Application for the winter term 2025/26

General requirements

If you would like to study at the Faculty of Communication Design, you need to have one of the following certificates:

• higher education entrance qualification
• subject-linked university entrance qualification
• university of applied sciences entrance qualification
• relevant apprenticeship or master’s certificate plus work experience

Your certificate can be uploaded later, but you can also ask your school when certificates will be issued. If you have problems with uploading, please contact Mr Schäfer at the Department of Student Affairs (Hochschulservice Studium, HSST)

stefan.schaefer@fhws.de

You can find more detailed information on admissions here:

https://www.fhws.de/en/services-and-support/application-enrolment-exams-internship/

If you have any further general questions about application to the FHWS, please also contact Mr Schäfer at the Department of Student Affairs (Hochschulservice Studium, HSST) stefan.schaefer@thws.de

Do you fulfil the general conditions for admission? Then you can apply to us with your portfolio.

We assess your suitability for the study of communication design from the work you submit, and it’s on this basis that we invite you to an interview.
Please note that it is essential for you to enrol with the Department of Student Affairs (Hochschulservice Studium, HSST) before the application deadline – if you fail to enrol, your portfolio will not be considered even if it is submitted in good time.
You can find the enrolment form 1–31 May 2025 here:

https://www.fhws.de/en/services-and-support/application-enrolment-exams-internship/

If your portfolio receives a positive assessment and you enrol with the HSST in good time, you will be invited to an interview – consisting of a practical test and a discussion.
Applicants who have successfully completed the portfolio assessment and fulfil all other admissions criteria will be invited to an interview from the beginning of June 2025 and informed about its outcome by email.

Current: digital portfolio assessment for applicants for the winter term 2025/26

Portfolio assessment at the Faculty of Design in Würzburg will take place digitally in 2025.
You can find out the rules of procedure, the technical and content requirements, and the scheduling necessary for the production, digitisation and submission of your portfolio here.

Content

We’re interested in the entire spectrum of your manual and creative skills: drawing, photography, collage, objects, installations, films, websites … Show us how you deal with image, text, line, surface, colour, texture and composition.
You’re naturally free to work with digital tools as well – but we’re less interested in mere command of the software.
It’s very important to us to see how you cut through to matters of content and more complex questions and tasks. Communication design isn’t just a matter of creating form. Deal with content too. What are you interested in? What drives you? But also: what are the socially and culturally relevant themes and questions of our time, and how can these be conveyed through design?
Show us your strengths, but give yourself a challenge as well. Leave the familiar paths. Experiment. Show us that there’s more than just one side to you. But be self-critical too. Avoid clichés and banalities. Develop your portfolio. Work through variations on your themes and choose for your portfolio the results that are convincing in form and content.

A summary of the most important things for your application:

• registration for portfolio assessment with the Faculty of Design online form;
• enrolment with the FHWS Studies Service (Hochschulservice Studium);
• the digital portfolio consists of a single PDF file with up to 30 pages – including one page each for your address, affirmation of authorship and table of contents
• maximum file size of your digital portfolio: 50 MB
• submission of your portfolio via WeTransfer only
• deadline for all documents: 12 noon, 31 May 2025
• Hiervon  submissions after this date will be rejected
• please read through the following details carefully

Until when can I send in my portfolio?

Your digital portfolio can be sent in from 1 May – 12 noon, 31 May 2025. Later submissions cannot be taken into account.

How do I submit my portfolio?

Please fill in the online form (from 1 May – 12 noon, 31 May 2025):
Portfolio submission
Your digital portfolio must only be sent via the Internet platform WeTransfer. Please don’t send your portfolio directly by email.
https://wetransfer.com
Send your PDF file via WeTransfer to the following address:
mappe.fg@thws.de

Where do I send my other documents?

During the same period – from 1–31 May 2025 – you have to enrol with the Department of Student Affairs (Hochschulservice Studium, HSST) and submit all the required information and documents.
www.studienangelegenheiten.fhws.de/bewerbung.html

Your certificate can be uploaded later, but you can also ask your school when certificates will be issued. If you have problems with uploading, please contact Mr Schäfer at the HSST
stefan.schaefer@thws.de

What does ‘digital portfolio’ mean exactly?

We need digital images of the work in your original portfolio, i.e. a digitised version of your analogue portfolio as a PDF file. If this digital file passes the assessment, you will be required to show the original portfolio during your interview. We recommend scanning or photographing the work in your portfolio. Please note that the size of the entire digital portfolio must not exceed 50 MB.
Your portfolio is restricted to 30 pages of sample work. This work must be your own. Pages from sketchbooks can also be submitted as part of your digital portfolio.

What should the digital portfolio contain?

Your digital portfolio consists of a PDF file with the following pages:

• page 1: a cover page with your first and family names, date of birth, complete address and email address
• page 2: a written and signed affirmation that all the submitted work is by you and was produced without the help of others
• page 3: a table of contents
• pages 4 to 30: samples of your work

Where can I digitise my work?

If you have a scanner, you can digitise your work with it. It is also possible to photograph/digitise your work with a smartphone, a tablet or a digital camera. Attaching your work samples to background pages of the same size and colour can help you to photograph them better. Then you combine these files – usually .jpg files – into a single PDF file: your digital portfolio. Make sure that the sequence is identical with the table of contents!

Tips for photographing your work

Use a large piece of matt-black card as a background (size depends on your originals) and four sheets of thick matt-white card to brighten from the side, and place your ‘photo studio’ outside if possible or near a light window. The important thing is not to have direct sunlight, but indirect soft light, e.g. in a secluded courtyard. After placing the object/drawing on the black card, you should centre the camera above it. A wide-angle lens isn’t ideal. Better is a normal lens (50 mm) and more of a closed aperture of 5.6 or 8. The camera will tend to overexpose, because of the black card, but you can counteract this by manually setting the exposure time or overexposing with a +. If you lay a grey card next to the object, you can adjust the white balance afterwards when editing.

How do I make a PDF file from individual files?

You can compile the images of your work – usually these are .jpg files – into a PDF in various ways. Here are some free Internet platforms:
https://tools.pdf24.org/de/
https://www.ilovepdf.com
https://smallpdf.com/de

How should I name my portfolio?

Please save your digital portfolio (a PDF file) under the following formula in lower-case letters only without diacritical marks:
name_surname.pdf

How large can my digital portfolio be?

You can use up to 50 MB storage space – portfolios that exceed this or are not submitted as a PDF file will not be assessed. But there are free Internet platforms where you can compress larger files before submission, usually without loss of quality:
https://tools.pdf24.org/de/
https://www.ilovepdf.com
https://smallpdf.com/de

What dimensions should my portfolia have?

With a digital folder as a PDF file, the actual dimensions of the individual pages are not important – after all, they are viewed on the screen. However, we recommend that you use a page format of DIN-A3 and that all individual pages are laid out in the same orientation (portrait or landscape) and the same size.

What can I do if the colours and materials of my work in the photos or scans don’t match the originals?

We know that photographs or scans don’t reproduced the originals exactly. This is taken into account by the assessors. You don’t need to incur the additional costs of having your portfolio professionally digitised.

Can I still send my analogue portfolio to the Design Faculty of the THWS by post?

This is not possible. Only digital submissions are valid for the application procedure in 2025.

What do I do with work that can’t be scanned?

Three-dimensional work can be photographed from different perspectives, and the dimensions, materials or other data given on the same page, for example. NB: do not exceed 30 pages. We recommend showing the different views on a single page.

How do I document interactive work or animations and films?

With interactive work or films and animations, make screenshots and compile a storyboard of the most important scenes.

How do I know if my digital portfolio has arrived?

After sending your file by WeTransfer you receive a message to your email address that ‘your files were sent successfully to mappe.fg@fhws.de’. For legal reasons, please save this mail as confirmation that you submitted your portfolio in good time.
After this you receive another email from WeTransfer after approx. 48 hours telling you that ‘your files have been downloaded’ (‘Übertragung heruntergeladen’) by the Design Faculty. You should watch out for this email, and please save this one as well.
If you haven’t received the message ‘mappe.fg@fhws.de hat deine Übertragung heruntergeladen’ after seven days, please send an email to bewerbung.fg@fhws.de

Can I resend my portfolio?

You can only resend your portfolio in exceptional circumstances.
But in such cases please contact the assessment commission first:
bewerbung.fg@fhws.de

How can I find out about the status of my application?

You will be informed about the current status of your application by email.

Will the original work be required in further stages of the application procedure?

If your portfolio has been positively assessed and you are invited to an interview, you need to bring your portfolio with your original work with you to Würzburg.

Why are there two application numbers?

During the application procedure you receive two different application numbers. The FG number (FG plus 4 figures, e.g. FG0001) is issued by the Design Faculty and is used for the portfolio and suitability assessment. The second number (5 figures, e.g. 95242) is issued by the Department of Student Affairs (Hochschulservice Studium, HSST) and refers to your general application to the FHWS (certificates and other documents).

Questions and support

Who can help me with any further questions about the required documents?
Please contact us by email with any questions about your application and digital portfolio:
bewerbung.fg@fhws.de
But please check first if your question is dealt with in the FAQs.
Please bear with us if we don’t reply immediately, but be assured that we will get back to you.

Further information

From now on please check your emails regularly and consult the information on our website, as it may be updated. Because of the dynamics of the coronavirus pandemic, all information is condition and changes are possible. We apologise for any inconvenience and wish you all success!
We look forward to your application.

1. Online form

Please fill in the online form (from 1 May– 12 noon, 31 May 2024):
Mappeneinreichung

2. Portfolio submission

Submission of your portfolio to the Design Faculty

You must submit your portfolio for assessment within the given time limit (1 May– 12 noon, 31 May 2024) via WeTransfer. NB: this is a so-called limitation period – i.e. you must upload your digital portfolio by 12 noon, 31 May 2024. Portfolios arriving after this date will not be assessed.

THWS
Technische Hochschule
Würzburg-Schweinfurt
Fakultät Gestaltung
Sanderheinrichsleitenweg 20
97074 Würzburg
Telefon 0931/3511-9302

3. Enrolment with the Department of Student Affairs (Hochschulservice Studium, HSST)

In addition to submitting your portfolio (time limit: 1 May– 12 noon, 31 May 2023), you have to complete your enrolment with the Department of Student Affairs (Hochschulservice Studium, HSST)within the application period (1 – 31 May 2023). Without this completed enrolment your application is not valid – even if the portfolio and suitability assessment is successful. You can find the application form from 1 – 31 May 2023 at

https://www.thws.de/en/services-and-support/application-enrolment-exams-internship/application/

Your certificate can be uploaded later, but you can also ask your school when certificates will be issued. If you have problems with uploading, please contact Mr Schäfer at the Studies Service (Hochschulservice Studium)
stefan.schaefer@thws.de

Voraussichtlich ab dem 6. Juni 2024 werden alle Bewerber:innen die die Mappenprüfung erfolgreich absolviert haben und alle sonstigen Voraussetzungen für die Aufnahme eines Studiums erfüllen, zur Eignungsprüfung eingeladen und über deren Ablauf per E-Mail informiert.
Die Eignungsprüfung findet am Montag 17.6.2024 alternativ am Dienstag 18.6.2024 in Präsenz statt.