History of the University

1928 Labor

Our roots go back to 1776, when the preli­mi­nary premises, a drawing school, was founded. The influences of the Bauhaus Move­ment and the former Ulm School of Design (Hoch­schule für Gestal­tung, Ulm) are forma­tive for the teaching approach of outstan­ding design prin­ci­ples at the HfG Schwä­bisch Gmünd.

1776
Founded as a drawing school, which was expanded in 1860 to become a trade school with its own specia­list depart­ment for golds­miths and silversmiths.

1907
The Royal Tech­nical College for Precious Metals Industry“ is founded.

1909
Sepa­ra­tion from the voca­tional school and move on 1 April into the new school buil­ding desi­gned by the archi­tect Martin Elsässer with an adjoi­ning museum wing for the Gmünder special museum”. The majo­rity of univer­sity is still housed in this buil­ding today.

1923
Renamed State College for the Precious Metals Industry“. Josef Albers, Lászlo Moholy-Nagy, Wilhelm Wagen­feld and other Bauhaus greats are guests in Schwä­bisch Gmünd.

1926
Estab­lish­ment of the first Class for Indus­trial Design“ by Prof. Walter Klein.

1950
Renamed State College for Precious Metal Trade“. After the end of the 2nd World War, classes begin as early as October 1945. The class for indus­trial design is restarted by the new head­master Prof. Walter Lochmüller.

1965
The Staat­liche Werk­kunst­schule Schwä­bisch Gmünd“ (State school for tech­nical arts and crafts is founded. After the previous emphasis on craft­sman­ship, a strong concen­tra­tion on design issues follows. Product designs are now inse­pa­rably linked with visual design.

1972
The Fach­hoch­schule für Gestal­tung“ is consti­tuted. The foun­ding rector is Prof. Karl Dittert. The educa­tional concept of the previously very artis­ti­cally oriented insti­tu­tion is now based on the design prin­ci­ples of the Ulm College of Design.

1983
The design funda­men­tals form the basis for the estab­lish­ment of the courses of study Product, Jewel­lery and Visual Design.

1987
Inte­gra­tion of the area called New Media.

1999
The course of study is funda­men­tally restruc­tured. The two over­laying courses of study, Infor­ma­tion and Media Design and Product and Envi­ron­mental Design, enable students to set their own indi­vi­dual priorities.

2003
The Master’s program in Commu­ni­ca­tion Plan­ning and Design commences.

2004
Conver­sion of the previous diploma courses to the new bache­lor’s degree courses in Commu­ni­ca­tion Design and Product Design.

2005
The univer­sity is now called Hoch­schule für Gestal­tung Schwä­bisch Gmünd ( Univer­sity of Applied Design).

2007
Addi­tion of the course of study Inter­ac­tion Design; first admis­sion in the summer semester.

2008
The Master’s degree program Product Plan­ning and Design is launched.

2010
Start of the reno­va­tion of the histo­ri­cally preserved univer­sity buil­ding by archi­tect Martin Elsässer in the Rector-Klaus-Straße. Move to Gmünd-Tech in Marie-Curie-Straße.

2012
Exten­sion of the Inter­ac­tion Design course of study to a full course of study; students are admitted for the summer and winter semester.

2014
The Master’s program in Stra­tegic Design starts. This marks the end of the Master’s programs Commu­ni­ca­tion Plan­ning and Design and Product Plan­ning and Design.
Move to a new univer­sity buil­ding at Bahn­hof­platz 7 in Schwä­bisch Gmünd.

2015
The bache­lor’s degree course Digital Product Design and Deve­lo­p­ment – Desig­ning Networked Systems starts. The HfG Schwä­bisch Gmünd is the first univer­sity in the German-spea­king world to offer this course of study and moves back to the HfG’s comple­tely reno­vated and moder­nized main buil­ding at Rektor-Klaus-Straße 100.

2018
The first DP students successfully complete their bachelor studies.

2019
For the first time since its foun­da­tion, the univer­sity has more than 700 students.