Terms around study

A signed written application form for admission to a study program is necessary if you have a non-Austrian university entrance qualification or if you want to start a further study program (Master, Doctorate) without a previous degree at the TU Wien. In this case, please note the relevant points on the homepage for admission.

A successful application for admission leads to a "Zulassungsbescheid". This notification, or the evidence required in the notification, must then be presented upon admission to the desired study program. Some of the requirements of the notification must only be fulfilled during the course of studies. Please also note the processing times of several weeks for such an application.

In case of an Austrian university entrance qualification (Matura or equivalent certificate) this step is not necessary.

From a legal point of view, an selection procedure is an additional requirement for admission to a study programme. Selection procedures are carried out for studies in which the number of places is limited. Therefore, only a maximum number of students is admitted per academic year.

Selection procedures have their own registration deadline (usually in spring) within which one can register for participation. If this deadline is missed, students will not be allowed to start in the affected studies for that academic year.

For the exact procedure and all information on selection procedures, please refer to the pages for the respective study programme.

Please note that even though you have completed the selection procedure and have been granted a place on the study programme, you must also fulfill all other general requirements for admission to the programme in order to be able to claim this place on the programme.

ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) is a European system for credit transfer and accumulation. Each course certificate at TU Wien has a certain ECTS value. This value indicates how much effort is required on average for the successful completion of a course. Here, 1 ECTS corresponds to an effort of 25 hours.

In order to complete a Bachelor's degree, you need 180 ECTS. The respective study plan describes exactly which courses must be completed. If you want to study in the minimum period of study, you have to pass courses amounting to 30 ECTS per study semester.

A course (German: Lehrveranstaltung or LVA) is the smallest unit for which there is a certificate. Courses are offered for one semester. You must usually register for a course in TISS. Please note the information on course registration deadlines for each individual course you wish to attend.

You will need your matriculation number to register. There is no course registration without a matriculation number. Please note that you often have to register separately for exams or tests. Usually, the exact formalities of the course will be explained to you in detail during the first appointment and are available in the course description in TISS.

There are different types of courses. The most important are Vorlesung (VO), Übung (UE), Laborübung (LU), Vorlesungsübung (VU) und Seminar (SE). In addition, there are several other formats. Furthermore, a distinction is made whether a course in your curriculum is a compulsory course, compulsory elective course, elective course or a course of the free elective. Courses can be with or without compulsory attendance, this can be seen in the course description. 

Assessment: Courses can be assessed by a final examination (3 examination dates per semester) or they have an immanent examination character - this means that the assessment takes place continuously, for example by tests or by exercises. 

A course can take place in attendance (normal case), online or hybrid (i.e. with online and attendance parts), this can be seen in the course description.

Courses of the STEOP are offered in the summer semester as well as in the winter semester.

After completing a course, you will receive a certificate, which will be displayed in TISS and made available for download. This contains the assessment (grade or successful/unsuccessful participation) and the ECTS of the course.

The matriculation number is an ID that uniquely identifies students in Austria. It is the central key for all procedures during studies.

The matriculation number is assigned to each person only once for the whole of Austria. When you are admitted to a degree programme, it is therefore essential to state this number if you have already received one - both at an Austrian university and at a university of applied sciences.

If you do not yet have an Austrian matriculation number, one will be assigned to you in the course of admission to studies.

The matriculation number is also used at the TU Wien as a user ID for logging on to various university systems.

The term semester refers to a very specific period of time (e.g. winter semester 2022 =2020W).

An academic year is divided into two semesters: The winter semester always starts on 1.10., the summer semester always on 1.3. of a year. A winter semester and the following summer semester form an academic year (e.g. 2022W + 2023S => academic year 2022/23).

Courses are always offered for the duration of one semester.

The study semester is a semester (see above) in which you were registered for studies. The number of study semesters constitutes the duration of studies. This affects the eligibility for various grants (scholarships, family allowance, tuition fees, etc.).

The lecture-free period falls in the winter semester in February, in the summer semester from July to September). Please note that courses may be offered or examinations may take place during these periods. You can find the exact deadlines in the Academic Calendar.

The StEOP is specified for each Bachelor's degree programme in the respective study plan. The StEOP serves to check whether the chosen degree programme meets one's own expectations and whether the requirements of the degree programme can be fulfilled personally. The StEOP is designed in such a way that it can be completed in the first semester of the degree programme.

Please note that further courses can only be attended after the StEOP has been fully completed. Please also note that without the StEOP only a certain number of ECTS can be completed in the degree programme. Repeated attendance at courses of the StEOP is permitted. However, further study is only possible after positive results in all StEOP courses.

Information on the curricula can be found in TISS, opens an external URL in a new window. 

Courses that are part of the StEOP are marked in TISS. However, please also always note the "Verordnungstext". There, the StEOP is described in detail. In some curricula, you can also choose between different courses in order to complete the StEOP.

Please note that repeated negative grades in StEOP courses can lead to exclusion from the degree programme.

The curriculum is the legal basis of a degree programme. It contains the requirements for the courses to be completed, the ECTS, other necessary steps in the study programme, as well as an overview of the study contents and further information about the study programme.

From this, the electronic study plan including semester recommendations for courses is created in TISS.

If you have positively completed all the required ECTS according to your study plan, you can submit your degree and thus successfully complete your studies.

The study plan is a regulation in the legal sense. Therefore, in TISS you will always find the "Curriculum Document" in addition to the electronic study plan. This always contains the currently valid curriculum.

From a legal point of view, the Programme-PRe-Phase is an additional requirement for admission to the degree programme. Programme-PRe-Phases are set up for all Bachelor's degree programmes without an admission procedure. These studies are not limited to a certain number of study places. Nevertheless, a Programme-PRe-Phase that has not been completed on time prevents you from starting your studies.

For the exact procedure and all information on the Programme-PRe-Phase, please refer to the pages on the respective degree programme.

Please note that you must fulfil all other general requirements for admission to a degree programme even if you have completed the Programme-PRe-Phase.

The timetable is not a fixed grid like at a school, which you have to complete in exactly the same way as a student in a class. Rather, the timetable is created by your personal choice of which courses to attend in the coming or current semester and when they take place.

Basically, you are free to decide which courses you would like to attend. However, some courses require positive completion or at least knowledge of the contents of other courses as a prerequisite.

To support you in this, you will find a semester view for each study plan in TISS, which indicates which course is recommended in which semester in order to complete the degree programme in the minimum time. From there you can also switch to the timetable view for orientation.

For each semester of a degree programme, a timetable can be called up in TISS, which contains all time-bound dates for courses in the selected semester. This view makes it easier for students to select their courses without overlaps. Please note that some courses offer several groups (e.g. exercises in exercise groups at different times), but only one of them has to be attended.

TISS (TU Wien Informations-Systeme und Services) is the campus information system of TU Wien.

TISS allows you to create a guest account before you start your studies, with which you can complete those parts of your application that take place online. This way you can participate in selection procedures or Programme-PRe-Phases, enter your personal data and make your choice of studies. Please note that in some cases (e.g. Matura not in Austria) you additionally need a written application for admission. Check the homepage in good time to find out which documents are necessary in your case.

Later, as soon as you have been admitted to the programme, TISS enables you to register for courses, retrieve certificates and much more.

Admission to the degree programme is the official start of studies. Admission has to be done in person by presenting all required documents at the Admissions Office during the admission period for the following semester. With the admission you will receive your matriculation number, or an existing matriculation number will be transferred into the system of the TU Wien. Only after admission is it possible to register for courses. The student ID card is also issued within the scope of admission.

Please find the exact modalities and the classification to which group of persons you belong on the pages on admission.

The TU Wien offers additional services at the start of studies to make it easier to get started.

Please note that you must also register for these offers in good time.

Furthermore, we can recommend the following general offers around studying and the TU Wien.