University in Germany
Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
University profile
The Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf is the music university of North Rhine-Westphalia's state capital, with around 900 students from more than 57 nations. Fifty-three full-time and part-time professors and more than 200 visiting lecturers (Lehrbeauftragte) provide individual tuition, and graduates go on to opera and symphony orchestras, music schools, church music posts, sound engineering, film scoring and solo stage careers.
Teaching is organised in four main degree areas: Musik, Musikvermittlung, Ton und Bild, and Musik und Medien. Musik, the largest, puts the stage at the centre of study, with the university orchestra performing regularly in the Düsseldorf Tonhalle and the opera class staging a production each year in cooperation with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Musikvermittlung covers music education (Musikpädagogik), conducting, aural training (Hörerziehung), choral conducting and church music (Kirchenmusik).
Four institutes structure specialist work: the Institut für Kirchenmusik, the Institut für Komposition und Musiktheorie, the Institut für Musik und Medien (classical recording, media composition, music informatics, music production and management, AV production, Visual Music) and the Musikwissenschaftliches Institut. Ton und Bild, run jointly with the Hochschule Düsseldorf, combines an engineering degree with musical training. Schumann Junior, founded in 2008, is a training centre for highly gifted pupils aged 10 to 17, and since 1976 the university has trained musicians in cooperation with the Ausbildungsmusikkorps of the Bundeswehr.
Student life centres on the campus concert programme, with several lecture and practice evenings each week in term in the Partika-Saal, which seats around 200. Facilities include a canteen (Mensa), an open-shelf library, 51 practice rooms with high-quality pianos and grand pianos, a self-playing Steinway Spirio|r in an ensemble room, recording studios and a dance and movement room. The student body is represented by the AStA and the Studierendenparlament, and the Institut für Kirchenmusik has its own student residence (Studierendenheim).
International students apply through the same audition-based route as German applicants. Tuition is in German, and German certificates are required at B2 for most programmes, C1 for the Master in Musicology and C2 for the doctorate. The International Office coordinates Erasmus and exchange study, with bilateral agreements across more than 20 European countries and partners in Japan, Korea, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA. The university has agreed a Hochschulvertrag with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Hochschule's own pages give the semester contribution (Semesterbeitrag, not tuition) for winter 2026/27 as EUR 366.80: AStA contribution EUR 20.00, Studierendenwerk contribution EUR 120.00 and Deutschland-Ticket EUR 226.80. Students on leave (beurlaubt) pay EUR 140.00. Aptitude test fee: EUR 50.
The university runs a growing study scholarship programme. Annual offers include the Deutschlandstipendien (including those funded by the Dr. Harald Hack Stiftung and the Ewald Horbach Stiftung for Musikvermittlung students, for students with children, and for music education), a stipend for the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, and the Härteausgleichsfonds of the Ewald Horbach Stiftung. For international students, the DAAD Studienabschlussstipendium and the DAAD prize for foreign students are listed.
PROMOS funds study stays of 1 to 6 months, internships, language courses, master classes and study trips for German students, and Erasmus grants support 3 to 12 months at European partner institutions, available once during a degree including the doctorate. Enquiries go to the International Office (Miriam Ellmann-Orlinski, +49 211 4918 126). See the official scholarships page.
Browse the scholarships listed for Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and check each award’s eligibility.
View scholarships for Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf →The Bachelor of Music (Musik, Musikvermittlung, Musik und Medien) and the Bachelor of Engineering (Ton und Bild) take eight semesters and 240 credit points. Admission is by aptitude test (Eignungsprüfung) for every applicant: a performance in the main artistic subject, a secondary subject performance, a personal interview and a music theory written test. Musikpädagogik adds a pedagogical colloquium. Applicants for all programmes except Kirchenmusik and Orgel first pass a pre-selection by submitting video recordings or work samples with their documents. Bachelor study starts in the winter semester only. Applications are made online through the Muvac portal, whose access links open about a month before the deadline of 1 March. Aptitude tests for winter 2026/27 run from 22 May to 4 June 2026, with the music theory test on 5 and 8 June 2026.
The Master follows the Bachelor, normally lasts four semesters and also requires an aptitude test with video pre-selection (except Kirchenmusik and Orgel). Most Master programmes start in either semester; Künstlerische Musikproduktion, chamber music (strings, winds, piano), Liedgestaltung and Musikpädagogik start in the winter semester only, and Klang und Realität in the summer semester only. Deadlines are 1 March for winter and 31 October for summer. The Excellence programmes Konzertexamen and Komposition also use the Muvac portal.
The Master in Musicology requires the Allgemeine Hochschulreife or equivalent, a completed Bachelor in musicology or a completed artistic, music education or school music degree with documented musicology credits (shown by transcript of records), German at C1 level at enrolment and a motivation statement forming the basis of an admission interview. The deadlines are 15 August for winter and 15 February for summer. The doctorate (Dr. phil.) is open to those with a Master in Musicology graded better than 2.5; four assessed achievements and attendance at the doctoral colloquium are compulsory. Applicants should contact the Musikwissenschaftliches Institut beforehand and apply by 15 February or 15 August.
Tuition is in German. Applicants must hold a final examination certificate at Goethe-Institut B2 level (or equivalent) for the Musik, Musikvermittlung, Musik und Medien and Ton und Bild degrees and the Master programmes Klang und Realität and Künstlerische Musikproduktion; C1 for the Master in Musicology; and C2 for the doctorate. Certificates from university language centres, the IIK Düsseldorf, adult education centres and telc test centres accepted by the university are recognised if comparable. A certificate of attendance or an online course without a final examination is not accepted. Applicants who pass the aptitude test but lack the certificate at semester start may enrol as Kollegstudierende and provide it during the first year.
Each applicant pays an aptitude test fee of EUR 50 to the Landeshauptkasse NRW; further simultaneous applications cost EUR 10 each, and enrolled students are exempt. The fee is not refunded. Exchange and Erasmus students from partner institutions apply by 30 April for the winter semester and 30 October for the summer semester through Muvac, with a student application form, learning agreement, motivation letter, CV and a recording link of about 15 minutes or a portfolio.
The Hochschulbibliothek holds about 150,000 media (books, scores, periodicals, CDs, LPs, DVDs, facsimiles and the Callhoff estate), with media workstations, three group study rooms (Denkfabriken), two media workshops and a music lab. It is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 9:00 to 18:00, Tuesday 10:00 to 18:00, and closed on Friday. Other facilities are 51 practice rooms, recording studios in the Institut für Musik und Medien and the Partika-Saal. The campus is reached from Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof by U78/U79 to Kennedydamm/Musikhochschule or Golzheimer Platz; few parking spaces are available.
Study programmes offered at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf.
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