Studying and Living in Schwä­bisch Gmünd

An exch­ange semes­ter at the HfG opens new per­spec­tives! Schwä­bisch Gmünd is a rather small city. It has a limited club scene, good living condi­tions, and a strong student commu­nity. The Univer­sity will expose you to new design approa­ches, themes, dif­fe­rent tea­ching, and lear­ning methods. Every semes­ter we usually welcome more than 20 exch­ange stu­dents from all over the world. We are looking forward to recei­ving your application!

Studierende der HfG

Student life in Schwä­bisch Gmünd

700 pro­s­pec­tive desi­gners study at the HfG Schwä­bisch Gmünd in the state of Baden-Würt­­te­m­­berg. Some years ago, the Finan­cial Times Germany has attri­buted Schwä­bisch Gmünd as Germany’s Secret Design Capital“ since there are nume­rous design agen­cies, adver­ti­sing and mul­ti­me­dia com­pa­nies, archi­tects and crea­tive service providers

Schwä­bisch Gmünd with its 60.000 inha­bi­tants is located in the metro­po­li­tan area of Stutt­gart and is sur­roun­ded by forests, meadows, and farm­land. Street cafés, tra­di­tio­nal wine bars, markets, variety of shops, and rich and lively cul­tu­ral scene give the town its special flair.

Housing cost is afford­a­ble and distan­ces are short, as most of our stu­dents prefer living in the central area of the medi­eval town­cen­ter with its his­to­ric buil­dings, half-tim­­be­red houses, and Baroque buil­dings. The coun­try­side is a para­dise for sports and open-air fans with excel­lent faci­li­ties for cycling, riding, hiking, clim­bing and most indoor sports.

Stutt­gart, the state capital of Baden-Würt­­te­m­­berg, is only 40 minutes away by train or car and offers a huge variety of cul­tu­ral events and shop­ping opportunities.

Housing

Schwä­bisch Gmünd is an ideal place for students to live. The cost of renting a flat is mode­rate, and the quality of life in this lovely city is high. We would be happy to assist you, if you are in need of accom­mo­da­tion, and will send you infor­ma­tion as soon as we receive your application. 

We coope­rate with Studie­ren­den­werk Ulm who provide student housing off campus. The student housing is located nearby in Neiß­e­straße 20, Ober­bett­ringen in close proxi­mity to the univer­sity. There is a bus connec­tion to the univer­sity available and within short distance of 5km acces­sible. The rooms are furnished with a bed, clothes cupboard, books­helves, desk and chair. There are fully-equipped shared kitchens on each floor – even with a TV set, laundry faci­li­ties and a sauna are on the ground floor. There is internet access in each room. 

Buddy Program

The HfG is fort­u­nate to be supported by the Inter­na­tional Team, a group of students, who assists our inco­ming exch­ange students with all their concerns when coming to Schwä­bisch Gmünd.

They also orga­nize the Buddy Program. Each exch­ange student will be assi­gned to a German fellow student. Your buddy will give you support during the first days of your stay and will answer your ques­tions during the semester. Buddies will help you with admi­nis­tra­tive matters, finding accom­mo­da­tion, orien­ta­tion in and around the univer­sity and help you with the selec­tion of courses.

The Inter­na­tional Team also rents bikes to our inter­na­tional students. During the semester they orga­nize plenty of events and acti­vi­ties for all exch­ange students, for instance, inter­na­tional dinners, bar crawls, trips to other cities and museums and, of course, a trip to the world-famous fun fair Cannstatter Volks­fest” in Stutt­gart. Fun guaranteed!

International Students

Visa – What docu­ments do I need?

For Euro­pean citi­zens a valid ID card is suffi­cient. Non-EU citi­zens need a pass­port and a visa to enter and stay in Germany. Students coming from China, Costa Rica, Brazil and India have to get their visas before ente­ring Germany. Students coming from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Japan and South Korea can get a visa until two weeks after arrival. The follo­wing docu­ments are required:

  • Two pass­port copies
  • Two copies of your visa provided you already have one
  • Your health insu­rance docu­ment plus one copy of it
  • If you are awarded a scho­lar­ship, please bring the docu­ment confir­ming the scho­lar­ship. This is needed for the Foreign Office as you have to prove that you have suffi­cient funds — 735 euros per month — to live in Germany.
  • Your letter of accep­tance and/​or the enrol­ment paper which confirms that you are accepted to study at the HfG.

More useful infor­ma­tion concer­ning your exch­ange studies in Germany: www.study-in-germany.de/de/

What about health insurance?

All students are required to have a health insu­rance. For Euro­pean Citi­zens, the Euro­pean Health Insu­rance Card is suffi­cient. Non-Euro­pean citi­zens have to have a German health insu­rance. It costs about 100 € per month. In case you need more infor­ma­tion, please contact the Inter­na­tional Office.

Erasmus Students

Finan­cial Support during your exch­ange semester

Most of our exch­ange students are finan­ci­ally supported by their home insti­tu­tion. We further­more offer a few scho­lar­ships for exch­ange students coming from count­ries outside of Europe.

Erasmus+

Students from our Euro­pean and Israeli partner insti­tu­tions are usually supported by the Erasmus+ program. Please contact your univer­sity for further infor­ma­tion on this program. The Inter­na­tional Office will sign all the neces­sary docu­ments: Lear­ning Agree­ment, Certi­fi­cate of Arrival or Certi­fi­cate of Attendance.

Baden-Würt­tem­berg Stipen­dium and other scholarships

If you come from a country outside of Europe and you can account for excel­lent academic results you may apply for a Baden-Würt­tem­berg-Stipen­dium“, a scho­lar­ship from the federal state of Baden-Würt­tem­berg.

We offer a few other scho­lar­ships which are some­times linked to certain partner insti­tu­tions. Please contact the Inter­na­tional Office for further information.