Step 1. Who can apply?
You must have a qualifying degree in order to apply for admission to the design programme.
The following degrees qualify for admission:
- STX - General upper secondary examination
- HF - General upper secondary examination
- HHX - Commercial general upper secondary examination
- HTX - Technical general upper secondary examination
- EUX - General upper secondary examination taken as a part of a vocational education
In addition:
- Faroese general upper secondary examination, Greenland upper secondary examination (GU exam), Faroese general upper secondary examination (hf), commercial general upper secondary examination from Greenland, technical general upper secondary examination from the Faroe Islands, technical general upper secondary examination from Greenland and diplomas from the Duborg School and the A.P. Møller School in Schleswig, Germany.
- Secondary bridging courses for foreign language (GIF)
- Danish/French Baccalaureat (DFB), European Baccalaureat (EB), International Baccalaureat (IB) or Option Internationale du Baccalauréat (OIB), Danish-German Internationale Abiturprüfung (DIAP)
- International examinations etc. which can be equated with a Danish upper secondary exam, or which the Danish Agency for International Education (UI) has assessed as comparable to a Danish upper secondary exam.
If you have a foreign degree and you are unsure whether it qualifies you for admission, you can check the examinations manual via link below. Look under your country and go to the “Examinations” tab. For selected countries instructions are available in the download menu on the right-hand side.
This year’s students: If you complete your qualifying degree after 15 March 2025, you must enter this information in point 4 on the KOT application. When you have passed your final exam, you must upload your diploma to your application at www.optagelse.dk no later than 5 July 2025 at 12.00.
Exemption from a qualifying degree
If you are granted an exemption, this means that you can take part in the admission process on an equal footing with the other applicants. If you are not granted an exemption, you are ineligible for admission.
The exemption request must include:
An answer to the following brief: “Use words and images to describe and put into perspective one of your own design projects, while comparing it to a similar project that you are familiar with.”
Your answer to the brief must include a text explaining your own thoughts regarding your design solutions / products:
In your opinion:
- Why is your idea and the purpose of your idea a good choice?
- Why is the solution constructed the way it is?
- What have you chosen to include/not include in terms of the solution’s shape, colour, material, size, purpose etc.?
- Why have you chosen to compare these projects?
- What works and what doesn’t work in terms of the two projects?
Your answer must not exceed 3 pages distributed as follows: 1 page with text and 2 pages with illustrations (photos, sketches and drawings).
- A CV and a motivated application. In your motivated application you must explain why you want to apply to the design programme and what you have worked with previously. This motivated application and the CV must not exceed 3 A-4 pages.
- Proof of completed degree(s)
Your exemption request must show your ability to work and communicate visually, and we use it to assess your talent and development potential as a future designer. We also asses if your writing skills match that of an applicant with a qualifying exam.
You must upload your exemption request as an attachment to your KOT application.
Remember to mark the field “Other admission criteria” in the KOT form.
If you were granted exemption from a qualifying degree at Design School Kolding in 2022 or 2023, you need not submit another exemption request.
You must upload a copy of the email in which you were granted exemption as an attachment to your digital KOT application. The reference number on the form is your participant number or your civil registration number.
Evaluation of your exemption request
Kolding School of Design will assess your exemption request. Response to the exemption request: You will be informed no later than 7 May 2025 whether you have been granted an exemption from a qualifying degree.
Language requirements for international applicants
Our Bachelor programme is almost entirely taught in Danish, and applicants must document Danish language proficiency comparable to the Danish “A level”. International applicants, whose qualifying examination does not have an element of Danish language, must have passed a test in Danish language proficiency. The test is called ‘Studieprøven’ (“the “Study test”) or ‘Higher Education Examination of Danish as a Second Language.’ Prior to 2004, this test was known as “Danskprøve 2”.
Danish language qualifications can be documented as follows:
- Passed ‘Danish A’ in a Danish secondary school exam ("gymnasium") or from VUC
- Nordic entry examination with the mother tongue at the highest possible level passed.
The requirement of ‘Danish A’ is automatically fulfilled by Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, Fins, Faroese, and Greenlanders by having passed Danish, Swedish, or Norwegian at the equivalent, highest level from upper secondary school. International applicants with Danish citizenship are exempt from the language requirement. Icelandic applicants can also meet the ‘Danish A’ requirement, by having passed Icelandic at an equivalent level or the Study-test of Danish as a foreign language.
The Study test in Danish must be passed with the grade 02 in each discipline.
For more information and registration for the Study test, please contact:
Sprogskolen Kolding
Ågade 27
6000 Kolding
Main number: +45 7979 8300
E-mail: sprogskolen@kolding.dk