LEIPZIG’S ACADEMY OF VISUAL ARTS LAUNCHES ENROLLMENT PROGRAM FOR REFUGEES

The Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig has launched an unprecedented program to enable fifteen refugees to study art in Germany, reports the Leipziger Volkszeitung. The institution is one of the country’s oldest art schools, having been founded in 1764.

Six refugees have already enrolled; the remaining nine will join the academy later this semester, once their residency obligations in other German states, where they currently live, have been lifted.

According to the Saxony Ministry of Science and Art, the fifteen new students had previously been enrolled in visual or graphic art studies in their home countries, but were unable to complete them. They now will follow the general program and course requirements of the HGB. Due to their limited language skills, some courses will be taught in Arabic.

The ministry announced on Tuesday that the program’s prerequisites were established by the newly founded Academia für transkulturellen Austausch. At an enrollment ceremony, the minister of science Eva-Marie Stange, of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, praised Rayan Abdullah, professor of typography at the HGB, for establishing the ATA earlier this year.