General Information - Course Registration and Allocation of Available Places

How does course registration work?

Registration for courses or exams is only possible within the registration period for courses or within the registration period for exams. A valid u:account is required for course registration via u:space. This account must be reactivated every semester.

Course registration for master's students is based on the allocation of points. 1000 points are available to each student, which can be used for courses with continuous assessment. Registration for courses with non-continuous assessment does not follow this system of points.
The registration system for bachelor's students automatically calculates the student's individual study progress and allocates places accordingly.

You can access the registration system either via u:space or via the course catalogue u:find.

You have to assign every course to the appropriate module, indicating for which module point in your degree programme you would like to use this course. It is important that you assign the courses correctly. The system will then recognise if you have to fulfil any requirements for this course. If you encounter any problems in the process, please contact the studies service center.

Example: You are currently in your second semester and have selected the course “VO ABWL Production and Logistics I”. You need this course for the core phase of the bachelor’s programme in (International) Business Administration and should therefore select this module in u:space.

Try to avoid changing courses or groups at the last minute before the registration period ends. Otherwise, we cannot assume responsibility for a successful pre-registration.

Explanation of terms for the respective status during the registration period.

Video: Course Registration

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Prerequisites for registration

You have to meet all the necessary requirements according to the curriculum of your degree programme to be able to register for courses.

The registration system u:space supports you electronically in checking the prerequisites for registration. However, errors may occur during registration for different reasons. If you registered for a course by mistake, even though you do not meet the necessary requirements according to the curriculum, you are not entitled to attend the course. Please refer to the curriculum of your degree programme for information about the different prerequisites.

As a general rule for all bachelor’s programmes, you have to complete the introductory and orientation period (STEOP) before you can register for any other courses.

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Allocation of available places with points

At the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics, the allocation of available places for courses with continuous assessment follows a system of points. You have 1000 points available, which can be placed on courses.

Supply and demand determine the allocation of places. The points allocated to courses reflect students’ preferences for a particular course. 

This means: The more points you allocate to a course, the more likely you are to get a place.

Preference points for groups

When registering for courses with several groups, you have the option of setting preferences in addition to allocating points. You can rank the courses according to your preference. This means that you place your favourite course first, the one that also suits you second and so on.

After the end of the registration period, the places will be allocated. The system will try to enable participation in the course of highest preference. If more students have chosen the course as their primary preference than there are free places, the second preference will be considered, and so on.

Due to this system an average of 98% of all students receive a place in a suitable course.

Prioritising certain groups of students

Courses that are highly booked according to experience are first allocated to students of the faculty or students of certain curricula. If you do not belong to this student group, you will be placed on the waiting list after allocation. After the registration period has expired, however, you can be admitted to the course according to the availability of places. To do so, please contact the secretary's office in the department or the lecturer.

Transferring points from the previous semester

If you are on the waiting list for a certain course (status “Warteliste” (on waiting list) or “Warteliste abgelaufen” (waiting list expired)), the points allocated to this course will be automatically credited to the same course if you try to register for it again in the next semester. The points from the previous semester are then added to the newly assigned points. 

You cannot use points transferred from the previous semester to register for any other courses. They appear in the box “Punkte aus dem Vorsemester” (points from the previous semester) for your information.

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Progress-based course registration (all Bachelor's programmes + Magister Statistics)

From the summer semester 2025 the following study programmes will use the new course registration system will be used for courses with continuous assessment:

  • 033 515 Bachelor's programme Business Administration
  • 033 514 Bachelor's programme International Business Administration
  • 033 513 Bachelor's programme Economics
  • 033 551 Bachelor's programme Statistics and Data Analytics
  • 066 951 Magister programme Statistics

This means that places for courses in these studies that are not part of examinations are no longer allocated using a points-based system, but on the basis of the path of study.

What is the recommended path of study?

The recommended path of study is part of your curriculum and divides it into semesters. It shows you in which semester and in which order you should ideally complete the individual modules of the curriculum, so that you can complete your degree programme as fast and efficiently as possible. Thus, the path of study serves as a guide: It indicates the best path through your degree programme based on content-related aspects and supports you in planning the individual semesters.

How is the path of study taken into account in the course registration system?

The path of study is a method that the course registration system uses to allocate places in courses of the University of Vienna (in the same manner as the point allocation system or the preference system). Places are allocated according to the recommended path of study: Students who follow this recommended path will more likely get a place.
In the recommended path of study, all courses from the second semester onwards have defined predecessors (for example, the predecessors of courses in the second semester are all courses from the first semester). The degree of completion of these predecessors is indicated in %. If 100 % is indicated next to a module, you have successfully completed all courses from the previous semesters.
Therefore, the information “Path of study: x %” indicates the degree of completion of courses of the previous semesters according to the recommended path of study. All registrations for courses with continuous assessment are ranked according to this percentage.
The higher your percentage, the better your chances to get a place in the course.

Where can I see the degree of completion of the path of study?

You can check the degree of completion of your path of study at any time in u:space (provided your studies have already been released for the recommended path of study):

  • in the record of examinations under Studies — Record of examinations
  • when registering for a course with continuous assessment

 

Important to know:

Use the time before(!) the course registration period to check your examination pass!

If courses are assigned to the wrong modules, re-allocate them in the examination pass. You will not be able to do this yourself for some courses, but the SSC will be happy to assist you (see Changes in the record of examination). The system only recognizes the courses as belonging to the path of study if they are correctly assigned.
Even if you have completed less than 100% of the path of study, you will still get a place on some courses. The recommended path of study is not an exclusion criterion for the allocation of places, but a way of ranking registrations according to urgency. If there are enough places available, you will of course also get a place with less than 100%, but the chances of getting a place increase with a higher percentage.

Further information on the recommended path of study

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Registration problems

We advise you to register for courses or exams via u:find or u:space at the beginning of the registration period. If a problem occurs, please write an e-mail immediately from u:account to the StudiesServiceCenter (ssc.wiwi@univie.ac.at). Registration problems cannot be solved on the phone or in a personal conversation. Indicate the course with its number or the examination with the date of the examination and describe the error message you receive when trying to register. Please make sure that the data set for the courses until the error message occurs is saved in u:space. This way, we can access your data set faster and help you.

All e-mails that reach us before the end of the registration period will be taken into account in any case.

A common problem causing error messages to pop up is a missing recognition or a module point (curriculum point) that was assigned incorrectly. Please check whether the module points of your completed courses are accurate. A look at your structured transcript of records can help.

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Deregistration from courses and exams

There is a deregistration deadline for courses and exams. You can deregister from courses within the deadline via u:space using the button “Abmelden” (deregister) next to the relevant course. If you do not deregister within this period but do not want to take the course or exam, the following will happen:

  • For courses with continuous examinations: If you have never attended the course, you will be deregistered after the first unit. However, if you have already attended the first unit, you will be assessed negatively.
  • For exams: If you do not deregister from lecture examinations within the deregistration period, you will be barred from taking the next examination.

Deregistration after the deadline can only take place as a gesture of goodwill with the permission of the lecturer. Please contact the respective secretary's office in the department. The StudiesServiceCenter is not permitted to deregister students.

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