Frequently Asked Questions

The ISU^WU is primarily open to undergraduate and graduate students from WU partner universities. If sufficient spots are available, students from non-partner universities can participate as well. For details on the application requirements, please refer to the application section on our website

• Before applying, make sure you know whether you are eligible for the undergraduate or graduate program. Please also have a detailed look at the course descriptions, since you will be asked to rank your course preferences during the application. 

• Make sure your application is complete. Applications with missing documents cannot be considered. 

• Make sure to apply on time. Application is only possible until the respective application deadline; late applications cannot be accepted. 

• For more details, please refer to the application section of our website.


 

Please refer to the fee section of our website for the different fee schemes and amounts.

• If your home university is a WU partner university, you can be officially nominated as part of the bilateral exchange agreement by your home university by March 15. In case of successful nomination by your home university, you are eligible for the exchange student fee (program fee only).

• If your home university is a WU partner university, but does not officially nominate you, you are eligible for the non-exchange student fee (program fee plus reduced tuition).

• If your home university is not a WU partner university, you are eligible for the freemover fee (program fee plus full tuition).

Please check the website of Austria's Agency for Education and Internationalisation:

• General information about entry and residence

• Exemption from visa requirements

If you do require a visa, WU recommends that you get the travel visa C (also known as “Schengen visa”). You can apply for this visa at an Austrian embassy in your country. For detailed information please have a look at the OeAD website.

Make sure to get the visa on time, the issuance takes several weeks! If you need an official letter of acceptance (WU invitation letter) to show to the authorities, it is in the student’s responsibility to request one from the ISU^WU team.

• Meals during evenings and weekends are not included in the program fee. Students should budget approximately EUR 200-500 for meals over the duration of the program, depending on individual preferences.

• Students can expect to spend approximately EUR 100-200 on social and cultural activities (e.g. museum admission fees) and miscellaneous personal expenses such as laundry.

• Accommodation is not included in the program fee. Accommodation costs vary depending on the type of housing selected. Please see our accommodation page for recommended housing options.

• Students who plan to travel within Austria or elsewhere in Europe before, during, or after the program should budget additional funds for transportation, accommodation, sightseeing, and other travel-related expenses.

• First, you need to check whether you are eligible for the undergraduate or the graduate program in order to select the current level when applying. 

• You will be asked to rank the courses according to your preferences when filling in the online application form. 

• It is important that you read the course descriptions very carefully and make sure that you fulfill the prerequisites for the courses you sign up for. You can access the course descriptions on our academic program website.

• Please note that we will do our best to assign students to their preferred courses, but this may not always be possible. Course allocation will be communicated in the acceptance email. 

Students who have not been assigned their first course preference may contact the ISU^WU team to inquire about a vacancy in another course. However, after submitting your application form and after WU's admission decision switching courses is an absolute exception.

No, this is not possible. In order to participate in the ISU^WU, you will be required to attend the whole three-week session, which consists of two courses, each lasting a week and a half.

• ISU^WU courses last four hours per day (9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday-Friday). You should also expect to spend some afternoons on project work, assignments, readings, or other course-related activities. Students can expect to work an average of 10 hours on course-related activities outside of class per week.

• In terms of assessment, please check the course outline of your respective course to see the type of assessment that is used; some courses may have exams, whereas for other courses, assessment is based on different components such as group projects. Students can only receive a certificate if all the required assignments are successfully completed.

• Each course also has a pre-course assignment that students need to complete before the start of the course. 

• For detailed grading requirements, please refer to the respective course outline. All courses will be graded according to the WU grading scale:

  • 1 = excellent

  • 2 = good

  • 3 = satisfactory

  • 4 = sufficient

  • 5 = fail

Please ask at your home university about the transfer possibilities, since it is not up to WU to decide how many credits you will recieve for an ISU^WU course or whether you can transfer the credits to your home university.

During the courses all necessary course literature will be distributed to the students or will be made available at the WU library. The costs of the course materials are included in the program fee. Please note that literature or textbooks required for pre-course reading or a pre-course assignment is not included in the program fee. Unless otherwise stated, it is the student's responsibility to obtain these materials.

All students who have successfully participated in the academic program will receive a participation certificate on the last day of the program. An electronic grade transcript will be sent to students approx. 3-4 weeks after the end of the program at the latest. Please note that students who miss classes without medical confirmation justifying their absence and students who fail a course may not receive a certificate at all.

• First and foremost, the ISU^WU is an academic program that gives international students from all over the world the opportunity to study in an international environment over the summer.

• Participants are expected to attend and be well prepared for all classes in the program.

• Classes are held Monday through Friday.  No classes will be scheduled on weekends, so students may travel then. However, they might also be required to do course-related work on days without classes.

• Detailed schedules will be made available to participants before the start of the program.

Class sizes are intentionally kept small to encourage interaction and active participation.

• Undergraduate courses: approximately 20-30 students per course

• Graduate courses: approximately 10-20 students per course

• To give students the flexibility of choice, students are asked to book accommodation for the ISU^WU on their own. Accommodation is not included in the program fee.

• On our accommodation website, students can find a list of reccommended accommodations, all located close to campus WU. These accommodations offer special prices for ISU^WU participants. Further information on the respective booking process to benefit from these special rates (e.g. promo codes) will be sent out together with the ISU^WU acceptance email.

• Students are not bound to these options and can also arrange housing through other accommodation providers.

• The ISU^WU team will organize a variety of cultural and social activities.

• These activities give participants the opportunity to gain insights into life in Vienna and the Austrian culture and are a great opportunity to get to know their fellow students.

• The social program is a mix of social, cultural and international events. 

• For more informaion, please see here.

Further information on WU can be found on the WU website.

The architecture of WU’s modern campus provides students with a state-of-the-art infrastructure creating the best possible environment for teaching, studying and developing new ideas. All ISU^WU participants have access to WU's library, computer labs and eLearning services. Students also have free WiFi access on campus.

If you wish to make use of these facilities you may want to bring your own laptop. On campus, you can also use the computers in the PC labs / in the library.

Lunch is offered in the student's cafeteria. You can also find a supermarket and various restaurants and cafés on campus.

If you have any questions regarding the ISU^WU, you can reach the team via email: isuwu@wu.ac.at