In each of the master's degree programs in Business Administration, International Business Administration, Economics, and Banking and Finance, a master's examination (final examination) must be passed.

Prerequisite for admission to the master's examination of all studies

The prerequisite is the positive completion of all prescribed modules and examinations as well as the positive assessment of the master's thesis. The grades must already be registered at the time of registration for the final examination.

• General Information about the final examinations
• Organizing and preparing your defence - Video from the WiWi Aktionswoche

• Differentiation by study programme:
  
  • Master Exams (International) Business Administration
    
  • Master Exams Economics, Applied Economics, Business Analytics as well as Banking & Finance and Research in Economics and Finance
  
  
• Organization of the final examination/defence

• Application for all studies (with complete examination senate)

The application for admission to the Master's examination is to be submitted via Servicedesk with completely filled out following 2 forms (in pdf format) to the SSC: under "Registration for master's examination" HERE

1. Registration for master's examination and
2. Application for graduation 

Deadline for handing in complete documents with a fixed date: at the latest 2 weeks before the planned date 

• Contact information for specializations

• Final exams will take place online as video exams or on-site. Please coordinate the format before the registering with your exam comittee, all involved parties must agree. The language of the exam is German or English, all members of the comittee need to understand the language.
  

• Registration procedures and submission deadlines are mandatory. You will not be eligible for the deadline if you have incomplete documentation, missing grades, or late submissions. In case of late submissions, only the last submission date is valid. Please do not set the deadline too close after the submission of the Master's thesis, as the registration can only take place once the grade has been entered (according to the law, your* supervisor has 8 weeks to assess the thesis). Documents cannot be kept on record.

• In the SSC the requirements for participation in the Defensio are checked and subsequently approved by the study program management (SPL). Only when the examination protocol is sent out to the student* and the examination senate is the appointment considered confirmed. Please refrain from asking about the status of your registration in the meantime. To book your examination date, please contact the secretary's office of your supervisor in good time.

• The examiners (or the department) determine the content of the examination. Please find out in good time what will be examined and how (to what extent).

• In case of changes or cancellations, all parties involved (incl. institute staff and SSC) must be informed directly and in good time. Changes in date, examination subject or examiners/chairpersons must be re-approved by SPL.

• Defences are generally open to the public and may be announced (to give other Master students a chance to attend). If you wish to exlude the public, please coordinate this with your exam comittee in advance.

• Online exams: You are allowed to have a confidant with you. The examination senate may add a proctor if necessary. Additional persons are not to be added to the examination: on the one hand, in order not to endanger the stability of the connection, on the other hand, it can also lead to legal problems, if, for example, it is not certain afterwards who participated in the non-public meeting of the examiners.

• As soon as the master thesis has been graded, you will receive an e-mail from the SSC with the report. Provided that all courses of the curriculum have been completed, you can now organize the final examination.
• Select a contact person from this list according to the specialization in which you have written your master thesis. Send the form for the registration of the final exam to this contact person and indicate date options (for example, end of November). If you are studying BW or IBW, please indicate the second examination subject in which you would like to take part. 
  
  • Attention: This contact must take place 4 weeks before the planned examination date. 
• The responsible administrative staff member will coordinate a suitable date and organize the examination senate.
• Once a date and examination senate have been fixed, the student will be informed and submit the following forms to the SSC (at least 2 weeks before the planned date) via Servicedesk HERE under the Button 'Registration for master's examination':
  • Registration for the final examination
  • Application for graduation

• The SSC checks the accuracy of your record of examination, has the exam committee approved by the SPL and sends an invitation including the form "minutes of the defence" to all parties involved. This email is the official confirmation and includes all necessary contact details as well as further information on the exam.

• The Master's examination consists of 2 parts and has a scope of 2 ECTS (The assessment is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the statutes. Both parts of the examination are assessed independently of each other, each with its own grade. If one of the two examination parts is passed negatively, the entire Master's examination must be repeated on a new date):
  
  • the defence part (1 ECTS) about the master thesis and the scientific environment (in-depth study in which the thesis is located) and
  • the additional examination part (1 ECTS) on a further specialization subject according to the curriculum to the extent of a minor (20 ECTS). Here, a specialization must be chosen that does not correspond to that of the master's thesis.

• The contents of both parts of the examination must be clarified in advance with the respective examiners. Please refer to the official exam literature in advance

The supervisor of the Master's thesis is always the first examiner. An examiner for the second part of the examination must be requested according to the chosen specialization (according to the curriculum, see below). This must not be the specialization of your master thesis. Please note that the examiners should ideally be habilitated and must in any case be suitable for the subject. The chairperson does not have to be a specialist in the field, but must have at least a doctorate or PhD and be employed at the University of Vienna at the time of the examination. The approval of the examination senate is the responsibility of the SPL.

Master's exam in the cultural studies specialisation oft he degree programme International Business Administration.

First examiner: Supervisor or co-supervisor of the final thesis - upon arrangement.

The Master's exam in the specialisation "Cultural Studies Area" (second examiner) refers to knowledge of history, specific business communication & culture as well as the students' ability to orientate themselves in everyday situations of economic life in the respective cultural area and to act appropriately in such situations. For a list of contacts in Cultural Studies, click here.

Language in which the Master's exam is held: It must be ensured that all examiners can understand the language of the exam. In general, the exam is to be held in German, however, if all participants agree, English is also an option.

This is a final examination by a board of examiners, for which a board of examiners must be put together. The board of examiners consists of a chair (not the supervisor) and two examiners (supervisor and another examiner). The Master's thesis is defended, followed by questions on the scientific environment of the topic of the Master's thesis. An overall grade is awarded for the defense.

Administrative Procedure:

Contact the administrative assistant corresponding to the specialization in which your master thesis was written to coordinate an appointment (see list below). We recommend doing this in consultation with your supervisor. 

As soon as you have been given a date and an examination commitee by the administrative assistant of the department, submit the application via the SSC service desk.