Welcome to the information area for international exchange students in the field of Molecular Biology at the University of Vienna

On this website you will find information about your ERASMUS stay in our field of study at the University of Vienna. Please read the information carefully. If you have further questions, please turn to your departmental coordinator who has been indicated in your Letter of Acceptance.

Please make sure you also read the International Office's checklists which are relevant for your period of stay carefully as they provide important general information. You can find these lists on the right ("checklists").

Content of this page:

1. Contact Persons
2. Course offer and course choice
3. Learning Agreement / Department-Specific Confirmations
4. Course registration
5. Exams and Transcript of Records

Mobility Coordinator, Director of study program "Molecular Biology"

Dr. Ivan YUDUSHKIN

Office 6.111
Doktor-Bohr Gasse 9, 1030 Vienna (AUSTRIA)
Due to multiple teaching obligations, personal appointments only via email.

The name of the person responsible for you is stated in the first information email (that also contains your Letter of Acceptance), which you received from the International Office after your nomination. If you haven’t received this email, please contact the International Office directly.

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 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 coordinators during their office hours. This can be done without appointment.

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. Course offer and course choice

Course Catalogue

The courses offered for our field of study can be found in the course catalogue.  Detailed course information, such as the language of instruction, first course sessions, lessons per week and ECTS credits are stated in the respective course descriptions. Should you need even more detailed information about a certain course, please contact the mobility coordinator.

The course catalogue for the upcoming semester is published in August (for the winter semester) or January (for the summer semester). If you need an overview of the offered courses earlier, please refer to the course catalogue of the relevant preceding semester. Please note, however, that not all courses are held each semester and changes to the course offer are possible.

Our courses are usually held at the Vienna Biocenter (1030, Dr.Bohrgasse 9) or in the Center for Biology (1090, Althanstraße 14)
The note "n.Ü." means that the detailed time schedule of the courses will be agreed upon with the students during an introductory lecture.
ATTENTION: In lab courses and seminars the number of participants is limited.

Language requirements and courses taught in English

In order to take up your studies in our field of study you are required to speak and write German at a level of B2 with regard to the Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR). ERASMUS students do not need to complete any official language test; however, your home university must confirm the required level during your online nomination. If you are able to find a sufficient amount of courses taught in English in our field of study, you may also take up your studies without any knowledge of German. However, basic language skills in German are strongly recommended in order to be able to find your way around in Vienna.

In our field of study there are some courses taught in English. You can find them in the course catalogue U:FIND entering the following command (without brackets, with blank characters).

• For courses taught in English during the winter semester: lang:en SPL 30  [year]W
• For courses taught in English during the summer semester: lang:eng SPL 30 [year]S

ECTS and courses

Please note that the number of courses and the amount of ECTS credits you need to obtain at the University of Vienna depends on your home university’s requirements.

There are different types of courses: Lectures (Vorlesungen, VO) and lectures with discussion (Vorlesungen mit Konversatorium, VK) are courses where regular attendance is not mandatory. There usually is a written or an oral exam at the end of the semester in order to obtain a grade. 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.
Grades are awarded within a five-digit grading system ranging from 1 (excellent) to 5 (unsatisfactory).

As an exchange student you do not have to take courses from the STEOP module (“Studieneingangs- und Orientierungsphase“ i.e. “Introduction and Orientation Phase”); you are even recommended to not taking any of these courses.

Advanced students who have been nominated for the Bachelor programme may also attend courses from the Master's programme if they have sufficient knowledge on the subject. However, this must be clarified with the mobility coordinator first.

As nominee from your home University for the studies at the Center of Molecular Biology you are entitled to participate in any lecture course (VO) of our studies.  Because of the high number of students, places in courses with a limited number of participants such as training courses (‘Übung’, ‘UE’) or seminars (‘Seminar’, ‘SE’) cannot be guaranteed. We therefore recommend concentrating on lectures and only taking one seminar or training course per semester.

Courses for external students in our field of study

Exchange students who have not been nominated for our field of study but who would still like to follow courses at our center are asked to see the mobility coordinator during their office hours after their arrival in Vienna in order to discuss the possibility. However, permission to participate in our courses cannot be guaranteed beforehand.

3. Learning Agreement / Specific Confirmations

Learning Agreement

If you have been nominated for our field of study, we kindly ask you to send us your Learning Agreement by the end of July (for a stay in the winter semester) or by the end of December (for a stay in the summer semester).
You can send the document via email. Please also enclose your current transcript of records. Changes in the Learning Agreement can be arranged in Vienna.

Confirmation of other courses

Please note that our mobility coordinators can only confirm courses from our field of study. If you wish to attend courses outside our field of study, you should use an extra Learning Agreement which lists these courses. Further information on this matter can be found here. The participation in language courses at the Language Center and in courses relating to Austria will not be confirmed by the departmental coordinator either. If you wish to have these courses confirmed as well, please contact 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 adressed in the field of study you want to take courses from. Especially courses with limited number of participants can only be chosen when agreed upon by the supervisor of the course.

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 see your mobility coordinator 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 at our department usually starts at the beginning of September for the winter semester and at the beginning of February for the summer semester. During these registration periods the "first come, first served" principle does not apply.

Please note that it is mandatory to register for a course, even if you are just interested in taking it. It is not possible to attend any course without prior registration.

Link to the registration period (in German)

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 this is not the case, please turn to the mobility coordinator to discuss the situation. 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.
The registration is completed once your status in U:SPACE has changed to “angemeldet” ("registered") after the end of the registration period. The registration via U:SPACE is sufficient as you are allowed to follow all our courses, if you have been nominated for our field of study. 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 three days after the end of the registration period, please contact your departmental coordinator. 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. After the deadline registrations can only be executed by the SSC Molekulare Biologie.

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

Deregistration

Should you decide 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 April 30th (summer semester). Please also tell your course instructor about your deregistration. 

If you haven't deregistered by October 31st (winter semester) or April 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 participate in exams it is often necessary to register for exams via U:SPACE. Registration for exams usually starts 1-3 weeks before the day of the exam. 

Exam dates