Art and Design; studios, workshops, cafeteria, gallery space Galerie Flut, Radio Angrezi; address: Am Speicher XI 8, 28217 Bremen
Adjacent interdisciplinary building shared by Art & Design and Music faculties; ~2,000 m² exhibition and performance space
Faculty of Music; concert and performance halls, ensemble rooms, Musikkeller music club, Mensa13 cafeteria; address: Dechanatstraße 13-15, 28195 Bremen; over 300 concerts per year
Mobile vessel used as a floating venue for exhibitions, performances, and concerts; anchored near Weserburg Museum / Europahafen since 2025
Living in Bremen
Bremen is a northern German city-state of approximately 550,000 inhabitants, located on the River Weser roughly 60 km from the North Sea coast. It has a compact, walkable historic centre (UNESCO-listed market square), a growing creative district in the Überseestadt harbour area where HfK's main campus is situated, and a student population of over 30,000 across several universities. The cost of living is relatively affordable compared to Munich or Hamburg, and Bremen's city-state status means public universities charge no tuition fees for international students.
Student life & support
HfK's small size (~1,000 students) creates an intensive studio-school atmosphere. Students have access to shared workshops for ceramics, electronics, and printmaking, a student-run radio station (Radio Angrezi), the Galerie Flut exhibition space, and a riverside floating venue (MS Dauerwelle). The Music Faculty's Musikkeller club and the over 300 concerts staged annually make the campus unusually lively for an arts school of this size. The Deutschlandsemesterticket included in the semester fee provides unlimited public transport across Germany.
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