Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig is a public academy of fine arts in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig is one of the oldest public art academies in Germany. It is internationally renowned for painting and printmaking, but also distinctive for its programs in photography, book design and graphic design, and media art. Institutional Development 1764 Adam Friedrich Oeser becomes director of a new academy for drawing, painting and architecture. February 1764 — teaching started with a first group of 23 students. Today its academic profile is shaped by painting, graphic design, printmaking, photography, book design, typography, illustration, media art, curatorial studies, art history, media theory, aesthetics, art education and artistic research. Location is important, because the Wächterstraße campus is situated in the active publishing, museum, gallery, festival, independent-art and creative-industry environment of Leipzig. The campus provides studios, printing and photography workshops, media laboratories, a gallery, library and theory institute.

This master file includes the course portfolio (4 undergraduate, 2 postgraduate), and combines subject combinations under their parent degrees where applicable. Examples of undergraduate work include Book Design and Graphic Design, Photography, Painting and Printmaking, Media Art and later Photography, Painting and Printmaking, Media Art. Cultures of the Curatorial, Meisterschüler Postgraduate Study Cultures of the Curatorial, Meisterschüler Postgraduate Study Postgraduate study begins from Each course remains a parent qualification with specialisations recorded on the course entry rather than misrepresented as separate degrees. The first to be entered is the artistic portfolio, with four ten-semester Diplom study programs. The Cultures of the Curatorial MA and the Meisterschüler postgraduate course are listed separately, as are the academy’s academic doctoral fields.

Admission is handled at the program level. First degree applicants apply online and submit a portfolio of about 20-30 works by the February deadline published . They then take a program specific entrance examination . Advanced and doctoral routes have separate degree, project, portfolio, supervision and language conditions . Applicants have to check the teaching language, the semester of entry, the subject requirements, the selection procedure and the route of documents before applying. International School or University Qualifications External evaluation, certified translations, APS documentation where applicable or other proof of academic equivalence may be required. Master’s committees may require module descriptions, portfolios, writing samples, professional experience or interviews. Admission to the doctoral programs is independent of admission to the undergraduate or master’s programs and generally requires a feasible research proposal, suitable supervision and formal approval by the relevant faculty.

Regular first-level studies and Meisterschüler studies are tuition-free. The published contribution for the Winter 2026/27 semester is €325.80. Cultures of the Curatorial is €550 per semester and statutory long term study fees may apply after the relevant threshold. These institutional charges do not cover rent, health insurance, food, learning materials, residence formalities, project costs or personal travel. If provided for by the relevant law or program regulation, special tuition may be provided for continuing-education, distance-learning, joint, second-degree, or long-term study formats. Funding (e.g. BAföG for eligible students, Deutschlandstipendium, DAAD and Erasmus+ mobility support, foundations, research employment or university-specific awards) is available, but each funding application is evaluated separately from admission.

Career preparation is in line with the university’s subject mix and is not a guarantyd placement scheme. Internships, applied projects, research assistantships, employer events, language development, entrepreneurship services, international mobility and a thesis developed in cooperation with an external partner can all help to improve professional readiness.