Requirements

The student must be admissible to Higher Education through a diploma with good results at least equivalent to the Dutch havo, vwo or mbo-4 for our bachelor programmes and 4 years hbo for our master programmes. Does your diploma match with this requirements? Check here what the Nuffic has to say about the diploma you’ve obtained.

Select the relevant country and open the pdf file. At the ‘evaluation chart’ you’ll find an overview of the most common diplomas and their comparison in level to the Dutch educational system. This will give you a clue about your admission possibilities.

The other chapters of the pdf file contain more information about the curriculum of the specific education. Sometimes it depends on the curriculum of your previous studies if your diploma will meet the full described level, so this file from the Nuffic must only be used as a guideline; our student registration will determine the final admission.

Short degree programmes
If you want to apply for a short degree programme, the following entry requirements are also applicable:

• Having completed a minimum of three years of higher education in the discipline of further study. 
• Or a bachelor Degree in a related field of study. 

The students’ qualifications will be assessed by the Admission Officer of the specific course on the basis of the provided diplomas, curriculum vitae,  letter of motivation and, if necessary, an intake interview.

As proof that you meet the English language requirement, you will be asked to upload one of the English language certificates below. The minimum required scores are applicable to our bachelor- and master study programmes.

• IELTS (academic) with a minimum overall score of 6.0.
• TOEFL Internet Based (minimum score of 80) and TOEFL Paper Based (minimum score 550). Please note that we do not accept the MyBest scores of the TOEFL test as well as the TOEFL iBT Home Edition certificate.
  Make sure you add Saxion as a score recipient by using our institutional code 7533.
• Cambridge language assessment with a minimum score of 169 – First, Advanced, Proficiency.
• TOEIC certificate, both listening and reading (minimum score 670) and speaking and writing (minimum score 290).

Please be aware that we do not accept language test certificates that are older than 2 years at the desired start date of the study programme.

Exemptions
You are exempted from submitting one of the above test certificates if:

• Your diploma is on Nuffic's diploma list and the subject English is on your final transcript of grades.
• The medium of instruction of your completed bachelor or master studies was English (this requires submitting a copy of your bachelor or master diploma). Please provide us with an official signed and stamped statement from your university in which they confirm that the medium of instruction of the entire curriculum was English.
  This also applies to the English taught American High School curriculum that is accredited by an American regional accreditation organization, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and GCE AS/A level certificates issued by AQA, Pearson, Edexcel, OCR or Cambridge.
• In some cases exemption is possible if the diploma is obtained in a country where English is the main language of communication. Please inquire via studentregistration@saxion.nl whether you qualify.

IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC and Cambridge English grades & scale

IELTS	TOEFL Paper Based	TOEFL Internet Based	TOEIC		Cambridge English Score
			Listening and Reading	Speaking and Writing
5.0	500	60	600	240	154 - 161
5.5	525	70	620	260	162 - 168
6.0	550	80	670	290	169 - 175
6.5	575	90	720	310	176 - 184
7.0	600	100	780	350	185 - 190
7.5	625	113	790	400	191 - 199

As part of the enrolment process, CMGT submits applicants to a compulsory intake. The CMGT intakes consists of 3 stages:

1. Online questionnaire & pick interview date

2. Interview preparation (with 2 products)

3. Interview

Based on these 3 stages, you receive an admission letter. The admission decision for CMGT is binding. If you receive a negative decision, you cannot enrol in the CMGT bachelor at Saxion.

Our intake system opens in November. Please apply via www.studielink.nl The deadline for making a interview appointment is 1 July. The deadline for completing the whole intake is 15 July.

 

Stage 1: online questionnaire & pick interview date

Once you complete your official registration at www.studielink.nl (please choose Saxion > Creative Media and Game Technologies Bachelor), you will receive login credentials for www.saxion-intake.nl via email. It can take two weeks before you receive the login credentials. Therefore we advise you to register before 15 June.

Please answer all questions in our online questionnaire as honestly as you can. The questions help us to identify your motivation, skills, personal qualities and your professional image.

At the end of stage 1 you need to pick a date for intake interview.

Stage 2: Interview preparation

During this stage, you will prepare two products for the interview. Please read carefully and prepare well! Your interview will be aborted if you do not bring both products!

Product 1: your portfolio

You need to bring samples of previous portfolio items, work, explorations and adventures with you to the interview. Your samples give us insight into your creativity, motivation, and areas of interest.

If you’re more creative, portfolio items could be:
Concept Art, 2D design, 3D modeling, animation, drawings, level design, photography, video, in-game work, graphic design, audio, game engines, code snippets, concept designs, audio, storytelling.
* this list is not exhaustive!

If you’re more technical, portfolio items could be:
3D modeling, level design, in-game work, audio, game engines, Networking, algorithms, code snippets, working software, concept designs, audio, etc.
* this list is not exhaustive!

Product 2: your SDG Game

You need to create a basic, functional game level and demo the game during your interview. Your game needs to meet the following criteria:

Game engine: Unity or GameMaker
Game type: Free of choice (for example: platformer, mobile, FPS, action, adventure, puzzle, e.g.)
Theme: Your game needs to be based on one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). See https://sdgs.un.org/goals#goals for more information. You are free to interpret and apply the goal in your game as you want. Be creative! For example: design a game focussing on gender (in)equality or make a game about pollution of world seas.
In game requirements: Game elements based on (technical or creative) sketches. Make sure you can show your process from first idea generation to final element. For your sketches, you can choose either regular drawing, digital drawing, 3D, photography or a combination of these methods.

• A movable, visible character.

• A timer or collecting system.

Other requirements: At least 3 different characters or background sketches. Justification (orally or written) and desk research about the SDG theme of your game.

Focus

All criteria need to be met, but you’re free to choose your focus. So:

• if you’re more creative, you focus more on the sketches, characters, and assets.

• If you’re more technical, you focus more on the gameplay and coding.

It’s a creative assignment, use your imagination! Your game does not have to be perfect. Focus on solving problems, justifying your choices, exploring new tools. Try your best, and see what you can achieve.

Stage 3: Interview

For the intake interview you need to bring your products of stage 2 (your portfolio + your SDG Game). One of our intake teachers will discuss these with you, in addition to your answers on the questionnaire of stage 1.

Your products will provide us with starting points for a discussion. During the interview you discuss your preferences for CMGT, your interests and expectations. The research you did before deciding on studying CMGT and the industry in which you will ultimately be working, also receives attention.

Note: You must show your game and portfolio items through screen sharing. It’s not possible to upload any files of the assignment to the intake system.

During the interview we’ll assess your ability to:

1. Creative use technology;

2. Translate your imagination into a specific solution.

Based on these assessments, we’ll assess your suitability for the CMGT bachelor.

Result

The interview will result in one of 3 outcomes. Your admission decision will be emailed to you within one week after the interview. This result is binding.

• Positive advice: You’re a good match for CMGT. If you need all formal criteria, you can start with the CMGT bachelor next September.

• Neutral advice: You have potential and we welcome you to CMGT. Some additional training on your end is advised before joining CMGT. The admission decision specifies what you should do. If you need all formal criteria, you can start with the CMGT bachelor next September.

• Negative advice: An insufficient matching was found between you and the CMGT bachelor programme. The admission decision specifies where you scored insufficiently. Please try to enrol to another bachelor programmes that is more suitable for you. You cannot start with the CMGT bachelor.

Resources

If you’re not familiar with any of the game engines required for the game, here are some helpful links to resources that can help you prepare:

Unity
Creative applicants:

• https://learn.unity.com/pathway/unity-essentials/?tab=pathway_map
• https://learn.unity.com/pathway/creative-core
• https://learn.unity.com/project/bolt-platformer-tutorial

Technical applicants:

• https://learn.unity.com/pathway/unity-essentials/?tab=pathway_map

• https://learn.unity.com/pathway/junior-programmer

• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR5QFsefuO2RlAgWEz6EvVi6

GameMaker
Creative applicants:

• https://gamemaker.io/en/blog/make-pixel-art-2d-games
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQh8FveNvrU

Technical applicants:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izNXbMdu348
• https://gamemaker.io/en/tutorials

Good luck,

The CMGT intake team