Admission

How do I get admitted to TU Wien Informatics Doctoral School?

Once you are admitted to our doctoral program at TU Wien Informatics, you are automatically part of TU Wien Informatics Doctoral School.

What are the admission requirements, and where do I find them?

The formal admission is handled by the TU Wien Admission Office. All admission requirements are listed on their website.

Who should I contact if I have questions about my application or documents required for admission?

Please contact the TU Wien Admission Office directly at studienabteilung@tuwien.ac.at.

Do I need to have an academic supervisor at TU Wien Informatics for my dissertation?

Yes.

What if I do not yet have an academic supervisor at TU Wien Informatics?

Please check the list of potential supervisors and identify the ones whose research area is closest to your field of interest and expertise. Contact them directly to inquire if they agree to supervise your dissertation.

Visa and Residence

What are the visa requirements for international students coming to Austria?

OeAD provides detailed information on their website. OeAD is the Austrian Agency for International Mobility and Cooperation in Education, Science, and Research.

How do I find accommodation in Vienna?

Vienna is a city with many excellent universities and thousands of students seeking accommodation every semester. Many organizations and companies offer rooms and apartments in student dormitories. Here are a few of them:

• OeAD Accommodation
• home4students Dormitories and Student Apartments
• Viennabase22 Green Living

I’m a student of TU Wien Informatics Doctoral School and face problems with my residence permit. Is there anybody who I can contact?

Yes, of course. We are here to help, and we will do our best to support you. Please contact us at doctoral-school@informatics.tuwien.ac.at.

Employment and Insurance

Do I get employed at TU Wien after having been admitted the doctoral program?

Being admitted to the doctoral program at TU Wien Informatics Doctoral School does not necessarily mean that you will also be employed by us. However, TU Wien offers a lot of funded positions. While some candidates are self-funded, most are employed by TU Wien, frequently through one of our Doctoral Colleges or research projects your supervisor may offer.

Where can I find job announcements?

Head over to our Jobs page, where we list all currently open positions.

How much salary will I get if I am employed by TU Wien?

You will be employed according to the collective bargaining agreement for scientific staff at universities (Kollektivvertrag, salary group B1). Please note that the monthly salary is paid 14 times per year.

Do I need to take care of my health insurance?

No, if you get a funded position, you do not need to take care of your health insurance. As part of your contract, you will automatically be insured at BVAEB. Additionally, our university will pay for your pension provision plan. So a funded position comes with a lot of social benefits.

Graduation

Graduating from our doctoral program is a multi-step process.

To help guide you through the maze of milestones, deadlines, and submissions, head over to the Graduation Guide provided by our Study Services team.

What is the Proficiency Evaluation?

The purpose of the Proficiency Evaluation is to make sure the candidate has chosen a clear and appropriate path towards the dissertation, concerning research question, methodology, success criteria, publication plan, coursework etc. So while it is important to know the relevant scientific field at that point, it is not important to have many results to show already, like publications.

Why are there so many organizational steps like proficiency exam and presubmission?

Our graduation process is clearly dedicated to top quality: The Proficiency Evaluation gives you early guidance (and corrections, if necessary) for the best path towards a high-quality PhD. Having a chance to revise your thesis after receiving the comments on the pre-submission facilitates an improvement of your thesis based on the comments of international expert reviewers. And having the thesis and reviews available for inspection by faculty members before the defense increases transparency of the process – another important quality asset.

Why is there a structured curriculum rather than free choice of courses, all related to the thesis topic?

The fundamental courses provide you with a generic skill set that every doctoral student needs for elaborating a high-quality thesis and achieving a good scientific career, independent from the specific technical aspects in your field. The internationally visible trend towards structured curricula recognizes the importance of this aspect. Being a technical expert alone does not make a good researcher.

Can I also choose a summer school for an area course?

Yes, a certain amount of ECTS can also be covered with a summer school. There are, however, certain conditions for that: It needs to be organized by an academic institution, your individual contribution must be clear, the efforts invested must be clearly documented (to calculate an appropriate ECTS equivalent), etc. So in order to avoid problems later on, approval by the Dean of Academic Affairs should be obtained already before attending the summer school .

Can I have more than one supervisor?

Yes, the curriculum allows co-supervisors, specifically for cases where the breadth of your research cannot be covered by one supervisor alone, like in interdisciplinary research.

Is there a minimum requirement on the number and/or quality of publications that need to be done as a foundation for the thesis?

Clearly, the novelty and quality of your thesis is most easily documented by publications in good conferences and journals. So it is definitely a good idea to publish during your PhD studies. But there is no generally defined limit – this is determined individually with your supervisor, according to the specifics of your topic and research community.