Incoming students

All courses offered by our department can be found in the course directory under SPL12 (u:find). U:find provides course titles, course times, beginning and end of course, language of instruction and a detailed description. Should you need more information about a certain course, please contact your mobility coordinator.

The course catalogue is published in August for the winter semester and in January for the summer semester. If you need an overview 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 course topics are possible.

Our courses are usually held at the department, which is situated at the Uni-Campus, in courtyard 8.3. Big lectures often take place at the C1 and C2 lectures halls (courtyard 2); other venues (e.g. Main University Building) are also possible. 

There are different course types: Lectures (Vorlesungen, VO) are courses where regular attendance is not mandatory. To obtain a grade you will have to take and pass the (usually written) final exam at the end of the semester. Training courses (Übungen, UE), proseminars (Proseminare, PS), Kolloquien (KO) and seminars (SE) are courses with compulsory and regular attendance. Assessment criteria for such courses include regular attendance, active participation, a presentation, midterm-test, smaller homework, a paper and/or final exams.
 

We advise students to choose 2-3 modules with continuous assessment and 2-3 lectures. The course selection should be discussed with the departmental coordinator before mid-September (winter semester) and mid-February (summer semester) via email. 

Generally, you are free to choose - with a few restrictions / recommendations:

• There are several courses with the same title but different topics - titles such as Critical Readings in Literature, PS Literature, Critical Media Analysis and so on. Please do not select more than one module from a group of courses which has the same general title. 
• Exchange students should not take STEOP course modules ("Studieneingangs- und Orientierungsphase" = first-semester modules). Similar lectures introducing students to English Linguistics, literature and cultural studies are offered within our small Extension Curriculum "The World of English 1".
• We would rather advise you against taking 11 ECTS seminars (SE) - these are our final semester modules and require the writing of a rather long, complex and structured academic paper.
• Advanced (undergraduate) students are welcome to also attend courses from the Master's programme, in particular the lectures and AR courses. Seminars (SE) should only be chosen by students already familiar with writing long and structured academic papers of at least 10 pages (4000 words). Exchange students may participate even if they are enrolled as BA students, provided they have sufficient knowledge of the subject. This can be clarified in advance with the departmental coordinator.
   

All courses offered at the Department of English and American Studies are taught in English. In order to take up your studies at our department you need to have an English competence level of at least very good B2 according to the Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR). ERASMUS students do not need to submit any official language test; however, your home university must confirm the required level during your online nomination. In addition, basic language skills in German are strongly recommended in order to be able to find your way around in Vienna.

The number of courses and the amount of ECTS credits you need to obtain at the University of Vienna depends on the requirements set by your home university. You can attend as many or as few modules as you like - as long as your home university is fine with your choice. 

Course registration at our department starts around the 10th of September for the winter semester and around the 10th February for the summer semester. Find more information on our registration period and registration for courses. 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 any course without prior registration. 
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 instructions on how to activate your u:account well before the start of the registration period.

You need to get in touch with your departmental coordinator by the beginning of September / February to discuss your course selection. 

Once you have got your course choices approved, you have to pre-register (= apply) for the courses via u:space. At the end of the registration period, your coordinator will set your course request to "registered/angemeldet" and in this way confirm your selection. It is possible, that you'll be de-registered first, this shouldn't worry you.

Any course requests which are not approved by mobility coordinators will be automatically de-activated ("de-registered/abgemeldet")!.

Normally, our courses start in or around the second week of October and February respectively. However, please always check the exact dates for every course in u:find. 

You have to attend the first session of a course, or you might lose your place. 

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 it can be given to another student. Deregistration from a course is possible until October 9th. Also inform your course instructor about your deregistration. If you do not deregister by October 9th, you might receive a negative grade for the course in your transcript of records.