After successful nomination, you will receive an e-mail from us asking you to activate your u:account and to register in Mobility Online. If you have not received this email by 10 May (winter semester) or 10 October (summer semester), please send us an e-mail.

In the course of registration you will register in u:space. Please only use the link provided by e-mail to register in u:space. u:space is the central access point for students regarding organisation of their studies at the University of Vienna. Once you have successfully registered in u:space, you will be able to log in to the u:space portal using your u: account login data.

You will receive information on all the necessary steps in good time in e-mails sent to the address you provided with your nomination. Please read all the information we provide carefully and only use the links we sent in our e-mails to register – these are personalised links for incoming students.

You will receive your admission letter (for your visa application) upon completing the registration.

You can find an overview of the steps which exchange students need to take in order to be admitted to the University of Vienna here: Admissions procedure

As part of your registration in u:space you order your u:card (the student ID card of the University of Vienna). For this you must upload a passport photo and some ID (passport or identity card - also stating your citizenship).

For your preparation here are already details concerning your passport picture:

• The head must fill about 2/3 of the picture.
• The background has to be single-coloured and has to provide sufficient contrast to the face.

The photograph…

•  must have been taken recently and in colour
•  should be able to cleary identify you
•  you must be the only person in the photo
•  must be uploaded in JPEG or PNG file and have a maximum file size of 5 MB

Please only order the u:card after having received an e-mail asking you to do so! You will receive detailed step-by-step instructions on how to do so with the request.

Further information:
u:card

Following admission to the university, you will receive an e-mail with your student ID number (by Mid-August for the winter semester or by the beginning of February for the summer semester).

All exchange students are exempt from paying a tuition fee at the University of Vienna. Nevertheless, every student has to pay the fee for the Austrian National Union of Students, including insurance (ÖH = Österreichische HochschülerInnenschaft), which is currently € 21.20 per semester (2022/23). The payment is compulsory to complete your enrolment and in order to obtain a valid student ID card.

You will find information on payment options in your u:space account under "Financial Matters": "Students’ Union fee". Here you can also check whether your payment has been registered ("received on" willl appear next to the fee).

One possibility is to pay the fee with a credit card (only Mastercard or Visa) via u:space. In this case the sum is credited to the University of Vienna’s account immediately.

Alternatively, you can request a payment form at your orientation session, which you can then use to pay in cash at any post office. By using this option it usually also takes about a week for the money to be transferred to the University of Vienna’s system after the payment. We therefore recommend either paying in advance using the credit card option or online banking or planning participation at an orientation session in good time in case you would like to have a valid u:card already at the beginning of the semester.

Please do not pay by bank transfer from any non-European bank accounts as the expenses may be very high!

If you have an Austrian bank account, payment per EPS is also possible via u:space. In this case the payment is registered in the University of Vienna’s account immediately.

Please note that if the payment is not received by the deadline (winter semester: 31 October; summer semester: 31 March), your enrolment cannot be finalised.

Exchange students receive their u:card at the orientation session, regardless of whether they have paid the Students’ Union fee or not. However, you cannot validate the u:card until the Austrian Students' Union fee has been registered in the University of Vienna’s system.

You will be able to purchase the semester ticket for public transport and once you have activated your u:account you may register for courses without a valid u:card. However, you will not be able to use the library for free nor get any student discounts (for example for theatre tickets) until your u:card has been validated.

It is possible to get discounted copy cards and discounts for Mensa menus (canteen) through the Austrian Students' Union (ÖH) of the University of Vienna. Please contact the Students’ Union directly for information on how to take advantage of discounts using your u:card.

Further information:
u:card

The orientations for the summer semester 2023 are planned to take place in person at the International Office. We will send you an email with further information on the content and registration in January. You can choose from the following dates:

Thursday, 2 February, 10 am - 12 noon

Monday, 13 February, 1-3 pm

Wednesday, 22 February, 1-3 pm

Tuesday, 28 February, 10 am-12 noon

Thursday, 2 March, 10 am-12 noon

Please bring a photo ID (e.g. passport) and a FF2 face mask with you to the orientation.

There are two different types of courses at the University of Vienna:

• Courses with a final exam (“nicht-prüfungsimmanenten Lehrveranstaltungen”), e.g lectures (“Vorlesungen”, VO), are courses where regular attendance is not mandatory. There is usually a written exam at the end of the semester in order to obtain a grade.
• Courses with continuous assessment (“Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltungen”), e.g. training courses (“Übungen”, UE), proseminars (“Proseminare”, PS) and seminars (SE), are courses with compulsory and regular attendance. Assessment criteria are active course participation, presentations, midterm-tests, papers and written and/or oral end-term tests.

As an exchange student you do not have to take courses from the STEOP module (“Studieneingangs- und Orientierungsphase”). Indeed, we normally recommend that you do not take any of these courses during your stay.  

Students who have been nominated for the bachelor programme may usually also attend courses from the master's programme provided they have sufficient knowledge on the subject. 

• The course catalogue (or course directory) u:find contains all courses offered at the University of Vienna. 
• It is available online from August or January for the forthcoming semester.
• It will, however, still be updated and new courses can still be added until the beginning of the semester. If you need to know what kind of courses are available in your field of study before the new course catalogue is published, e.g. for your home university, please use the one from the previous winter or summer semester, which will give you an idea of the courses on offer. Please keep in mind, however, that not all courses are offered every year/semester.
• Courses which are taught in a language other than German are marked with a blue button indicating the language of instruction.
• You can find your field of study in the directorates of studies (“Studienprogrammleitungen”, SPL). Sometimes one directorate of studies (SPL) lists several fields of study (e.g. SPL 4 Business, Economics and Statistics, which lists Business Administration, International Business Administration, Statistics and Economics as fields of study). 
• More detailed information on studying and the individual courses is available directly from the mobility coordinators at the individual departments.

Further tips on how to use u:find.

The deadlines for course registration depend on your field of study and are usually listed in the course catalogue u:find in the individual course details. Registration for courses in the winter semester usually starts in the beginning of September; registration for courses in the summer semester in the beginning of February.

The first-come-first-served principle does not apply during the course registration periods. Please note that it is mandatory to register for a course, even if you are not yet sure that you will eventually take it. It is not possible to attend a course without prior registration by the respective deadline, nor is it possible to be registered by the course instructor after the deadline.

In most cases, course registration is done online via u:space. In some cases, course registration must take place via e-mail or in person. You will find the relevant information in the course directory.

--> General information incl. registration deadlines

--> Additional information on how to register for courses via u:space

Please note that in the case of courses with continuous assessment (UE, PS, SE), course registration itself does not guarantee a spot in the course: if you do not attend the first session of the course without prior notification, you will be de-registered, and your spot will be given to someone on the waiting list.

Therefore contact the course instructor IN ADVANCE if you are not able to attend the first class, otherwise you will lose your spot even though you registered correctly.

Should you change your mind during the semester and decide not to attend a course after all, you will have to de-register from the course. As a rule, de-registration from courses will be possible in u:space within the first two weeks after the course has started.

Students who do not de-register from a course in time will most likely receive a negative grade (5).

Registration for exams is conducted via u:space and u:find. Only students who have registered for exams in due time are allowed to sit them.

Should you decide not to take an exam after you have registered for it, you have to de-register. Students who are registered for an exam and do not show up without prior notice to the teacher will not be allowed to take part in the next sitting. 

Austrian grading system

1    = excellent (outstanding performance)

2    = good (generally good, but with some errors)

3    = satisfactory (generally sound work with a number of substantial errors)

4    = sufficient (performance meets the minimum criteria)

5    = failed (substantial improvement necessary; requirement of further work)

ECTS

At the University of Vienna, the workload of an individual course is measured in ECTS credits. In Austria the full workload for students comprises 30 ECTS per semester.

Incoming students are expected to take at least 16 ECTS during their stay at the University of Vienna.

The home university is in charge of the approval of courses. Please contact your home university directly if you have questions regarding this.

Please note that the course fee must be paid in full when you register for the course. You will be refunded the discount subsequently when you present confirmation of your exchange student status to the Language Center.

By presenting their Certificate of Arrival, incoming students can obtain a discount of 20% on preparatory intensive courses in February and September, on summer language courses and on the trimester course. There is no reduction for German semester courses.

For the preparatory intensive courses (in September and February), incoming students who participate regularly and complete the course successfully receive a further rebate from the International Office so that they only have to pay a contribution of €130 (2022/23) themselves. The rebate is available both for offline and online courses. As this is a preparatory course, you can also only be awarded this rebate if the course is completed before you begin your studies at the University of Vienna. Students who spend a full academic year studying here can thus only claim a rebate for the September intensive course.

Please note that you can only apply for this rebate until 15 October (September course) or 15 March (February course) and that your application must be made directly to the Language Center of the University of Vienna.

Course books are not included in the course fee.

Incoming students get a discount of 25% on the regular price of language courses for languages other than German.