ECTS credits

ECTS requirements for VISESS students

Students are expected to collect ECTS credits as indicated in the respective curriculum of the regular courses offered by DSPL45/VISESS. Upon meeting certain requirements, students may ask for recognition of scientific activities and acquired transferable skills outside the course directory.

Required ECTS per branch


BranchDissertation area(s)ECTS -requirementsCurriculum
CosmosAstronomy24 ECTScurriculum
EarthEarth Sciences, Geophysics, Meteorology24 ECTScurriculum
EarthEnvironmental Sciences12 ECTScurriculum
Anthroposphere Geography (Social Sciences)30 ECTScurriculum
Anthroposphere Geography (Natural Sciences)12 ECTScurriculum

ECTS credits for lectures and seminars


For ECTS credits for lectures and seminars, see respective course in the current course directory. Courses are typically assigned 2 SWS and 3-4 ECTS. The ECTS credits are credited after attending the respective course.

The teaching programme of VISESS/DSPL45 includes PhD seminars and topic seminars within each branch, the VISESS-wide VISESS seminar series and summer schools. We strongly recommend PhD students to participate in the VISESS seminar series over 2 semesters during the time of their doctoral studies. Note that this is an eligibility criterion for the VISESS "Research Funds" and "Completion Grants" funding programmes.

ECTS credit recognition of external scientific activities and acquired transferable skills (Dec 2021)


External scientific activities and transferable skills need to be included in the dissertation agreement and annual progress report and updated on a yearly basis.

For those activities where no formal certificate with ECTS is provided by the organisers, PhD students need to provide formal evidence of their participation in and contribution to activities (as per 'required documents').

External scientific activities and aquired transferable skills ECTS Required documents
International conferences 0.5 ECTS/day for attendance of first conference during entry phase of PhD; 0.5 ECTS/day for each subsequent participation in an international conference with presentation (talk, poster, paper) Registration confirmation and proof of participation and/or presentation
Summer schools/winter schools/International PhD courses 0.5 ECTS/day for active participation for each summer school/winter school/international PhD course Registration confirmation and proof of participation and/or presentation
Scientific publications outside the dissertation up to 4 ECTS for each peer-reviewed scientific publications outside the dissertation depending on contribution (Link to) paper, published or of publishable quality under review
Contribution to projects outside the dissertation up to 2 ECTS for each contribution to projects outside the dissertation with formal proof of contribution to e.g. publication, third-party-funding proposal or supervision of successful master thesis (Link to) submitted proposal and written proof (by principal investigator) of you contribution
Transferable skills trainings 0.5 ECTS/day for each transferable skills trainings outside the UNIVIE course directory Registration confirmation and proof of participation

Ask for ECTS credit recognition

  1. Recognitions are requested via the SSC. You can find information and forms on the SSC website: https://ssc-geo-astronomie.univie.ac.at/en/services-info/services-spl-45/recognition-of-exams/
  2. Fill in the recognition form and collect all required documents (see "required documents" in the recognition table)
  3. Send the documents to the respective vDSPL for approval, see https://ssc-geo-astronomie.univie.ac.at/en/services-info/services-spl-45/directorate-of-studies/
  4. Send the documents with signature of vDSPL to the SSC: ssc.gga@univie.ac.at
  5. The SSC will enter the recognition in the system.