Content of this page:

1. Contact Persons
2. Course selection
3. Course registration
4. Learning Agreement and other Confirmations
5. Exams and Transcript of Records

1. Contact Persons

Departmental Mobility Coordinators

The following departmental coordinators will help you with questions concerning your courses at our department. They can advise about specific courses, course registration and restrictions, exams, Erasmus Learning Agreements and so on:

Mag. Monika WITTMANN and Mag. Petra HAUK

Please contact us via e-mail to erasmus.anglistik@univie.ac.at

International Office

2. Course selection

Course Catalogue (u:find)

All courses offered by our department can be found in the course directory (u:find) under SPL12. 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 departmental 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. A link to google maps and a Campus map can be found in the section "Where to find us"

Language requirements and courses taught in English

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.

ECTS and course types

Please note that 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.

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) 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.
Grades are awarded within a five-digit grading system ranging from 1 (excellent) to 5 (unsatisfactory).

Exchange students should not take courses from the STEOP modules ("Studieneingangs- und Orientierungsphase" = first-semester modules). At the English Department, similar lectures introducing students to English Linguistics, literature and cultural studies are offered within our small Extension Curriculum "The World of English 1". In U:Find, scroll down to SPL 12, and there, see one of the Links further down.

Advanced 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 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.

Erasmus exchange students who have been nominated for the study field English and American Studies can follow all types of courses offered by our department, with minor restrictions in some areas: it is usually not possible to select two courses from the same type (e.g. two Proseminars Literature or more than one course from the Critical Media Analysis group). Also, we usually advise students to choose at least one or two lectures as well. Ideally, course selection is discussed with the departmental coordinator before mid-September (winter semester) and mid-February (summer semester); this can also be done via email. 

Exchange students who are not nominated for our field of study but would still like to take courses in English Studies can participate in all our lectures without having to ask for permission. For other course types, they need to contact Monika Wittmann in advance to discuss their options. We will do our best to accommodate as many exchange students as possible in their preferred courses, but permission to participate in our courses cannot be guaranteed beforehand, and decisions will often be delayed until the first week of the semester.

3. Course registration

Registration Deadlines

Course registration at our department starts around 10 September for the winter semester and around 10 February for the summer semester. 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 the instructions on how to activate your u:account well before the start of the registration period.

Registration process

Theoretically, this is what you need to do: in order to register for a course, please follow the registration link in the course catalogue. It is provided 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 complete once your status in U:SPACE has changed to "angemeldet" (i.e. "registered") after the end of the registration period.

In practice, you need to get in touch with your departmental contact person / coordinator by mid-September / mid-February to discuss your course selection, get your course choices approved and register (= apply) for the courses via U:Space. Your coordinator will then set your course request to "registered/angemeldet" and in this way confirm your selection. At the English Department, any course requests which are not approved by the Erasmus coordinators will be automatically de-activated ("de-registered/abgemeldet") before the final allocation of places takes place.

Another important point is that you have to show up during the first session of a course, or you might lose your place.

As mentioned above, exchange students coming under other fields of studies may not get a place at all, but more often may have to wait until the main course allocation phase has ended, and will then be offered open spots if courses do not fill up completely.

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 it can be given to another student. Deregistration from a course is possible until October 31st (winter semester) or April 30th (summer semester). Please also tell your course instructor about your deregistration.

If you do not deregister by October 31st (winter semester) or April 30th (summer semester), you might receive a negative grade for the course in your transcript of records.

4. Learning Agreement and other Confirmations

Learning Agreement

As far as the English Department is concerned, it is sufficient if you give us your Learning Agreement for approval (signature) after your arrival in Vienna at the beginning of your ERASMUS stay; however - as mentioned above - do make sure you contact your departmental coordinator and discuss your course selection before 10 September (winter semester) or 10 February (summer semester) either via email or personally.

Confirmation of other courses

Please note that the English Studies coordinators can only confirm courses from English and American Studies. If you wish to attend courses outside this field of study, you should use an extra Learning Agreement which lists these courses, and collect signatures from the SPL (Director of Studies or deputy) of the department in question. For further signatures / confirmations please see the relevant information on the International Office's website.

5. Exams and Transcript of Records

Exam registration and exam dates

If you wish to sit the exam of a lecture course (VO), you need to register separately for the exam via u:space or u:find. As a rule, exam registrations start about 3 weeks before the exam is held (i.e.  beginning of January for end of January and beginning of June for end of June exams).

The lecture exam dates are usually announced during the first course session at the beginning of the semester; the dates can also be found in u:find under the entry of the respective lecture course. Exams are usually held in the last session at the end of the semester or up to one week after that.

For most other types of courses (that is, those with regular attendance: UE, PS, SE, KO, AR etc.) no separate exam registration is necessary.

Transcript of Records / Confirmation of Attendance

Grades and ECTS credits usually appear 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. However, it is not possible to issue such a letter in the case of lectures.