Questions of the HTU for the Departmental Erasmus Coordinator, Prof. Uwe Schmock, about the ERASMUS Nomination Process
HTU, 2024-12-04:
We, the Department for International Affairs of the HTU, are interested in the requirements that TU Wien sets for students before they can participate in an ERASMUS exchange. Could you answer the following questions?
Departmental Erasmus Coordinator Prof. Uwe Schmock, 2024-12-11:
[Preamble / applies to all responses below:] There are several Erasmus coordinators at our faculty (note: Faculty of Mathematics and Geoinformation). I can only speak for the Erasmus placements coordinated by me (with the active support of Ms. Sandra Trenovatz), which I supervise alongside three colleagues (Note: Prof. Stefan Gerhold, Prof. Julia Eisenberg, and Prof. Thorsten Rheinländer) from the Research Unit of Financial and Actuarial Mathematics (FAM).
HTU: Are there any requirements at your faculty regarding academic progress (e.g. minimum ECTS credits, minimum number of semesters completed, completion of specific courses)?
Schmock:
We follow the guidelines and information provided by the International Office, and there are no additional minimum requirements set by the faculty or by us.
If we suspect that a student has too few ECTS credits or semesters completed, we clarify this with the International Office. There are no specific courses that students are required to have completed.
If someone is in an advanced stage of their bachelor’s degree but has not completed certain fundamental courses (e.g. Analysis 1, Linear Algebra 1), we would likely ask whether these were completed at another university. If not, we would probably refuse to nominate them. However, this has not occurred so far.
In cases where applicants have similar qualifications, we tend to give preference to more advanced students, as they sometimes no longer have the option to reapply the following year.
HTU: Are there any requirements at your faculty regarding students’ academic performance (e.g. grade point average)?
Schmock:
At ETH Zurich, there arespecific academic progress and GPA requirements set by the university that we must follow. Since we only have one exchange spot available at ETH Zurich, it sometimes happens that we have to reject very good students due to number of applications. Unfortunately, we are not able to increase the number of exchange places at this time.
(However, ETH Zurich also offers an alternative option outside of the regular exchange program: students may visit for a few months to write a thesis, without attending courses.)
Beyond that, we do not have a fixed minimum GPA requirement. However, we do need to assess whether a student is likely to complete the planned courses or at least obtain the necessary ECTS credits at the partner university.
In some cases, we support students with lower academic performance, hoping that they will focus more on their studies while abroad and gain motivation for the remainder of their degree at TU Wien.
HTU: Are students limited in their choice of courses while studying abroad? Specifically, are there courses that are not recognized for credit transfer? Do you see any difficulties students face when it comes to course recognition?
Schmock:
All of our exchange placements are within the field of mathematics. Students who are pursuing another degree alongside mathematics should be aware that the focus of their coursework abroad is expected to remain in mathematics. Additionally, partner universities may have subject-specific restrictions that limit access to certain courses outside of mathematics.
In general, I recommend that students take courses at the host university that are not offered at universities in Vienna, especially at TU Wien. The master's programs in mathematics offer good options for credit transfer within the free elective and elective modules.
Recognition of courses is decided by the Director of Studies — for mathematics, this is Assoc. Prof. Gernot Tragler. Since we at the institute are not involved in the credit recognition process, students should contact Prof. Tragler directly.
Ideally, the recognition of courses from the partner university should be clarified with the Director of Studies before the Erasmus stay.
HTU: Are the above-mentioned criteria used to rank the students?
Schmock:
My colleagues and I review all applications submitted by the February deadline together. For each partner university, we consider all students who listed it as one of their preferences—whether it was their first, second, or third choice.
The decision is based on the submitted information (e.g. duration of studies), the transcript of records, any additional grade reports, and the list of planned courses at the partner university.
Academic performance to date is a key criterion in my assessment, with particular emphasis on courses and exams that are relevant to the planned Erasmus stay.
The final nomination may also depend on the decisions of other coordinators, especially if students have ranked partner universities managed by them higher than those assigned to us.. This coordination with other coordinators is managed by our secretary, Sandra Trenovatz.
Die finale Nominierung hängt teilweise auch von anderen Koordinator_innen ab, falls Studierende Partneruniversitäten anderer Koordinator_innen vor unseren Partneruniversitäten gereiht haben. Diese Abstimmung mit anderen Koordinator_innen erledigt dankenswerterweise unsere Sekretärin Sandra Trenovatz.
HTU: Do the Erasmus coordinators at your faculty follow a unified procedure, or are there differences?
Schmock:
There is no specific guideline from the faculty, nor is there coordination with the other coordinators within the faculty.
Our Research Unit of Financial and Actuarial Mathematics (FAM) has its own Erasmus webpage where students can find information and contact persons:
https://colab.tuwien.ac.at/display/FAM/Erasmus/
We welcome any comments or suggestions.
If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to contact Ms. Sandra Trenovatz (01-58801-10511, fam@fam.tuwien.ac.at)
Best regards, Uwe Schmock