Graduation in Geography: Global Change and Sustainability, Cartography and Geoinformation, Spatial Research and Spatial Planning, Teacher Training Programme in Geography and Economic Education

1. Submitting notification of the topic of the Master's thesis

Submitting notification of the topic of the Master's thesis

The procedure for finding and submitting the topic of your Master's thesis can be found here.

2. Submitting the Master's thesis

  1. Start by uploading your thesis on u:space so that it can be checked for plagiarism. Once you have uploaded the document, you will receive an upload confirmation ("Hochladebestätigung"), which you should sign and send to geographie.spl@univie.ac.at.
  2. If any textual similarities are detected between your work and other texts, the study program management will examine whether it constitutes plagiarism. Please do not proceed with printing your thesis until you have received feedback (via email to your u:account) confirming a successful plagiarism check. The printed version must exactly match the electronically submitted version.
  3. After a successful plagiarism check and submission of the upload confirmation, you must submit the thesis in duplicate and hard bound to the SSC. Alternatively, you can leave it with the NIG porter in the Geography mailbox.

 

Please note: From 05.03.2024, the digital version of the academic thesis has to be submitted via u:space. 

Firstly, you need to review and verify the data in u:space that will be printed on the title page. This information is automatically loaded from university’s database and includes your name and academic degrees, as well as details regarding the supervision of your thesis.

Every thesis must contain a German and English abstract of at least 500 characters. The abstract is a brief summary of the central points of your thesis. 

For the title page of the thesis, there are concrete specifications regarding the layout and the data listed. To ensure that your title page is correct in terms of form and content, the system in u:space will create it automatically from your data. Please do not use a title page you have created yourself in advance, as this will not be accepted during the formal check.

Once we have received the upload confirmation and the bound papers, your Master's thesis will be forwarded to your supervisor by the SSC. They have 2 months to assess your thesis. As soon as we receive the grading and assessment back, we will forward it to you together with the registration form for the defense. 

Note

Students have the option of excluding (blocking) the submitted copies of the academic work from use (inspection in the library, borrowing) for a maximum of 5 years after submission due to important legal or economic interests of the student. Any request to block the thesis must be submitted to the Student Service Center at the latest when the thesis is submitted for assessment.

Blockage of the Master thesis

Information about thesis embargo

3. Final examination (public defence)

You will receive a form for registering for the final defence together with your Master's thesis report. Fill in all the fields, including the first and second examiners and the chairperson (these three persons form the examination committee) as well as a date agreed upon with all committee members. The examination location is to be left free and will be organized by the SSC.

In principle, the chair - depending on the respective subject area - is taken over by the directorate of studies:

Gudrun Haindlmaier for Humangeography, Spatial Research and Planning
Christiane Hintermann for Economics and Subject Didactics
Robert Peticzka for Physical Geography
Andreas Riedl for Cartography and Geoinformation

The first examiner is always the supervisor of the Master's thesis. The second examiner must be chosen and contacted by you - depending on the field of research, focus of the topic, etc. You can find a list of eligible persons here.


Please submit

to the SSC by e-mail (geographie.spl@univie.ac.at) at least two weeks before the scheduled date of the defence examination.

After reconfirmation of all commission members, you will receive a confirmation of the fixed date including room details from the SSC.

 

The duration of the presentation is limited to approx. 20-25 minutes (after 25 minutes the presentation will be stopped), followed by a discussion with the members of the examination senate (approx. 20-30 minutes).

Please be sure to send your presentation (with two pages of the PowerPoint presentation on one DIN A4 sheet each) to all members of the committee (chair, first and second examiner) by email before your defensio!

Note

Statistical survey on the occasion of graduation (obligatory)

Statistics Austria is commissioned to conduct this survey by decree of the Federal Ministry of Science and Research. Participation is compulsory for students who have completed a degree programme on the basis of the Ordinance on Statistical Surveys of Students at Universities and in University of Applied Sciences Degree Programmes, Federal Law Gazette II No.523/2003 as amended, pursuant to § 9 para. 6 Education Documentation Act.

Please fill in the online form at https://www.statistik.at/uhstat/uhstat2/ and submit the confirmation when registering for the defence at the SSC.
(the English Version can be found by choosing the option at the top of that website.)

4. Collection of the final documents

After the defensio, the documents are processed by the StudienServiceCenter and the degree certificate as well as the official notice of degree award are issued. This can take up to four weeks.  

The SSC will send you the completed degree documents (certificate, notice of award, Diploma Supplement) electronically.