Graduation
Record of exams
As soon as you have completed all the courses relevant for admission to the public defense submit the record of exams. Mail to rita.gratzer@univie.ac.at
Submission of the academic thesis
A prerequisite for the submission of the master’s thesis is the approval of the topic and supervision, as well as the submission of the form "Regeln der guten wissenschaftlichen Praxis".
The formal requirements for master’s thesis must be observed. For data protection reasons, no curriculum vitae or affidavit must be included.
Submission procedure
- Start by uploading your thesis on u:space so that it can be checked for plagiarism. Once you have uploaded the document, you will receive an upload confirmation (“Hochladebestätigung”).
- If any textual similarities are detected between your work and other texts, the directorate of studies will examine whether it constitutes plagiarism. Please do not proceed with printing your thesis until you have received feedback (via email to your u:account) confirming a successful plagiarism check. The printed version must exactly match the electronically submitted version.
- After a successful plagiarism check, you must submit the hard-bound copy of your thesis. You will need to present the upload confirmation (“Hochladebestätigung”) for this submission.
Please note: From 05.03.2024, the digital version of the academic thesis has to be submitted via u:space.
First, you need to review and verify the data in u:space that will be printed on the title page. This information is automatically loaded from university’s database and includes your name and academic degrees, as well as details regarding the supervision of your thesis.
Every thesis must contain a German abstract of at least 500 characters. The abstract is a brief summary of the central points of your thesis. Optionally, you can also include an English abstract.
For the title page of the thesis, there are concrete specifications regarding the layout and the data listed. To ensure that your title page is correct in terms of form and content, the system in u:space will create it automatically from your data.
Please do not use a title page you have created yourself in advance, as this will not be accepted during the formal check.
Once the master's thesis has been successfully uploaded, send the upload confirmation together with the submission form to ssc.sozialwissenschaften@univie.ac.at. You will be informed by the SSC about the further procedure (forwarding the master's thesis to the supervisor, submission of the bound master's theses).
Registration for the public defense
The public defense is the defense of the master's thesis. The examinations take place on site at the department. The first and second examiners examine the master's thesis itself and the scientific environment of the thesis. Normally, the first examiner = supervisor. The second examiner must be organized from the list of supervisors. The defense begins with the opening by the chairperson of the examination committee. After the 10-15 minute presentation of the thesis by the candidate (PowerPoint allowed), questions & answers follow. At the end of the examination, which lasts approx. 40-45 minutes, the examination committee discusses the assessment and informs the candidate of the grade. Maximum duration of the defense is 60 minutes.
Students can pre-book the desired date for the public defense in consultation with the first and second examiner from 2 months in advance (e-mail to rita.gratzer@univie.ac.at). The list of possible dates and chairpersons can be found under the following link:
The date must be bindingly registered at least 10 days in advance using the form Anmeldung zur mündlichen Abschlussprüfung and the master's thesis must be assessed. After uploading the master's thesis via u:space and then submitting it to the SSC, the supervisor will officially receive the thesis for assessment (deadline for assessment max. 2 months). Discuss with the supervisor how long he/she* actually need for the grading, as the assessment must be submitted to the SSC at least 14 days before the planned examination date. Once the grade and the assessment have been received by the SSC, you will receive your approbation by e-mail. With the positive approval, the date for the public defense can be bindingly registered.
The record of exams will be checked for completeness one last time at the latest when the public defense date is bindingly booked. At this point in time, all relevant courses for admission to the final examination (including any supplementary examinations) must already have been completed and assigned to the correct modules.
After the public defense
You will be informed by e-mail to your u:account as soon as your documents have been completed. This happens around 2-4 weeks after the examination.
You will receive two separate e-mails:
"Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum erfolgreichen Abschluss Ihres Studiums!"
Automatic e-mail, the study program has been closed in the system. The SSC will send you a statistics form, which you must complete and return to the SSC. You will then receive a second e-mail with
"Studienabschluss".
You will receive the officially signed final documents by e-mail and have the option of requesting hand-signed documents from the SSC. It can take up to 6 weeks for the handwritten documents to be issued.
You can register for a graduation ceremony via u:space.