In 2010 started, on the initiative of the Hochschule für bildende Künste and the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S., the international exchange program Art School Alliance with the goal of intensifying links and exchange with famous art universities all over the world.

The Art School Alliance and the associated grants allow up to 22 international art students per year a semester to live and study in Hamburg without paying rent or study fees. Studio apartments have been provided on three floors of a factory building in the Karolinenstrasse – at the heart of the culture scene, between St. Pauli and the Schanzenviertel district.

In turn, as many HFBK students spend a semester at partner universities abroad without paying student fees, having acted as mentors for exchange students in Hamburg in a previous semester. The HFBK chooses students to take part in this exchange programme in an internal selection process.

• Annandale-on-Hudson/New York State: Bard College, Division of the Arts
• Boston: School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University
• Buenos Aires: Universidad del Cine
• Hamburg: Hochschule für bildende Künste
• Hangzhou: China Academy of Art
• Jerusalem: Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
• London: Goldsmiths, University of London, Department of Art
• Los Angeles: California Institute of the Arts
• New York: Purchase College, School of Art+Design
• Osaka: Kindai University, Department of Cultural Design
• Paris: École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
• San Francisco: San Francisco Art Institute
• Shanghai: Institute of Design, China Academy of Art
• Vienna: Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien

Academic achievements will be certified by the host university and recognised by all universities taking part in the programme. The combination of living and working in a new context should also promote an intensive exchange of ideas and experiences for both local and international students.

The Art School Alliance allows the HFBK to extend the international network for its students and graduates and to help them find a place in the global art scene.