Welcome Reception for Incoming Students
On 5 March 2024, the International Office hosted its Welcome Reception for the new exchange students.
The official welcome and speeches took place in the historical Main Ceremonial Hall, followed by snacks and drinks in the Small Ceremonial Hall. Nearly 1,000 incoming students spend their exchange semester at the University of Vienna every academic year. At the reception, representatives of the university officially welcomed them. Incoming exchange students participating in the Erasmus+ and the Non-EU Student Exchange Programme of the current semester were invited. Mobility coordinators, representatives of ESN - Erasmus Student Network at the University of Vienna and staff of the International Office responsible for student mobility were also present. With 250 students attending the reception, the invitation was very well received.
Impressions
Christina Schuster, part of the student mobility team (International Office of the University of Vienna) moderated the event.
Vicerector Manuela Baccarini spoke kind words of welcome.
The well-attended Ceremonial Hall.
Ivan Yudushkin, who is a Mobility Coordinator at the Center for Molecular Biology, spoke about the supporting role of the mobility coordinators.
Emma D'Arcy, an incoming law student from the University College Dublin, told us about her experiences in Vienna so far.
The audience wasn't sure whether the Viennese people were friendly or unfriendly.
After the official part of the event, the guests had time to mingle.
A few fun facts for the current academic year
- The University of Vienna is hosting 450 students in the Erasmus+ programme and 110 students in the Non-EU Student Exchange programme in the summer semester 2024.
- This year’s Erasmus+ exchange students come from partner universities in 31 countries, but the students themselves are citizens of even more countries – namely 57 different ones in total. The top 5 countries of origin for our incoming students:
Erasmus+: 1. Germany (98), 2. France (75), 3. United Kingdom (37) 4. Irland (36), followed by 5. Spain (27) and 6. Italy (26)
Non-EU Student Exchange: 1. USA, 2. Australia, 3. Kanada, 4. Japan, 5. South Korea - The biggest degree programme for our incoming students is Law followed by German Studies, and Economics is on the third place, followed by History and Political Science.
- The Partner Universities that are sending the most students this year are:
National University of Ireland, Maynooth (13), Institut d'Études politiques de Paris (12), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and University College Dublin (10 each) - around 27 incoming students come from partner universities within our Circle U. alliance.
- The shortest distance from their home university to the University of Vienna was travelled by students from Bratislava (55km), the longest distance this year was travelled by Erasmus+ students from Université de la Réunion, 8610 km and by students within the Non-EU Student Exchange Programme from Sydney, Australia (15.975 km)