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Mission Statement
The Academy of Art and Design of the University of Applied Sciences in Northwestern Switzerland is the one and only university in Switzerland that offers all fields of studies in the area of design and art: – Visual Communication/The Basel School of Design, Interior Design and Scenography, Fashion-Design, Industrial Design, HyperWerk/Postindustrial Design – Art and Art and Design Teacher Education. The diversity of disciplines reveals the potential of the HGK. Students take advantage of the many transdisciplinary angles that propell creativity. The transdiciplinary variety consequently establishes the critical praxis that informs the development teaching, research and continuing education in the field of art and desing on a everyday basis: thus contributing to the spontaneity and the excellence of the academy in the universitary environment. Situated in Basel, the academy of art and design positions itself as an institution that carries praxis-related discourses into the cultural life of the city, of Northwestern Switzerland and beyond the surrounding borders to Germany and France. It's capacity for strategies in support of the transformation and conversions of art and design, enables their potential as driving forces in modern societies. For every design and every work of art is designated to become a document of its time. Nurturing an aesthetic-art-driven socialization and sophisticating a professional understanding of culture this is the main faculty of an academy that contributes to forming contemporanity.
International Role
Experienced and highly reputated partner in cooperations, research and exchange programs
National Role
Leading Art and Design university in Switzerland
Main Focus
Art and Design
Faculties and Departments
Institute Contemporary Design Practices – ICDP
Institute Art and Design Education – IADE
Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures – IXDM
Institute Digital Communication Environments – ICDE
Institute Art, Gender, Nature – IAGN
Bachelor Level Programs
Institute Contemporary Design Practices – ICDP (Bachelor programs: Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Interior Design and Scenography)
Institute Art and Design Education – IADE (Bachelor program: Art and Design Education)
Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures – IXDM (Bachelor program: Hyperwerk)
Institute Digital Communication Environments – ICDE (Bachelor program: Visual Communication and Digital Spaces)
Institute Art, Gender, Nature – IAGN (Bachelor program: Fine Arts)
Duration for BA 3 years (6 semester), Total amount of 180 ECTS Credits
Master Level Programs
Institute Contemporary Design Practices – ICDP (Master programs@Masterstudio Design: Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Scenography, 1.5 years, 90 ECTS)
Institute Art and Design Education – IADE (Bachelor program: Art and Design Education, 2 years, 120 ECTS)
Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures – IXDM (Master program@Masterstudio Design: Experimental Design, 1.5 years, 90 ECTS)
Institute Digital Communication Environments – ICDE (Master program: Digital Communication Environment, 2 years, 120 ECTS)
Institute Art, Gender, Nature – IAGN (Master program: Fine Arts, 2 years, 120 ECTS)
Doctorate Level Programs
Making sense – practise based research PhD program
Subject Areas for Exchange Students
Both in all BA and MA programs
Application Deadlines
1 April and 1 November
Teaching Languages
German / English
Semester Dates
Autumn semester: from week 38 to week 3 Spring semester: from week 8 to week 24
Cost of Living Per Month (Studying and Living)
6850 EUR per semester
