Admission
If you want to apply for our courses you have to take an entrance exam. During the admission you will need to give us insight into your creative capability and interests and be able to explain your work.
Register for the entrance exam via Studielink.
You will need a DigiD to register. Make sure you choose the right course and select the city of Enschede. You can apply for more than one course. For each course you will have to take a separate entrance exam.
Entrance exams
Please note: All our entrance exams, both online and physical, will take place in the week of Monday, March 4 – Friday, March 8. After registering in Studielink, you can choose your day of preference. The entrance exam does not require you to complete a home assignment.
Portfolio and motivation letter
For the entrance exam you need to prepare a portfolio and motivation letter. We will evaluate you on your visual and creative ability, your critical reflection and your communication skills.
Portfolio
Physical entrance exam: bring all your work to the academy.
Online entrance examen: Create one portfolio PDF with your work (photography, videos, drawings) plus explanatory notes.
- Provide as much insight as possible into your visual and visual quality.
- In addition to your work, provide some written explanations.
- Your portfolio does not have to be perfect; we also like to see process and intermediate steps and sketchbooks.
- Put enough work in your portfolio, ideally between 20 and 100 works.
If you are taking an online entrance exam, please keep the following in mind: - Video material (preferably no longer than 15 minutes) can be redirected to YouTube or Vimeo via a link in the PDF.
- Make sure your PDF does not exceed 50 MB in size!
Motivation letter
Write a motivation letter of 300 – 500 words explaining why you want to come and study with us, what direction you would like to take in the course and the challenges you see for yourself in the course. The motivation letter for Moving Image must be written in English.
Physical entrance exams
During the week March 4 – 8, if you live in the Netherlands, we expect you to take a physical entrance exam. You will bring your portfolio and motivation letter to the academy and participate in an entrance exam. If you live abroad and want to come to our academy, you can choose to do a physical entrance exam. Physical entrance exams take place between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday – Friday.
Online entrance exams
If you do not reside in the Netherlands and cannot come to the academy for an entrance exam, you can choose to take an online entrance exam. For the online entrance exam, you will need to prepare an online portfolio and motivation letter. The deadline for uploading your portfolio and motivation letter is Feb. 1, 2024. In case of the online entrance exam, we work with two selection moments:
Pre-selection – Deadline Feb. 1, 2024
After uploading your portfolio and motivation letter, a committee reviews and tests your portfolio and motivation letter (see criteria below). If the committee decides that your portfolio meets with the requirements we are looking for, you will be invited for an online entrance interview. If your portfolio does not meet the requirements, you will be rejected. Show in your portfolio the broadest possible overview of your abilities and work.
Entrance exam
During the week March 4 – 8, you can explain your portfolio and motivation in an online entrance exam, which will take place in MS Teams. In an online exam lasting over 20 minutes, you will talk about your work and motivation. There is also room to ask any questions you may still have about the courses.
If you apply online it is useful to know that at the AKI we work in time zone UTC + 1.
General assessment criteria
We will assess you on the following criteria:
- You are creative. You have the ability to express yourself visually, to work from perception and from concept. You have insight into and a feeling for colour, shape and material. Your work is authentic and original;
- You are motivated, have good communication skills, share your fascination and inspiration and show decisiveness and discipline;
- You have an inquisitive and experimental attitude, you are curious and have a real interest in culture, art and design;
- You are in possession of vwo, havo, mbo (level 4) or an equivalent diploma;
- All our English-taught programmes have Language requirements
Result and validity
You will be notified about the results of your entrance exam by email within 3 to 4 working weeks. The admission is valid for the 2024/25 academic year.
Deadlines
EU students: 1 June 2024
Non-EU students: 1 May 2024
Do you want to know more about the Courses? Also, see the pages Crossmedia Design, Fine Art and Moving Image.
AKI Academy of Art & Design Hulsmaatstraat 35, 7523 WB Enschede, The Netherlands. Phone: +31 534824400
