Rights and obligations of students
Students have a number of rights and obligations according to § 59 UG.
Rights of students
The freedom to study, the characteristics of which are mentioned in the law using examples (arg. in particular), is not conclusively regulated in the law and can be further customised by the statutes.
Students have the right
- to gain admission to other degree programmes both at the university at which they have been admitted and at other universitiess
- to choose between the teaching staff in accordance with the courses on offer and the curricula;
- to make use of the courses offered in addition to a regular degree programme at the university of admission or other universities for which the students fulfil the registration requirements specified in the curricula;
- to use the relevant teaching and research facilities and the library at the university at which they have been admitted to the degree programme in accordance with the regulations for use;
- as regular students of a diploma or master's degree programme, to propose the topic of their diploma or master's thesis in accordance with university regulations or to choose from a number of proposals;
- as regular students of a doctoral programme, to propose the topic of their dissertation in accordance with the university regulations or to select it from a number of proposals;
- to write academic papers in a foreign language if the supervisor agrees;
- to take examinations as a regular student in accordance with university regulations;
- to be awarded academic degrees after completing the work prescribed in the curricula;
- to participate in the relevant university programmes as an associate student and to take the examinations prescribed therein;
- as non-degree students who are only admitted to attend courses, to attend courses for which they fulfil the registration requirements specified in the curricula and to take examinations in accordance with university regulations;
- to a different examination method if the student provides evidence of a prolonged disability that makes it impossible for him or her to take the examination in the prescribed method and the content and requirements of the examination are not affected by a different method;
- to applications regarding the person of the examiners. These applications shall be taken into consideration wherever possible. For the second repetition of an examination, the application for a specific examiner of the University of Admission to the degree programme in which the examination is to be taken must be granted in any case; and in accordance with § 78 UG for recognition of prior achievements equivalent to university studies in order to shorten the period of study.
Duties of the students
- to notify the university at which they have been admitted to study of any changes of name and address without delay
- to deregister from the degree programme in good time in the event of foreseeable inactivity (responsibility: Admissions Office);
- to notify the university at which they have been admitted of the continuation of their studies each semester during the general admission period or the extension period;
- register for and deregister from examinations in due time (for consequences see § 11 para. 3 of the study law part of the statutes. However, a student who does not deregister on time may not be counted towards the number of permitted repetitions if he/she fails to register for an examination);
- to submit one copy of their diploma or master's thesis or artistic diploma or master's thesis or dissertation to the University Library and one copy of their dissertation to the Austrian National Library on the occasion of the award of the academic degree
Other important rights of students
- Working students and students with childcare obligations or other similar care obligations, who therefore do not study full-time but can only devote part of their time to their studies, are entitled to report the times of day when they have a special need for teaching and examination programmes. The universities must take these special needs into account as far as possible when organising their teaching and examination programmes based on the results of the notification. Applicants have the right to report these needs at the time of admission to a degree programme.
- The university must inform students who have not completed at least 12 ECTS credits in the first two semesters that their admission to the degree programme will expire if they have not completed the minimum coursework in accordance with § 59a para. 1 by the end of the fourth semester.