Get ready for a fast-paced, hands-on first year focused on collaboration and production. You’ll complete over 15 concept shots or installations, one short film as a visual effects artist, and numerous team projects across on-set and post-production environments. This year trains your visual eye and technical agility while helping you explore a range of techniques in visual effects and digital arts. You’ll build a digital portfolio showcasing your projects, technical skills, sketches, concepts, and creative process documentation.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of Year 1, you will be able to:

• Create and integrate practical, live-action, and digital elements into cohesive final images.
• Manage rapid production cycles through weekly and fortnightly project briefs.
• Capture references and action both on set and in green screen environments.
• Design and animate 2D graphic elements and matte paintings.
• Develop 3D assets and bring them to life through texturing, lighting, and animation.

In your second year, the focus shifts from producing volume to achieving depth, precision and originality. You’ll explore advanced tools and workflows in mechanics, dynamics, digital compositing and VFX supervision while refining your creative voice and technical confidence. Monthly briefs will challenge you to meet industry standards and expand your artistic boundaries. Through collaborative projects, you’ll take greater ownership of your process — from concept and supervision to delivery — as you explore new realities and digital-physical intersections.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of Year 2, you will be able to:

• Manage full VFX projects, including creative and technical supervision.
• Apply advanced techniques in motion, rendering, and simulation (fluids, particles, smoke FX, motion capture, etc.).
• Explore interactive, real-time and immersive formats including AR, VR and projection mapping.
• Deepen your storytelling and visual narrative skills.
• Adapt to emerging technologies and evolving visual art languages.

In your final year, you’ll merge your skills, artistic voice, and professional vision into a cohesive creative identity. You’ll conceptualise, plan and produce a major self-initiated project that showcases your best work, while refining your ability to collaborate, pitch and distribute within the visual effects industry. This year focuses on both creative mastery and professional readiness, helping you navigate your chosen career path with confidence through close mentorship and industry engagement.

Learning Outcomes
Year 3 is your transition from student to professional creator in the world of visual storytelling. You’ll consolidate your technical mastery, refine your artistic voice, and define your place within the visual effects, video game, and digital arts industries. Through advanced production, interdisciplinary collaboration, and professional reflection, you’ll bring your ideas to life and prepare to launch your creative career.

By the end of Year 3, you will be able to:

• Define, research, plan and produce a major artistic project from concept to launch.
• Present, pitch and distribute your work effectively within industry contexts.
• Collaborate across disciplines while refining your specialisation.
• Strengthen professional and interpersonal skills relevant to the visual effects field.
• Develop advanced storytelling and narrative design abilities.

All applicants will be asked to provide: personal and educational information, documentation of their education experience, a portfolio and a personal introduction (which can be submitted as a written statement of motivation or a video/audio clip). Visit our How To Apply page for more detail.

MINIMUM ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

- Standard entry: graduation from high school at a level which would normally permit entry to university in the country where it was gained. This would be A-Levels in the UK and the Abitur in Germany, for example.

- Non-standard entry: We recognise that not all education happens in the classroom and it may be possible to admit you through a non-standard access route. If you do not possess the required formal qualification, but have acquired relevant professional or life experience, please contact our Admissions team.

If neither of the two categories above describe your situation, you'll most likely need to complete a short course to gain access to our 1 and 3-year HE degree courses.

LANGUAGE 

- Language: The language of instruction in all our courses is English and applicants must demonstrate a level equal to IELTS 6 (equivalent to B2 in Germany and other EU countries). You can either submit a language certificate or can take our free 90 min online test.

For more information please contact our Admissions team and we’d be happy to discuss your opportunities to come study with us.

Course start: Mid-September 2026
Applications open: Mid-October 2025

Application deadlines

Visa-required applicants

Applicants from countries requiring a visa before entering Germany:

• Priority deadline: 28 February 2026 (includes early enrolment bonus and visa support)
• General deadline: 30 April 2026 (subject to visa processing time)

EU/visa-exempt or post-arrival applicants:

Applicants from EU/EEA, Switzerland, or countries allowing visa-free entry (e.g. USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea):

• Priority deadline: 31 March 2026 (includes early enrolment bonus & guaranteed spot)
• General deadline: 5 June 2026
• Late applications: Until 28 August 2026 (subject to availability)

Priority deadlines & early enrolment bonus

Apply by the priority deadline to secure your place and receive a €3,000 discount on your total tuition.
Early enrolment gives you early access to our visa support service and allows us to plan group sizes and resources in advance.

What does “visa” or “visa-exempt” mean?

• Visa-required: If you require a visa before entering Germany (e.g. citizens of India, Brazil, Mexico, China, Turkey), you must apply at a German embassy before arrival. Our Visa Support Service (included in the enrolment fee) supports you with paperwork, appointments and timelines. Visa processing can take 3–6 months, so early application is essential.
• Post-arrival visa: If you're from a country that allows visa-free entry (e.g. USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea), you can enter Germany without a visa and apply for your student residence permit after arrival.
• Visa-exempt (EU/EEA/Switzerland): If you're a citizen of the EU, EEA or Switzerland, you don't need a visa or residence permit to study in Germany.

You can check your visa requirements here.

Payment options*

• Per semester: €6,028
• Annual payment: €11,693 per year (3% discount)
• Flexible plans: Monthly and extended payment options available
• Upfront discount: Save 8% on total tuition when paying in full
• For detailed payment plans please download the Course Guide

*Enrolment fee: €895 per study year (non-refundable, due before each academic year begins). Visa support is included as part of the enrolment fee.

Scholarships & financial support

• Eligible for BAföG and other national funding schemes you can check here.
• €6,000 scholarships available – applied across all three years (€2,000/year)
• With scholarships and extended payment plans, tuition can be reduced to as low as €733/month, spread across four years (including one year post-graduation)

Early enrolment bonus - apply early to save €3,000 off your total tuition

Early enrolment secures your place, helps us plan group sizes and facilities, and gives you more time to prepare for your move to Berlin. You’ll benefit from a €1,000 tuition reduction each year.

• Visa-required students: Apply by 28 February 2026
• EU & visa-exempt students: Apply by 31 March 2026

Note: early enrolment bonuses cannot be combined with scholarships.

Multiple-course bonus:

If you decide to enrol in both a 4-week Summer Short Course and a degree course with us in within two years, you will receive a discount of 500€ on the total tuition.

Funding opportunities

As an officially accredited higher education institute based in Berlin, Catalyst offers access to a range of national funding opportunities for eligible students, such as BAföG.
Visit our funding guide to explore the most common options available to our students, both in Germany and across Europe.

Get a feel for Catalyst and our courses at a range of both online and in-person events. Join us at a Virtual Open Day or an Open House session at our campus in Berlin, chat to our programme leads at Meet The Tutor, or try a taster workshop. 

As an officially accredited higher education institute based in Berlin, Catalyst offers access to a range of national funding opportunities for eligible students, including BAföG and other public financial aid schemes available across Germany and the EU.

In addition to public funding, Catalyst offers a variety of scholarships designed to support diversity, equity, and access in the creative arts. These include:

• General and school-specific scholarships across all Bachelor's and Master's programmes
• Up to €6,000 in tuition support for Bachelor’s students (spread over three years)
• Relocation support scholarships for international students moving to Berlin

To learn more about these opportunities and how to apply, visit our full Funding Your Studies guide.

1. Global stories & cultural perspectives scholarship

For emerging VFX, games and digital arts practitioners from diasporic, non-Western or otherwise underrepresented cultural backgrounds who use visual media to tell stories not typically seen in mainstream contexts.

Who it’s for

Applicants whose lived experiences, heritage or cultural identity shape their visual practice – including those from the Global Majority (BIPOC), migration backgrounds or marginalised communities.

Eligibility criteria

• Self-identification with a community or cultural background underrepresented in visual media
• A commitment to telling stories from, with or about these communities
• Experience or interest in disrupting conventional screen narratives through cultural perspective

2. Equity in film & visual media

For VFX, games and digital arts practitioners exploring identity, community and systems of power, particularly from perspectives often left out of the mainstream. It supports those navigating structural barriers as they build a path in screen and interactive media.

Who it’s for

Applicants who identify with one or more underrepresented communities, including Queer and LGBTQIA+ individuals, FLINTA*, BIPOC, mature or career-switching creatives, and those navigating intersectional barriers related to race, gender, class, disability or migration.

Eligibility criteria

• Self-identification with a structurally excluded or marginalised group
• A creative focus on identity, representation, community or social issues
• Demonstrated engagement with storytelling, media-making or activism from a personal or political perspective

3. Social justice & documentary storytelling scholarship

For visual media artists investigating themes of displacement, climate, borders or social inequality through documentary, hybrid or issue-driven digital work.

Who it’s for

Visual media artists committed to socially engaged practice, including those with lived experience of migration, rural marginalisation or working-class contexts.

Eligibility criteria

• Projects or themes focused on displacement, justice, ecology or identity
• Demonstrated interest in documentary, hybrid or activist storytelling
• A personal or political motivation to explore urgent global or local issues through visual media

4. Narrative reinvention scholarship (career switchers)

For applicants moving from another field into VFX, games or digital arts, bringing new perspectives, transferable skills and life experience to screen storytelling.

Who it’s for

Those with prior study or work experience in another industry seeking a new creative path in visual media.

Eligibility criteria

• Prior degree or substantial career experience outside the screen industries
• Demonstrated interest in storytelling through VFX, games or digital arts
• A reflective approach to shifting careers and building creative authorship, plus motivation to challenge dominant perspectives through lived experience