Industrial Design – a dynamic profession

The working environment of industrial designers has changed dramatically in recent years. On the one hand, today's industrial designers increasingly work at the interface with other disciplines, of which they therefore require a basic knowledge; on the other, industrial design's transdisciplinary position between the business and technical fields leads inevitably to designers assuming a leading role in the development process.

In addition to physical objects, designers are now involved in the development of user interfaces and even in invisible design (user expec-tations, how to navigate through the menu, how the user "experiences" the product). For this reason, the chair in "Interface and User Experience" has been newly established.
We will only face these changes successfully if we succeed in equipping graduates with the appropriate technical, analytical and theoreti-cal knowledge. For this reason, UWID is positioning itself away from training graduates as creative craftspeople with an academic back-ground and towards training strategy and process consultants with design expertise.

The consistent focus on technical products/product systems is the right road to a future-proof training profile.
Within six months of graduation, an estimated 80% of our graduates have a contract which meets their professional expectations. Place-ment occurs in internationally active companies and agencies.

The admission requirement for the BA in Industrial Design at UWID is possession of a general higher education entrance certificate, or a higher education entrance certificate for a specific appropriate discipline, or a certificate recognized as equivalent by the Ministry of Schools, Education and Training of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).
A further requirement is evidence of special artistic/creative talent in line with the Regulations Governing the Determination of Special Artistic and Creative Aptitude for the Degree Program in Industrial Design.
A certificate verifying the completion of a four month preliminary internship in a craft workshop or design bureau is to be submitted by the end of the fourth semester of the degree program. A completed apprenticeship (journeyman's certificate) can be fully or partially recognized as a preliminary internship. The internship can be completed before the start of studies or during the course of studies.
Please click on the following link to find legally binding current information on the examination regulations for the Industrial Design Bachelor's program. Please select "systematic index" in the menu on the left. Under the letter "I" you will find the current official notices on examination regulations, including the supplementary amendments.

Examination regulations: extern
Artistic and creative aptitude - documents

Application portfolio task for Winter semester 2019/20
1. This year's portfolio task is as follows: 10 works on the theme of "Ruhe".
It is part of the task to determine the scope of the theme's development for yourself. The opportunities for interpretation range from the design of concrete products to the presentation of visionary concepts and manifestations. The format of the portfolio may not exceed DIN A1 but there is freedom in selection of materials and enthusiastic experimentation is welcomed. Any models produced may not be submit-ted in the portfolio as originals, but only in documented form.

2. Additional free pieces of work
Approximately 15 of your own, freely selected works, which demonstrate that you are capable of embarking on a degree in the creative field of "Design". Please do not include any works from school lessons; please also take note of our "Application Handbook", which you can find on uwid.de. All sheets should be DIN A2 format, and must be marked with first and last names on the reverse side.

Documents, deadlines, application portfolio

1. The application form (clearly legible), the web form for online registration and the declaration that you are solely responsible for the samples of your work used for admission can all be found, in good time for the end of the application period, on the Dean's Office website at www.fk8.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php
2. An officially certified copy of the certificate of general or relevant subject-related higher education entrance qualification or an officially certified copy of a certificate recognized as equivalent by law or by the competent authority; in justified exceptional cases, the certificate may be submitted later, at any point up to the time of enrollment. If the certificate is not available by the end of the application period, the school's certificate of admission to the Abitur examination (not a half-year certificate) must be submitted either in original (with the school's stamp) or as a certified copy. The certificate of entrance qualification must then be submitted later. It is not possible to apply with only an advanced technical college certificate.
3. Curriculum vitae in tabular form
4. A portfolio of samples of the student's own artistic/creative work as described in the appendix. Please mark all sheets individ-ually with first and last names.
5. A USB stick with photos of all submitted work samples, to be archived in the examination file. Simple mobile phone pictures are sufficient, as these photos are not included in the evaluation.

International applicants should consult the information for prospective students with foreign educational qualifications.
The link www.internationales.uni-wuppertal.de/fileadmin/internationales/files/Allgemeine_Informationen.pdf also lists all the necessary documents to be submitted (e.g. certified copies of certificates of education acquired abroad and their translations; proof of German lan-guage proficiency at DSH2 level; a certified copy of a valid Academic Evaluation Centre (APS) certificate for applicants from the People's Republic of China and some other countries; as well as proof of exemption from the Uni-Assist application procedure).

Incomplete application documents and portfolios larger than DIN A1 format cannot be accepted.

What, how, when, where?

The PDFs and links below contain all the information you need about documentation, dates and deadlines, details of your application portfolio, and the current task.
Dates for portfolio counseling can be found further down on this page.

Download Bewerbungsfibel
verbindliche Termine und Bewerbungsvordruck

The admission procedure for the BA program in industrial design consists of the following steps: (to put it officially and somewhat clumsily: Determination of Artistic and Creative Suitability)

1. announcement of the topic for the application portfolio
2. preparation of the portfolio by the applicant
3. submission of the portfolio together with the application papers
4. oral examination / colloquium
5. announcement of admissions list

Deadline for submission

Your documents, along with your sample portfolio can be handed in personally from 9.30 to 13.00 on 27 and 28 May 2019 in Building I, Room I-13.55 (ground floor), Fuhlrottstraße 10, 42119 Wuppertal.
If you choose to send your application documents (including portfolio) by post, they must arrive at the Dean's Office no later than 28 May 2019.
Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Fakultät für Design und Kunst
Dekanat – Sekretariat für Studium und Lehre
Kennwort: Eignungsfeststellungsverfahren Industrial Design
Gaußstr. 20
42119 Wuppertal
Please note that the stated dates and times are strictly applied. Applicants who submit application documents after 28 May 2019 will not be considered for the aptitude test.
Selection procedure
Following the portfolio review (mid-June), you will receive a written decision from the selection board of admission or non-admission to the main procedure. In the case of admission, you will be informed of a date for the oral examination (most likely 03 July 2019) to discuss the submitted sample portfolio.
The result of the final assessment will be communicated to you in writing in mid-July.
Please avoid telephone calls and e-mail enquiries, since these hinder us in completing the procedure promptly.
The confirmation of your artistic and creative aptitude for the Industrial Design Bachelor's degree program remains valid for the next three enrollment dates; for successful evaluations in July 2019, up to and including winter semester 2021/22.

Information and answers to your questions about applications and/or the degree program:

Portfolio counseling
Fridays at 14:00 on 18.1.2019, 22.2., 29.3.and 12.4.2019 in Building I, Level 16, Room 59.

Info days for schools
Studying industrial design: Monday, 14.01.2019 at 16:30 in Building I, Level 13, Room 47: Schriefers Design Collection
idkachelcross
on Friday 18th January, 2019 at 10:00.
A spectacular event in the 3rd semester taking place in Building I, Level 13 Foyer

idshowcase
Friday 18th March 2019 from 19:00.
Building I, Level 13 Foyer - the presentation of the final papers and term papers

All in Building I: Fuhlrottstr. 10, 42119 Wuppertal

Specialist academic counseling with teaching staff by individual arrangement

For more information, please subscribe to our mailing list. We will keep you up to date.

Please make use of our portfolio consulting service.

For these appointments you should quite simply bring along everything you might want to integrate into your portfolio, at whatever stage of development. Experience has shown that talking to professors, students already on the program and other applicants helps more than months of work in the silence of your room. These discussions are not only informative - they also give you the opportunity to expe-rience the everyday life and atmosphere of the department close up. As a rule, the topic is announced in December in the documents on artistic and creative aptitude (see above under What, How, When, Where?).
The appointments for enrollment in October 2018/19 have already passed. We offer counseling sessions from December to April, one Friday in each month.

Portfolio counselling appointments: intern

If circumstances render it impossible for you to come to Wuppertal personally for a portfolio consultation, we may offer you the chance to mail us your portfolio and a short CV as a PDF file (max. 10 MB). These would have to reach us by the date of the final portfolio counseling appointment. For further details contact Linn Klunk at klunk@uni-wuppertal.de

Changing university

Degree program credits gained on a similar program at another university can be recognized in accordance with §7 of the applicable Examination Regulations. The detailed regulations of the Examinations Board are as follows:

Requirements
Students must have completed at least two semesters of a bachelor’s degree program at the time of application. If this is not the case, they will be offered an opportunity to take the annual aptitude test, and the question of recognition of credits gained at another universi-ty will be decided after the results of the test are known.

Application
Your application takes place in two steps: you should

1. submit an application for recognition of your artistic and creative aptitude, along with your portfolio and your certificates.

2. If, after review of your documents, you receive a confirmation from us that you have been admitted to the study program (and not before!), you should submit the form to apply for recognition of your previous academic and examination credits.

Step 1 (determination of artistic and creative aptitude).
The following documents must be submitted to the Dean's Office, Faculty 08 (the address is on the form):

1. The completed form of application for a certificate of artistic and creative aptitude for a course of study.
2. An officially certified copy of the certificate of general or relevant subject-related higher education entrance qualification or an officially certified copy of a certificate recognized as equivalent by law or by the competent authority
3. Curriculum vitae in tabular form, preferably with passport photograph.
4. A portfolio (in German or English) with a maximum size of DIN A2 (DIN A4 is preferred). Approx. 20 of your own, freely selected works or projects on a maximum of 40 pages in printed form, including description of the design process.
5. USB Stick containing photos of all the design work in the portfolio.

You can find all the necessary forms here: Link

Step 2 (recognition of previous academic and examination credits):
You may only apply to have your previous academic and examination credits recognized once you have passed the artistic and creative aptitude test.
Please submit the following:

1. The completed application form for recognition of previous academic and examination credits.
2. Proof of previous academic and examination credits (Transcript of Records stamped and signed by the previous university) in original, or in the form of officially certified copies in German or English.
3. A tabular comparison of the module components you have completed (table can be found at www.uwid.uni-wuppertal.de/service-fuer-studierende.html). Please enclose substantiating descriptions of the content of the courses you have gained credits for (one DIN A4 page for each module component, with artist's impressions of work samples and/or with explanations of content).

Submit everything for step 2 to the Central Examination Office (the address is on the form).
You can find all the necessary forms here: Link

Important dates
The deadline for submitting application documents is the same as the deadline for submitting applications for the bachelor's degree pro-gram (usually in May). As a rule, the placement test is only carried out for the winter semester. On request, we will also gladly accept students for the summer semester.

Admissions procedure
Applications submitted on time are passed, after checking, to the Examining Committee. The applicant may be required to complete further tasks before being called for interview (usually in June) to determine creative aptitude and level of entry to the UWID degree program. The result of the application process will be communicated in writing.

Further information can be found in the "Handbook for Lateral Entrants: intern".