Fashion Design at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts is undoubtedly one of the world leading programs. It was Mary Prijot who established courses in fashion illustration in 1963, more than 50 years ago.

Fashion is considered as an expression of our time, as a relationship between garments, the body and society, but also as an artistic and creative entrepreneurship. The fashion programme at the Antwerp Academy emphasis on the development of an artistic and innovative fingerpint…

You will be encouraged to work with new forms, original remakes of materials and alternative, creative processes.

As a soon-to-be fashion designer you are looking forward to new and unexpected experiences. Through the years dozens of graduates earned international renown, because of their artistic and personal characteristic fashion designs.

REQUIREMENT 1: YOU ARE IN THE POSSESSION OF THE REQUIRED DIPLOMA
a degree Secondary Education awarded by the Flemish Government,
a degree Higher Education or
a degree or certificate that is being acknowledged as equal by law, degree, European guideline or any other international agreement.
You can see the list with study accreditations in link.

REQUIREMENT 2: YOU NEED TO PASS THE ARTISTIC ENTRANCE EXAMINATION
The programme ‘Visual arts’ is only accessible once you have passed the artistic entrance examination.

REQUIREMENT 3: YOU NEED TO HAVE SUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Language requirement for enrolment in the English-taught bachelor programme

To enroll in the English-taught bachelor and master programme in Visual Arts, under any type of contract whatsoever, you need to prove having sufficient knowledge of the English language. This can be done in different ways:

by submitting proof of having an ASO-degree (Flemish prospective students) or a VWO diploma (Dutch prospective students);
or by submitting proof of having successfully completed at least one year of English-taught secondary education;
or by submitting proof of having successfully completed a study programme or one or more course units with a total study load of at least 60 ECTS credits in English-language higher education;
or by providing a language certificate.
The required level of English proficiency is determined according to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference). Your language certificate must demonstrate that you possess the B1 level.

English language tests can be taken at Linguapolis (Interuniversity Test of Academic English (ITACE), but they can also be taken in other language centres in Flanders or in your home country.

Language requirement for enrolment in the Dutch-taught bachelor programme

To enroll in the Dutch-taught bachelor and master programme in Visual Arts, under any type of contract whatsoever, you need to prove having sufficient knowledge of the Dutch language. This can be done in different ways:

by submitting proof of having successfully completed at least one year of Dutch-taught secondary education;
or by submitting proof of having successfully completed a study programme or one or more course units with a total study load of at least 60 ECTS credits in Dutch-taught higher education;
or by submitting proof of having passed the Interuniversity Language Test Dutch for Foreigners (ITNA) or another proof from an adult education center or recognized language center.
The Interuniversity Language Test Dutch for Foreigners (ITNA) was developed by the language centers of four Flemish universities, and can be taken at Linguapolis:

https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/centres/linguapolis/.

The required level of Dutch proficiency is determined according to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference). Your language certificate must demonstrate that you possess the B2 level.

REQUIREMENT 4: AS A FOREIGN STUDENT YOU NEED A RESIDENCE CARD FOR BELGIUM
All foreign students that reside in Belgium during their studies will need a valid Belgian residence card for the duration of the academic year.

Only when you have passed the artistic entrance exam and meet all other conditions stipulated above, by 31 October of that academic year at the latest, you can finalize your registration.

You can read the detailed roadmap for your full enrolment in the useful links.
For other questions contact the student administration office link.

Study accreditations

Artistic entrance examination

Detailed roadmap for your full enrolment

Student administration office

You obtained a BA (Honors) degree in the field of visual arts and you are craving to dig deeper in this fascinating realm? Maybe you would like to explore new horizons, expand your territory, get aquaintance with new fellow students and faculty. Than our College might be an excellent choice.

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp is a renowned European institute for higher arts education, established in 1663. On our unique historical location situated in the city center of Antwerp we offer courses and graduate programs in English. These cover the Fine Arts (painting, sculpture, printmaking, in situ and photography) and the Applied Arts (jewelry design, graphic design, costume design and fashion).

During your master degree program you are challenged to articulate your autonomous degree project. Your preliminary artistic research will help you to define a concept and a significant body of artistic work (fashion, performance, prints, paintings…).

Complimentary to your studio practice we offer theory classes and seminars to enhance your knowledge of culture, contemporary art and/or entrepreneurial subjects. Last but not least we provide a broad range of (long or short term) interdisciplinary masterclasses.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Diploma level requirements

a bachelor degree in Visual Arts, awarded by the Flemish Community, with a corresponding main discipline and competency profile;
a bachelor degree (or equivalent) in Visual Arts with a corresponding discipline and competency profile, awarded by a university or university college from another country, will be taken into consideration after a positive outcome of the application procedure.
a bachelor degree (or equivalent) with a different discipline and competency profile will be taken into consideration for a pre-master programme (bridging programme) after a positive outcome of the application procedure.
Language requirements
You have the choice between a Dutch and an English course programme.
The required level of proficiency is determined according to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference).

Dutch: B2
English: B1
Alternatives:

submitting proof of having successfully completed at least one year of English-taught secondary education;
submitting proof of having successfully completed a study programme or one or more course units with a total study load of at least 60 ECTS credits in English-language higher education
You are not obliged to hand in the language proficiency at the time of application.

APPLICATION DEADLINES
1st call
EER and non EER applicants: graphic design, jewelry design, theatre costume design, fashion, sculpture, printmaking, painting, photography, In Situ³
Deadline registration + submitting digital portfolio : 25 March 2018
Interviews: between 2 and 25 May 2018, by appointment

2nd call
only EER applicants: graphic design, jewelry design, sculpture, printmaking, painting, photography, In Situ³

Deadline registration + submitting digital portfolio : 20 August 2018
Interviews: before 17 September 2018 (start academic year) by appointment

APPLICATION PROCEDURE
The procedure is done in 5 steps.

Step 1: Register online (as from January 29th) and upload your documents and portfolio.

1 Registration
Personal details: as complete as possible
Enrolment:

Mention the title of your bachelor degree (> “opmerking”)
Fine Arts need to be specified: Sculpture, Painting, Printmaking or In Situ³
Respect the call’s deadline
2 Upload of the documents and digital portfolio
All the required documents have to be uploaded in the application platform. Please don’t send any documents by email.
Upload two files:

file 1:

degree copies/ certificates of current and/or previous education
CV
motivation letter/ personal statement
master proposal (see infra)
When still studying in your last BA year a certificate of enrolment in the actual school is obligatory

file 2: digital portfolio (pdf). Portfolio requirements see infra.

We will not be able to proceed with your application when more than 2 files are sent!
In case your portfolio should be more than the indicated 15MB you can put a link to onedrive, google drive or a website.
As long as you didn’t submit the form, you will have the chance to review all the information and add or remove documents.

Step 2: Check of the registration and upload by the administration officer
Attention: because our system doesn’t generate an automatic reply you will not receive a confirmation email! You will be contacted only when there is something missing/not clear.

Step 3: Portfolio assessment by the course team
The outcome of the portfolio assessment will be sent by email. In case you are not selected, you can ask for a motivation on simple request.

Step 4: Interview
If you are selected you will be invited at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp for an interview (Skype interview allowed on request except for the Fashion Programme).
Selected students for the Fashion programme always need to do an extra assignment (depending on the previous studies) and have to be present during 2 days.
The outcome of the interview will be sent by email.

Step 5: full enrolment
Information about a full enrolment is sent together with a positive outcome of the interview.

PORTFOLIO REQUIREMENTS
your digital portfolio must be a collection of your artistic work (sketchbooks, illustrations, drawings,…), which shows how your artistic abilities and ideas have progressed over the last years;
research and processes you have used to develop your work are as important to the assessment as the result;
mention all useful data such as date of work, material, exhibition or venues,…
in case of team work you have to describe your role in the process;
maximum size of each file is 15MB. Following formats are allowed: PDF, doc, docx, jpeg, gif. There is no indication for a minimum/maximum of pages.
Additional demands for the Fashion Programme:

a complete image of the collection(s) from your previous degree, all aspects involved: coupe, choice of fabrics, choice of colors, research
a variety in silhouettes and materials
artistic drawings of silhouettes.
Your artistic luggage must be visible in the portfolio / collection. The proposal for the master project must show a complete image of the collection.

MASTER PROJECT PROPOSAL
The Master project proposal is an explanation of the research in and possibly outcome of the project.
In other words: What is the content of your work going to be during your study and how do you think you can achieve this?
It does not want to restrict you in any way. This can and will change during the process.
Provide a text (+ 1 page), possibly supplemented with visual elements, in which you explain your starting point.
Fashion:
Proposal for a 12-silhouette collection (basic research, sketches, fabrics and fibres, …)

PRE-MASTER (BRIDGING) PROGRAMME
As you could read in ‘Entry requirements’ (see top) some students need to follow a pre-master programme.

What is a pre-masters?
A pre-masters is for international students who do not obtain the Bachelor degree with corresponding discipline they applied for in order to improve certain skills and/or artistic research.
It is also for national students who need to develop (artistic) research ahead of a taught masters degree.
A pre-masters gives the students the chance to familiarize with the teaching methods and teachers at the Academy.
A pre-masters is one academic year.

What about the programme?
You will have a programme of + 45 credits:

studio practice mainly related to 3BA
specific courses related to your studio practice
research methodology 3BA
By the composition of your exact programme previous studies are taken into account.
After a positive assignment at the end of the academic year you will be granted a certificate that gives you automatically access to the master programme.

Study fees (based on academic year 2017-2018):

Full programme 60 credits:
Study fee for EER-students: 1.086€
Study fee for EER-students Fashion: 1.286€
Study fee students outside EER: 6.946€
Study fee students outside EER Fashion: 7.146€

Apply Now

Student administration office