International applicants

HDK can offer a unique study-abroad experience to international students.
As an international student there are two different ways to apply. You can apply as a free mover to our programmes or you can apply for exchange studies.

International students who choose to come to Gothenburg as a free mover i.e. outside an exchange programme can only apply for the Master or Doctoral level. To apply for our MA programmes you must have a successfully completed bachelor degree. To find out more about how to apply for the  two-year MA programmes please click Application and requirements under the headline for the programme you are interested in.

Tuition fees for, citizens from outside of the EU/EEA and Switzerland, are 192 500 SEK / academic year for our master programs. Government scholarship allocated by the International Programme Office for Education and Training, administered by the University of Gothenburg for students required to pay a tuiton fee, please read more on this link.

As an free mover you have to look after all the practical aspects of your stay in Sweden yourself. In principle you apply on the same conditions as Swedish students. However, help and advice are available. On this link you can read about how you can prepare yourself for your studies at HDK - University of Gothenburg.

Now and then we can offer short-time independent courses in a specific subject. When we offer independent courses we annonunce the information under the headline independent courses on this link.

Exchange studies

Exchange studies are open only for students whose home university or department has an exchange agreement with HDK or with University of Gothenburg.

Please read more about how to apply for exchange studies.

Below you can read some comments from former international students:

Has HDK been able to offer you something unique?

I think especially the well equipped workshops are very unique. In my opinion there are not many schools all over the world which offer such good facilities for realizing your ideas. But also the well organized and structured projects are unique. We got the chance to present our ideas to real design offices. So there is a closer connection between university and the real market than in my home school!

What do you think will be your best memories from your exchange semester?

The best memories? I think one thing I really liked was that the whole staff of the HDK was very motivated. I mean, I felt always very welcome and I never had the feeling that someone is burned out. The tutorials and were well prepared and a great support! It is a good thing that the teaching staff has also its own business / job at the real market! Another good memory is that you have shorter projects than at my home school. So I never got the feeling that I am bored by any topic / theme.

Any other reflections…

One thing I have to commend is your great cafeteria! It was always a pleasure to hang around in this fantastic atmosphere. The food is very delicious!

I was very impressed by the all the workshop, library and service facilities. They were exemplary. I think that studying at HDK has mostly taught me new working techniques, to be more organized. I got the chance to take a course in the jewellery department which was unique for me and I learned lot from.

What do you think will be your best memories from your exchange semester?

It was very interesting to meet new people in the design field and see other kind of thinking. I loved the city and the hospitality. I will definitely recommend HDK to other students.