About us

What's special about us

The University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) educates the designers and decision-makers of tomorrow in the fields of:

• Art & Design
• Business
• Sports, Media & Event.

The University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) is part of Global University Systems. The university promotes the future-oriented development of skills and interdisciplinary teaching formats in step with actual practice and according to the highest international standards at locations in Berlin, Berlin-Potsdam and Hamburg.

Through the interaction between creative, entrepreneurial and digital thinking, as well as an international perspective, the various fields of study mutually enrich each other and offer new approaches in teaching and research tailored to the requirements of Job Market 4.0. 

First founded as an independent university in 2006, BTK is today part of the University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) and is known as a meeting point for young design and artistic talents and innovators of tomorrow. Here we provide an environment in which students and professors from all over the world are encouraged to develop new ideas and discover their full artistic potential.

Lay the foundations for an exciting and creative career.

How? With a future-oriented, accredited Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programme at the Art & Design faculty in Berlin, Hamburg and on our new UE Innovation Hub.

Unique international networking

Make the world you campus and study at University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) as part of a global network. We invite you to experiment during your studies, explore new paths, and find inspiration all over the world. Benefit from, for example:

• Integrated semesters abroad
• International lecturers
• Global lectures across borders
• International practical projects and study trips
• Intercultural exchange with students and faculty
• Over 100 nations represented on our campus

Individual development, interdisciplinary learning

At University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) we offer an environment that demands and encourages innovative ideas and allows you to look over the horizon.

Successful designers work with other disciplines. The diversity of medial means and opportunities results increased interdisciplinary cooperation. Sophisticated and goal-oriented solutions require a mix of new technologies, artistic practices, research-based methods and entrepreneurial thinking.

As one of few universities, we offer programmes in the broad fields of art, design, technology / digital media and entrepreneurship. So you have the opportunity to take project modules from numerous other programmes such as Illustration, Film & Motion Design, Photography, or Game Design. Thus you can complete your creative profile and position yourself well in the job market.

Practice-oriented equipment for design programmes

In interdisciplinary project weeks, workshops, and on specialized study trips, you work with students from all programmes, test your abilities, and put your skills to use with technical equipment and software. Learn interdisciplinarily and experiment during your study of design.

What our practice-oriented programmes offer, for example:

• Our faculty members are excellent professionals in their fields.
• Most lecturers in addition to teaching work in creative industries.
• Cooperation: We regularly hold competitions with renowned companies and institutions.
• Internships, project weeks, and the planning of exhibitions are integral to our programmes.

Study with professionals in an innovative environment

Successful artists and designers are not just creative, but they are also entrepreneurial. We prepare you for these challenges and connect you with people who know how to face them best.

Students learn intensively and individually in small classes and lecture groups. This creates a special learning environment, in which you can exchange with and inspire each other, and further your entrepreneurial thinking.

Become part of our team and make a difference - worldwide.

Art & Design programmes at University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE)

Our university offers different programmes in the areas of art, design, and media:

• Bachelor degrees
• Master degrees

Some of these programmes are offered in English. 

Choose from three locations

The University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) has three creative locations: Berlin, Hamburg and our new UE Innovation Hub.

Berlin - Creative center, trendsetter, lifestyle capital, incubator – few cities are praised worldwide for their diversity as much as Berlin. And this is reflected by us: On the University of Europe for Applied Sciences campus Berlin young creatives from over 100 countries study together.

Hamburg - In the media city No. 1, side by side with Spiegel, Stern, Die Zeit, Google, Twitter, Facebook, and others. The University of Applied Sciences Europe Campus Hamburg is close to both the eccentric trendsetting neighborhoods and classy city center.

UE Innovation Hub - In the middle of Potsdam's newly created space, technology and design complement each other. At our hub, smart thinking is transformed into action and we combine digitalisation, creativity and business in a unique way.

Modern Equipment

We would like to offer you a programme where you learn with the equipment that you will be using later. Thus, depending on the campus, there is access to facilities ranging from Mac pools to photo studios to screen printing workshops and more. You can borrow the equipment you need for your projects after class, or work directly in the studios or workshops. More about our facilities can be found here.

State examined and accredited

University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) is recognized and accredited by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the German Council of Science and Humanities both by the state and as an institution. Furthermore, all our programmes at University of Applied Sciences Europe are accredited by ZEvA (Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency).

Your career after studying at University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE)

A Bachelor’s degree at our university is the perfect start to a successful future in web design or app development, photography, illustration, animation, advertising, picture editing, with publishers, magazines, in an established company or in your own business.

Our Master's programmes give you further opportunities to find your own direction and to develop your personal style. Our International Career Center utilises the contacts within our company and alumni network to personally support you in planning your individual career path and during the application phase.

Use the University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) as the stepping stone for your creative path and leave your mark on the creative industry.

Our Guiding Principles

In the last few years, digitalization of the media has changed the job description for designers. Nowadays, designers work in an exciting space between art, design, and technology, across disciplines and international borders. We help you to develop your creativity individually, with an interdisciplinary approach and practical focus, allowing you to make a real impact with what you are doing. And that means worldwide. These four guiding principles form the basis for our actions in this regard:

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Thinking globally, transcending boundaries

There are no boundaries to creativity. We believe that the best prerequisites for personal and creative growth come from being open to things new, having the courage to think differently, and being prepared to look beyond the immediate horizon.

At the University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) we invite you to experiment, strike out in new directions, and find inspiration everywhere in the world through an interdisciplinary study course that offers many options to choose from among other study programmes, with integrated semesters and excursions abroad, international internship projects, and collaboration with like-minded professors and students from all over the world.

Each of us has special talents

We help you to recognize your personal strengths and to develop your individual capabilities so that you can find your dream job later – by working closely with experienced professors from the real world in a trust-based study atmosphere that offers you an environment for your personal development.

Growth through trial and error

Creative design and hands-on learning have a special role here at our university. Our mission is to offer you a course of studies of clear relevance to your later professional needs and to support you with exciting projects. We give you space in which to try out different directions and find your own way, whether with the aid of an interdisciplinary choice of subjects, as part of internship projects, “project weeks”, or with study-related traineeships. Because each of us grows along with our experiences.

Using team spirit, developing creativity 

We believe that a team is more than the sum of its members. Often, the best ideas emerge from creative exchange. Here at University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE), we bring together professors, students and partners in cooperation from some 50 nations, each with their individual talents and expertise.

This creates a very special learning environment in which you exchange views, mutually inspire each other, and also encourage each other to think as entrepreneurs, as for example when planning joint exhibitions and conferences, or as part of global internship projects in which you develop creative solutions and give food for thought to clients from industry and the world of art and culture. And many of the connections made here at our university endure long after your studies are over.

On the teaching side also, you profit from exchange within a team because of the close cooperation of University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) with partners and well-known universities worldwide in the development of programme content and teaching formats that have relevance for the future, such as lectures that span both national borders and continents.

Be part of our team and make an impact – worldwide.

Our Vision

At the University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) we are committed to providing our graduates with lasting and successful studies and training for job in the digital age. As a state-accredited University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) under private ownership, we promote especially independent entrepreneurial-creative thinking and acting. We provide the relevant specialist, decision-making and social skills through modern pedagogical concepts in flexible study programmes. As a cosmopolitan, European university, we cultivate both local and global perspectives and actively promote the international mobility of our students. 

We pursue respectful interpersonal relationships that motivate our students and employees to contribute to the shaping and further development of the university. At each campus we cultivate a personal atmosphere by individually addressing and actively accompanying the unique strengths, life situations and development paths of our students.

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The consistent combination of theoretical requirements and practical implementation promotes professional curiosity and provides orientation in the development of a unique profile. For this purpose, we consider dialogue-focused, interactive pedagogical concepts in small groups as the optimal manner to acquire result-oriented competencies. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary cooperation of our various departments offers students significant added value.

These goals are pursued and met by a professorship which itself is scientifically and practically active and is fully acquainted with the current challenges in its field of expertise. We execute our educational mission with equal responsibility towards both the professional and social requirements demanded of us. Ultimately, our university sees itself as an inviting platform for imparting knowledge and research in the process guiding our students to become independent, reflective and responsible personalities. 

Our Study Courses

The University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) offers you six Bachelor and four Master programmes in the specialist areas of Photography, Illustration, Communication Design, Interaction Design, Game Design, Film + Motion Design, Visual & Experience Design, Innovation Design Management and Media Spaces.

In Berlin, all programmes are offered in English. 

Our Locations

The University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) has three locations, the creative hubs of Berlin, Hamburg and our new UE Innovation Hub.

Study in Berlin, in the very heart of this pulsating international metropolis and center of creativity and start-ups or in city No. 1 for media Hamburg. Become part of the family, and gain valuable experiences in international studies and practices, both in Germany and abroad. The UE Innovation Hub in the middle of many parks and lakescapes in Berlin-Potsdam.

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Berlin – Vibrant metropolis

In terms of art, fashion, and design, Berlin rates as one of the world’s hottest “in” cities, designated by UNESCO as the “City of Design” and featured in the global network of “Creative Cities”. Moreover, with nearly 2,500 new businesses started every day Berlin is a significant start-up metropolis and the Silicon Valley of Europe – a mecca for creative minds and innovators with strong appeal for companies and agencies throughout the world. The Campus in Berlin is located right in the heart of this vibrant capital, immediately adjacent to the Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. On a campus of 6,500 m², students will find highly modern studios and workspaces that make possible an especially innovative study course with a practical orientation. The big cafeteria with its spacious sundeck provides lots of room for creative exchange and relaxation during breaks.

Hamburg - No. 1 city for media

​The trading metropolis and port city of Hamburg is not only emblematic of inventiveness and a symbol of creative force, but it is also Germany’s most important city for media. Around 15,000 companies from the fields of advertising, publishing, print, radio, film, television, gaming, music, multimedia, and e-commerce call Hamburg their home. The Altona Campus is located in the middle of the exuberant creative milieu of the district of Ottensen, just a stone’s throw from the Elbe River and the port. This neighborhood is a hotspot for designers and artists from Hamburg and from all over the world and is famous for its diversity and blending of cultures. Located in the famous ‘bahn_hoefe’ (railway station building), the campus is impressive with its spacious premises offering students highly modern studios and facilities for an extraordinarily hands-on learning experience in Hamburg. Its location right next to the Altona Railway Station makes the campus a central, creative contact point for our students, professors and lecturers.

The UE Innovation Hub at Potsdam, once home to the Prussian kings, French influences, Italian flair - today numerous international companies from the creative and tech industries have settled here and UE is part of it: at SAP's Think Campus - digitalisation meets creativity.

Our Facilities

We offer our students a variety of state-of-the-art equipment at all our locations, in order to provide you a degree that will not only give you a theoretical but a practical insight for your future career. More about our facilities can be found here.

Why we are more hands-on

• Your studies at University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) offer everything you could need for a successful start in the creative industries:
• More competence: Our professors are excellent professionals in their field.
• From real life, for real life: Most of our professors also actually work in the creative industries.
• Small groups: You’ll learn intensively and personally thanks to small classes and seminar groups.
• Career: You’ll make a good impression on future employers. After all, thanks to the experiences you’ve gained during your internship semester, you know the procedures within the working world.
• Collaborations: We lead frequent competitions with renowned companies and institutions to give you real-life conditions for testing whether your idea, budget, and time management are on-target.
• Praise: Numerous awards prove that our university’s special programme concept is on the right track. And what’s even more important to us: Lots of successful graduates.

Why we like the basics

We like the basics because they present the fundamentals of design in a comprehensible way for the students. Basics also create an experience-oriented approach to design processes.

First-year students learn to put the design elements into a meaningful context and to understand the essential concepts of point, line, surface, space, time, perspective, composition, surface design with structures, patterns, colour spaces, colour mixtures and colour synaesthesia. In the first semester, basic knowledge is taught to help students understand and organise one's own design processes. This is also where the possibilities for creating one's own practice and what its results will be are worked out.

In addition, the range of topics with which the basics of design are taught is curated like the entire course of studies at UE: intercultural and interdisciplinary. They are an important way for students to become more versatile and to take on their role as designers in a rapidly changing world. They define themselves as creative personalities in their cooperation with others. It is a great pleasure for us to observe how this increases the students' self-determination.