Starting your master’s degree at TU Graz

I’m an international student from Croatia, and when I was registering for the Molecular Microbiology master’s degree at Graz University of Technology (or TU Graz) I found out firsthand that it’s so much easier if you approach everything systematically and break things down into smaller steps. So let’s take a look at the process of applying for a place on a master’s programme at TU Graz. I’ve divided it into the following five steps:

1)    Choosing a degree programme
2)    The admissions procedure
3)    Assignment of a study place/online pre-registration
4)    Admission in person at the Registrar’s Office
5)    Starting your degree

Choosing a degree programme

The first step is to select a degree programme. There are 16 German-language and 20 English-language master’s programmes to choose from at TU Graz. Graduates are awarded the title of Diplom-Ingenieur*in (DI or Dipl.-Ing.) or Master of Science (MSc). This opens up a wide variety of career options, or alternatively you might decide to start studying for a doctorate. Besides purely technical programmes, such as Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, TU Graz also offers 15 NAWI Graz master’s degrees, including Molecular Microbiology and Advanced Materials Science. Focused on natural sciences, NAWI Graz is a wide-ranging partnership between TU Graz and the University of Graz – in general, it aims to provide students with increased opportunities, additional training places and higher-quality education.

The admissions procedure

This is the second step. Remember, though, that master’s programmes only use an admissions procedure if there are more applicants than available places, and the number of places is strictly limited. The admissions procedure is held once a year for the following academic year. For more details, visit the TU Graz website, where you can also find an overview of the university’s online admissions procedure.

Don’t forget that the registration deadline for uploading your documents is earlier than the deadline for submitting your application and for admissions for the academic year in question.

Assignment of a study place/online pre-registration

The third step differs depending on whether you’re an Austrian or an international student.

Austrian students who are starting their first degree at TU Graz must complete an online pre-registration process. This means you need to create an account in TU Graz’s TUGRAZonline system, enter your personal data and specify the degree programme you want to apply for.

For international students, the first job is to apply for assignment of a study place. To do this, you need to complete the Application for Admission form and post it along with all of the required documents to Graz University of Technology, Registrar’s Office, Rechbauerstrasse 12, A-8010 Graz before the deadline for submission. Alternatively, you can hand your application in personally to the porter at Rechbauerstrasse 12, addressed to the Registrar’s Office.

The Registrar’s Office will inform you in writing once your application has been processed. If your application is accepted, you will receive an admission notice from the Rector containing information on the next steps.

Admission in person at the Registrar’s Office

For the fourth step, you need to hand in the admission notice as well as the required documents – either the originals or (for Austrian students) certified copies – in person at the TU Graz Registrar’s Office. If you have provided all of the necessary documents, you’ll receive your matriculation number, information about paying the tuition fee and Austrian National Union of Students (ÖH) membership dues, as well as your TU Graz card, which is your student ID.

Starting your degree

The final step is a question of taking care of the little things that you need to deal with after receiving your matriculation number and TU Graz card: like paying the tuition fee and student union membership dues, having the expiry date printed on your TU Graz card, and setting up your TUGRAZonline student account.

After that, you’re ready to start your first semester at TU Graz!

Admission criteria

The requirements for admission to a master’s programme at TU Graz are posted on the programme website. You can find an overview of all TU Graz master’s degree programmes here. If you graduated from the corresponding bachelor's programme at TU Graz, you can enrol for the relevant master’s degree without any restrictions. You can also find information on previous qualifications that could count towards your admission – either with or without restrictions – in the curriculum of the master’s programme you are applying for. Details of all TU Graz degree programmes including semester schedules and curriculums can be downloaded from the TUGRAZonline information management system.

If you have any questions connected with your previous degrees and admission, simply send your documents to the Registrar’s Office at studynoSpam@tugraz.at and they will tell you whether your previous qualifications are suitable for your chosen master’s programme.

Apart from the specific requirements, some master’s degree programmes have a limited number of places, as mentioned above. Applicants for these programmes also need to complete an admissions procedure. A selection panel decides which applicants will be given a place on the programme. The panel can award a maximum of 25 points, with the letter of motivation contributing up to five points and professional expertise up to 20 points. Details of admission procedures, assessment criteria, deadlines, points systems and other information can be found in the Verordnung des Rektorats für die Aufnahmeverfahren für englischsprachige NAWI Graz-Masterstudien (Order of the Rectorate on Admissions Procedures for English-Language NAWI Graz Master’s Degree Programmes) and Verordnung des Rektorats für die Aufnahmeverfahren für die englischsprachigen Masterstudien (Order of the Rectorate on Admissions Procedures for English-Language Master’s Degree Programmes; both only available in German).

Documents

International students require the following documents for admission to a master’s degree programme:
1)    Application for Admission form
2)    Certificate from a completed bachelor’s or undergraduate degree programme
3)    Transcript of records for the completed degree programme including details of examination subjects, grades and credits
4)    Proof of language proficiency (proficiency in German for German-language master’s programmes and proficiency in English for English-language master’s programmes)
5)    A copy of your photo ID/passport
6)    CV

One important thing to bear in mind is the certification and translation of documents. Depending on the country where your documents were issued, you will need certified and/or translated documents in order to secure a place on a TU Graz degree programme.

The section of the website that deals with certification and translation of documents provides information on the procedure for having your documents certified and translated, depending on the country where they were issued.

Deadlines

Don’t forget the various deadlines for applications. At TU Graz, you can start a master’s degree in either the winter or the summer semester. The deadlines for applying for degree programmes without an admissions procedure are later in Austria than in many other European countries. The Academic Year section of the TU Graz website contains an up-to-date list of important deadlines.

The first key deadline is the date by which you need to submit all of the required documents to the Registrar’s Office. This is important for all international students who want to apply for a place on a master’s programme that does not have an admissions procedure.

Submission periods:
•    Winter semester: 1 May to 5 September
•    Summer semester: 1 December to 5 February

The next important date is the admissions deadline. During the admissions period, you can register in person at the TU Graz Registrar’s Office – you must take your admission notice for the degree programme with you. This deadline is important for all new students.

Admission periods:
•    Winter semester 2024/25: 8 July to 30 November 2024
•    Summer semester 2025: 7 January to 30 April 2025

You also need to bear in mind that the deadline for registering and uploading your application for the admissions procedure differs from one master’s programme to the next – the deadline can be found on the respective programme website. A good place to start is by visiting the overview page for the university’s master’s degree programmes.

Getting advice

The Registrar’s Office at TU Graz is on hand whenever you want to find out more about particular degree programmes, studying at TU Graz in general, or registration and admissions. And the International Student Ambassadors team is there to help prospective students from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, who don’t have any specific questions, but just want to talk to someone and hear about their experiences for yourself. The TU Graz Welcome Center is a great place to start if you’re an international student looking for assistance before you arrive in Graz.

The TU Graz website also has an FAQs page for international students.