Information for incoming exchange students

The Department of Communication at the University of Vienna ranks 13th worldwide in “Communication & Media Studies” in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026.

We are pleased that you are interested in spending part of your studies at our Department as part of an Erasmus+ exchange. On the following pages, you will find information about your Erasmus+ stay at the Department of Communication.

Do you have any questions?

  • Erasmus+ Incoming Team

    Are you a student at an Erasmus+ partner university? If you have any questions about the Erasmus+ exchange programme, particularly regarding administrative matters, please contact:

    erasmus.incoming(at)univie.ac.at

    +43 1-4277-17302

  • Mobility Coordinators

    Please contact your ERASMUS+ Study Assistant, Mizgin Mohammed, first if you have any questions.

    She is supported by the ERASMUS Coordinator, Florian Arendt, who will be happy to assist you.

    We provide support with subject-specific questions (courses, Learning Agreement, course registration).

    Simply send an email to erasmus.pkw(at)univie.ac.at or book an appointment during office hours (during the lecture period: Tuesdays, 10:00–12:00, by appointment only).

    International Office:

    For general information about your Erasmus+ stay, please visit the International Office website.

    The International Office receives your nomination from your home university and sends you the Letter of Acceptance.

    It provides information on admission and student ID cards, as well as accommodation and living in Vienna.

Course directory

The courses offered by our department can be found in the course directory (at directorate of study 22). 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.

Please keep in mind that the "Master Communication Science (550)" is not part of our course programme and therefor courses from this Master cannot be taken.

Should you need even more detailed information about a certain course, please contact the course instructor directly.

The course directory for the upcoming semester is published on July 1st (for the winter semester) or January 15 (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. The courses are more or less repeating on a yearly basis. Please note, however, that not all courses are held each semester and changes to the course offer are possible. Our courses are usually held in the seminar rooms of our department's building (Währingerstrasse 29).

  
 

Language requirements and courses taught in Englisch

In order to take up your studies in our degree programme 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 Englisch in our degree programme, you may also take up your studies without sufficient knowledge in German. Please note that we only offer a very limited number of courses taught in Englisch and the courses from our "Communication Science Master" cannot be taken. Knowledge of the German language is strongly recommended for students, especially in the Bachelor degree programme in order to achieve the demanded amount of ECTS credits! However, basic language skills in German are needed in order to be able to find your way around in Vienna and handle matters in offices.

The courses taught in Englisch in our degree programme can be found in in the course directory U:FIND entering the following command (without brackets, with blank characters):

  • For courses during the winter semester: lang:en SPL [22] [year]W
  • For courses during the summer semester: lang:eng SPL [22] [year]S

Courses offered at the Sprachenzentrum (Language Center) are not courses of the university! They will not show on your transcript of records and due to technical reasons cannot be added to the transcript by our staff. You are very welcome to take German classes and will be given a certificate that also includes ECTS credits, but please check in advance with your home-university if those courses can be recognized later on!

ECTS and course types

Please note that the number of courses resp. amount of ECTS credits you need to obtain during your stay depends on your home university’s requirements.

There are basically two different course types at the University of Vienna which sometimes come withdifferent names and slightly different requirements:

  • Lecutres (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.

Please take in mind that a VU (lecture with integrated tutorial) requires participation in both courses (lecture+tutorial) in order to be graded!The tutorial ist structured like a training course.

Detailed information about the courses can be found in U:FIND (detail view).

Grades are awarded within a five-digit grading system ranging from 1 (excellent) to 5 (unsatisfactory). 1-4 hereby stand for a positive completion.

For courses with required regular attendance academical and linguistic eligibility have to be checked with the teaching staff in advance.

If you have been nominated for our degree programme, you can in general choose from all courses conducted by our department that suit your study cycle (BA, MA, PhD) or are lower then yours. (excluding the Master 550 Communication Science) 
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 because the registration procedure is evaluated automatically. However normally it is not a problem to get a place in the prefered courses if prior knowlegde and language skills are sufficient and you stick to our registration procedure.

If you are not sure with your courses we recommend concentrating rather on lectures. Those are particularly suitable for Incoming students as you can switch between them very easily (no attendance required) and the workload is rather low.

Courses for external students in our degree programme

Exchange students who have not been nominated for our field of study but still want to take courses in Communication Science can participate in our Extension Curricula (EC):

You do not have to discuss your participation with our departmental coordinator beforehand. If you want these lectures confirmed on your Learning Agreement, however, please contact our coordinator for the required signature. Participation in other types of courses generally is not possible.

Students who are nominated für Communication Science are free to also choose courses from other degree programmes if it suits their academic goals. However please check on the possibilities yourself! Every department/degree programme has its own rules about the participation of extrernal students. You can find further information about this topic as well as a list with our International Office.

  • Create Your Learning Agreement

    Required only for Erasmus+ students

    Your Mobility Coordinator at the University of Vienna will sign your Learning Agreement as the “Responsible Person at the Receiving Institution.” You will receive the contact details of your Mobility Coordinator from the International Office.

We ask you to prepare your Learning Agreement before registering for courses and in good time. There is no specific deadline for this. If you need a signature earlier for your home university, you are welcome to send us the Agreement at any time. The Agreement can be submitted in the following ways:

Please note that our Departmental Coordinator can only approve courses offered by our department (course numbers 22XXXX). For courses outside your field of study, a signature must be obtained from each relevant department. If you wish to take courses from other departments, please contact the respective department to find out how taking courses outside your field of study is handled there.

Confirmation of regular attendance at a course can only be issued by the respective course instructor.
A confirmation of successful completion of a course cannot be issued! In such cases, the Transcript of Records serves as confirmation.

If your home university has specific forms that require an additional signature, please submit them to our International Office. The Certificate of Arrival and Certificate of Attendance, which you can also obtain from the International Office, serve as confirmation of the date of registration and deregistration at the University of Vienna.

Please note that the processing of confirmations of study-related information may take several days. Please take this into consideration when planning ahead!

Participation in language courses at the Language Center and in courses related to Austria is not confirmed by our Departmental Coordinators, but by the International Office.

  • Registration Deadlines

    Registration for courses in our field of study takes place in September for the winter semester and in February for the summer semester. The exact dates are announced on the website of the Departmental Study Programme Management. Please note that course registration periods vary between departments!

    During these registration periods, courses are not allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that you must register in all cases, even if you only wish to attend a course out of interest and do not need a grade. Without registration, participation in a course is not possible.

    Course registration takes place via U:SPACE. You do not need to be in Vienna yet to register. You will receive your student ID number (Matrikelnummer) and instructions on how to activate your u:account by email in good time to complete the registration.

  • Course Registration

    To register for courses, follow the registration link in the Course Directory. You will find it in the detailed description of the respective course under “Registration/Deregistration”. This link is only activated during the registration period!

    During registration, please select “Erasmus Module” under the so-called “Study Plan Point”.

    It is possible that, for technical reasons, registration does not work for all courses. Therefore, the following is very important:

    After completing your registration, send an email to Manuela Hochschwendner containing all of the following information:

    • Name and student ID number (Matrikelnummer)
    • List of all Communication courses you wish to attend, including:
    • Course number (22XXXX)
    • Group number
    • Name of the course instructor
    • Whether you have already registered for the course yourself: yes/no
    • Confirmation from the course instructor that you are allowed to participate in courses with continuous assessment

    Please be patient. Your request will be processed within the registration deadline. Ms Hochschwendner will check your course list and get back to you within the next few days.

    In U:SPACE, successful registration for a course is indicated by the status “registered” shortly after the end of the registration period.

    The status “pre-registered” can be ignored during the registration period.

    If a different status is displayed after the registration deadline, please contact the course instructor or Manuela Hochschwendner (for technical problems) to clarify the situation.

    For courses with mandatory attendance, attendance in the first course session is compulsory. If you miss the first session without an excuse, you may lose your place in the course!

    If you did not contact Ms Hochschwendner during the registration period and only registered online, your status will automatically be changed to “registered” or “waiting list” after the registration period ends. If you are placed on the waiting list, you should definitely attend the first course session. You will be informed there whether you can receive a place in the course.

    If you did not register for your courses during the registration period as described above, please contact Manuela Hochschwendner with a list of your courses. If there are still places available in the courses, you may be registered at a later date. A list of available places can be found here after the registration period has ended.

    Further general information on course registration at the University of Vienna is available from the International Office.

  • Deregistration

    Ein Versäumnis der Abmeldung kann einen Eintrag der Lehrveranstaltung mit einer negativen Note im Sammelzeugnis zur Folge haben.

    If you decide not to participate in a course after all, please deregister via U:SPACE as soon as possible. This allows the place to be allocated to another student. This also applies if you want to switch to a different course!

    If you decide during the semester that you no longer wish to participate in a course, you can deregister via U:SPACE until 31 October (winter semester) or 30 April (summer semester). Please also inform your course instructor of your deregistration.

    Failure to deregister may result in the course being recorded with a failing grade on your Transcript of Records.

Examinations and Transcript of Records

To participate in an examination, you must **register for the respective examination via U:SPACE.

Exam registration usually takes place 1–3 weeks before the examination. Deregistration is possible up to 48 hours before the examination at the latest. Late registration or deregistration is not possible!

Exam dates are usually announced by the first course session after the beginning of the semester. As a rule, examinations take place no later than the end of the semester or within one week after the end of the semester.

The specific exam dates are published in the Course Directory u:find, directly under the respective course in the section “Exam Dates”.

Transcript of Records / Certificate of Attendance

In general, all grades, including the number of ECTS credits, are published in U:SPACE within one month after the examination. Via U:SPACE, you can download and print your Transcript of Records with a digital signature until at least the end of April (winter semester) or the end of November (summer semester) (Personal > My Documents).

If you do not need a grade but only a Certificate of Attendance without ECTS credits, please discuss this with the respective course instructor at the beginning of the course at the start of the semester.

Certificates confirming the successful completion of courses cannot be issued! The Transcript of Records is the only valid proof of successful completion.

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