Free Visual Arts, Dipl.
By studying fine arts at the Mainz University of Art, you can follow your talents and passion. Our offering includes sculpture, painting, drawing and photography, film, video and media art. In closely supervised artistic classes and with the necessary freedom for your own ideas, you will deepen your own ability to express yourself. Your own experiments, testing out form, color and ideas as well as your artistic freedom are the focus of your studies.
Programme facts
| Degree | Diploma (Dipl.) |
|---|---|
| Duration | 9 semesters, 270 ECTS |
| Language of instruction | German |
| Required German | B1 |
| Study mode | Full-Time |
| Start | Summer semester, winter semester |
| Application | After recognition of the certificate, winter semester until 30.04, summer semester until 31.10 |
| Admission | Admission restriction (NC): a competition of school grades |
| Tuition fee | €0 per semester for international students |
| Semester contribution | €322.18 per semester |
| Practical semester | Optional |
What the tuition fee consists of
Will I get in
The programme has an admission restriction: the average grade of your certificate, converted to the German scale, decides. The cut-off changes every year — last year's value shows the order of magnitude, not a promise.
How the selection works and how strong the competition is — we go through it against your certificate when we select programmes for you.
Programme selection →What you study
Your studies are divided into two sections:
The full curriculum and the programme's parameters are part of programme selection: we compare them with your profile.
Pick programmesCareer
The Fine Arts degree program essentially prepares you for work as a freelance artist. But other areas are also open to you.
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After obtaining the diploma, it is possible for students with special abilities to acquire a recognized postgraduate degree in fine arts through the so-called “master student course” in order to further their own artistic work to delve further.
Graduates typically work in the following areas:
- freelance artistic activities from independent studio work to commissioned work
- in galleries and art associations
- at universities and academies
- in adult education
- in art therapy
- in museum education
You don't know what will happen next after you graduate? Or how you can successfully get into your dream job?
JGU's Career Service offers you an extensive range of events and is available to provide you with advice and coaching for career orientation and career entry.
Cost of study
| Tuition fee of the federal state (Rhineland-Palatinate), international students | €0 |
|---|---|
| Semester contribution | €322.18 |
Requirements and application
| Previous education | If you demonstrate special talent in the aptitude test, you can study fine arts at the JGU School of Art even after obtaining a qualified lower secondary qualification (i.e. without a high school diploma). |
|---|---|
| Language | German B1 — confirmed by a certificate when you apply |
| Application | After recognition of the certificate, winter semester until 30.04, summer semester until 31.10 |
The procedure and the set of documents depend on your certificate. We check the university's requirements against your documents and give you a list: what to submit, how to certify and translate it, where and when to apply.
Check the requirementsHow to get into this programme
- 1Check your certificate and its recognitionDirect admission, a year at a university at home, or Studienkolleg first — this decides the whole plan.
- 2German up to B1 and a certificateDSH or TestDaF has to be passed before you apply.
- 3Documents and translationsCertified translations of the certificate and transcript, an APS if required. 3–4 weeks.
- 4Application after recognition of the certificate until 31.10Send the documents well before the deadline — an incomplete application cannot be completed after it.
- 5Admission, visa, movingPlan 2–3 months for the visa and the blocked account in parallel.
How to apply
You can submit the application yourself or with our help — the university decides on admission in both cases.
Applications go through the university's portal or uni-assist. Typical mistakes:
- ×incorrectly made certified copies and translations
- ×a wrong set of documents
- ×the application submitted the wrong way
- ×errors or gaps in the application form
- ×the application submitted at the wrong time — too early or too late
An incomplete or incorrectly prepared application is excluded from the selection — it can no longer be corrected after the deadline.
StudyInFocus does not represent the university and does not influence the admission decision. We do not sell study places and do not guarantee admission — this is a service for preparing and submitting documents on the applicant's side.
If your level is not enough yet
The two most common stoppers are a language level below the requirement and a certificate without direct admission. Both can be solved, but they take months — plan them now, not after a rejection.
Questions about this programme
How much does the programme cost?
What language level do I need?
When do I need to apply?
Don't postpone the application
The deadline is 31.10.2026 (17 days left). Language, translations and the document check take months, not weeks. In 30 minutes we will build a plan backwards from the deadline and tell you honestly whether you can make it.