ERASMUS+ INCOMING - Department of Development Studies

On this page you find information regarding your Erasmus+ Stay at the Department of Development Studies of the University of Vienna. For questions please contact the Mobility coordinator: Markus Gatschnegg.

Content of this page:

1. Contact Person
2. Course offer and course selection
3. Learning Agreement/Department-specific Confirmations
4. Course registration
5. Exams and Transcript of Records

1. Contact person

For specific questions regarding your study (Learning Agreement, Course registration and exams, Courses in english and questions about courses) please contact:

Markus Gatschnegg
E-Mail Adresse: markus.gatschnegg@univie.ac.at
Telefonnummer: 0043-1-4277-451 34
Location: Sensengasse 3, Stiege 2, 1090 Wien

Office hours during the semester: DI (10-12), MI (10-12), DO (14-17) and after appointment
Office hours during semester breaks: DI (10-12), MI (10-12), DO (10-12) and after appointment

Access Plan

In case you will be doing research in Vienna (for example for your master thesis) and require additional supervision, please discuss this with your mobility coordinator (see above) as soon as possible.

If you have already arrived in Vienna and need advice or signatures for documents such as the Learning Agreement, we kindly ask you to consult the coordinator (see above).

International Office

For general information concerning your ERASMUS stay, please visit the website of the International Office. The International Office receives your nomination from your home university and sends you the Letter of Acceptance. They can answer questions regarding your admission and student ID card, accommodation, living in Vienna etc.

2. Courses and selection of courses

Course Directory System:

The courses of the Development Studies can be found in the Course Directory System with U:Find. They are listed under "Studienprogrammleitung 24". Here you find details like sessions per week, beginning of courses, ECTS, language of instruction and so on.

The course directory system will be online at the beginning of July for the winter term, and middle January for the summer term. However, be aware that until the beginning of the semester there will be changes in the course offerings. If you need the Learning Agremment before that dates, please use the courses of the previous semester as an orientation. Please be also advised, that not all courses are offered every semester.

Language requirements and course in non german language of instruction:

Most of the courses at our Department are held in german, therefore a minumum knowledge of the german langugage at the level B2 after the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is necessary. No official proof is required, but your sending University must confirm the level during the nomintation process.


There are also courses in english offered every semester. You can find these courses over U:FIND by entering the following command in the search box (at "x" put in the year, eg. 2017W, 2018S)
Courses in the winter term: lang:en SPL 24 201xW
Courses in the summer term: lang:en SPL 24 201xS

ECTS and courses:

Your sending University determines which courses and how many ECTS you need to pass during your stay at the University of Vienna.

There are many different courses at the University of Vienna, but there is one major distinction: lectures (VO) and lecturse with tutorials(VK) are courses without obligatory attendance. A written or oral exam at the end of the semester has to be passed to successful complete the lecture.

Seminars (SE) are courses with continuing assessment. During the sessions frequent participation (e.g. presentations, participating in discussions, written homeworks) is required as well as a written seminar paper needs to be handed in for successfull participation.

The Austrian Grading system does have 5 scales: 1 (Very good), 2 (Good), 3 (Satisfactory), 4 (Sufficient), 5 (fail).

With the nomination from your home university, you have principally the option to take part in all courses of our department.

Participation for Students from different study fields:

Exchange students who are not nominated for Development Studies, but want to participate in courses from our department, are asked to contact the Büro IE to find individual solutions. However, no guarantee can be given, that the participation will be possible (e.g. limitations of free places).

3. Learning Agreement

Learning Agreement

For the Büro IE it is satisfactory if you bring the learning agreement after your arrival in Vienna into our office for the signature. Please contact Markus Gatschnegg, if you plan to visit outside the opening hours.

Nevertheless please send the course list before your arrival in order to check the your selection.

Confirmation for other courses

Please be aware, that we can only confirm courses from the Development Studies. For a confirmation of other courses you need a separate Learning Agreement. Please check the details here.

The participation in language courses at the Language Center of the University of Vienna and in courses which are related to Austria are confirmed by the International Office.

If you wish to attend courses outside our field of study, please find out how the matter of external ERASMUS students is addressed in the field of study you want to take courses from. If they offer courses that can be taken by external Erasmus students without prior permission of their mobility coordinator, you can have these signed on your Learning Agreement by the Büro IE. In this case please print the website (or any other confirmation) stating that it is possible to participate in the course in question without prior permission. 

Other study-related confirmations

In case you need particular documents signed for your home university that include course-specific information such as language of instruction etc., please contact Markus Gatschnegg during the office hours. For any documents that should just indicate the dates of your registration or de-registration at the International Office, please contact the International Office.

4. Course Registration

Registration Deadlines

Course registration for IE courses usually starts in the middle of September for the winter semester and at the middle of February for the summer semester. The registration does not use a "first come, first serve" system, so it is not of relevance to register at the beginning of the registration phase.

Please note that it is mandatory to register for a course!

Course registration is done via U:SPACE. You do not have to be in Vienna in order to register for courses. The International Office will send you an email with your student ID number and the instructions on how to activate your u:account well before the start of the registration period. 

Registration process

In order to register for a course, please follow the registration link in the course catalogue. It is provided in each course's detailed course description in the section "An/Abmeldung" (please note that this link is only active during the registration period!). Please choose [“Erasmus-Modul”] when asked for the module during registration. Further information can be found here.

The registration is completed once your status in U:SPACE has changed to “angemeldet” ("registered") after the end of the registration period. If your status is listed as “vorgemerkt” (pre-registered) during the registration period, you can ignore this; your status will automatically be changed to “angemeldet” ("registered") after the registration has been closed. If this is not the case within a day after the end of the registration period, please contact ­Markus Gatschnegg. Please note that attendance during the first course session is obligatory. If you don't show up in the first session without an excuse, you might lose your place in the course.

If your status is “Warteliste” (waiting list), you were put on the course's waiting list. In this case please do go to the first course session in order to see whether you can obtain a place.

General information on course registration at the University of Vienna can be found here

Deregistration

Should you decide to not to take part in a course after all, please deregister from the course via U:SPACE as soon as possible so that we can offer the place to another student. Deregistration is possible until October 31st (winter semester) or March 30th (summer semester). Please also tell your course instructor about your deregistration.

If you haven't deregistered by October 31st (winter semester) or March 30th (summer semester), you might get a negative grade for the course in your transcript of records.

5. Exams and Transcript of Records

In order to sit exams it is often necessary to register for exams via U:SPACE. Registration for exams usually starts 2 weeks before the day of the exam.

Exam dates

The exam dates are usually announced during the first course session at the beginning of the semester. Exams are usually held at the end of the semester or up to one week after that. 

Transcript of Records / Confirmation of Attendance

Grades and ECTS credits are usually registered in U:SPACE within one month after the exam. The system allows you to print your transcript of records with a digital signature at least until the end of April (stay in the preceding winter semester) or until the end of November (stay in the preceding summer semester).

In case you do not need a grade or ECTS credits but just a confirmation of attendance for a course, please mention this to the respective course instructor right at the beginning of the semester.