General Requirements

Students have to follow the general BOKU examination regulations:
Graduation

To complete the EUR-Organic programme, you have to have passed all required courses and received a positive grade in the Master's thesis and defence examination.

In order to apply for the defence, your transcript of records has to show positive grades for all the courses of your Individual Course Plan and your Master's thesis must be finished and evaluated.

 

Please also check the master and graduation guide that can be downloaded from the EUR-Organic website

Master's thesis written and defended at BOKU


Steps towards graduation:

  1. You have to register your Master's thesis when you start working on it.
     
  2. A semester before graduating:
    Enter all courses done at the partner university (not BOKU) in your BOKUonline account (one data sheet per course) (info-guide accreditation/recognition).
     
  3. A semester before graduating (AFTER completing step 2):
    Have your Individual Course Plan and your Transcript of Records from the partner university (with signature and stamp, including ALL exam dates) checked at BOKU-International Relations (administrative coordinator) and submit both documents at the Study services (studienservices(at)boku.ac.at).
     
  4. At latest 3 weeks +1 day before your defensio:
    Organize your defense and submit     your Master's thesis and the required documents for graduating at the Study services (Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180 Wien)
    • Please check the list of documents in paragraph "1. For a defensio" on the website "Graduation from international Master's degree programmes"
    • The documents for the completion of Master's degree programmes are to be sent together by email (studienservices(at)boku.ac.at). The Master´s thesis must be also submitted electronically to Study Services no later than three weeks before the date of the defensio. Please use BOKUdrive. The instructions can be found here. The graduation documents are only to be issued after a bound copy of the master´s thesis has been submitted to the study services by mail or by appointment.
    • Additional information: The co-supervisor can either use the the BOKU form "Assessment form for Master’s thesis" OR he/she can also issue an official letter, signed and stamped, including a short statement about the thesis and a grade (copy sent by e-mail sufficient).
    • According to the"guidelines for the defensio" the student coordinates a date for the defence with two university teachers with venia docendi (="habilitiert") - that means professors, associated professors and Priv.Doc (but NOT assistant professors) - one of them being the main thesis supervisor. The chair for the defensio will be appointed by the Study services and has to be a member of a different department than the thesis supervisor. Students may suggest a chair. The defence (45 minutes) consists of a presentation (20 minutes) and a scientific discussion. Further details can be found in the guidelines.
    • It is highly recommended that the co-supervisor from the home university takes part in the defense via video-conference, but usually they do not act as 2nd examiner (for this role a special registration as examiner at BOKU would be required).
    • Students are asked to arrange the date and place of the defensio with the supervisor, the co-supervisor and the 2nd examiner (and if suggested also the chair - see above) in advance. The final exam can be held by video conference.   When you submit the required documents for graduating, inform the study services about the planned date/place.
       
  5. Register for the graduation ceremony at BOKU (not compulsory).
     
  6. Good luck with your defence (According to the curriulum you have to take a defence, not a master's examination - see information below)!
     
  7. The study services will inform you by e-mail once the graduation documents have been issued. After receipt of the confirmation concerning study-related stays abroad (UHStat2) the graduation documents will be sent to you by email. (Info-Guide UStat - Info-Guide Substitute Code)
     
  8. Apply for the graduation documents on your home university.
    Please inform at your home university about the graduation procedure there. Do not forget to submit your BOKU transcript of records and your BOKU Individual Course Plan (signed and approved) to the partner university on time!

Master's thesis written and defended at the partner university

Note: You do not have to register your thesis at BOKU!

Graduation at partner university:

Please inform yourself at the host university about the graduation procedure there.

You are required to have the following documents checked at the host university at latest 3 months before you submit the Master's thesis there:

  • the final version of your signed BOKU Individual Course Plan
  • your transcript of records from BOKU (to be downloaded in BOKUonline) 
  • your BOKU admission letter

Graduation at BOKU:

To graduate at BOKU you have to submit the following documents to the administrative coordinator at BOKU-International Relations, who will forward them to the Study services NO LATER THAN 1 YEAR AFTER YOUR DEFENSE:

  • Form “Request for issuing of graduation documents for Master's degree”
  • Admission certificate
  • Last version of Individual Course Plan
  • Graduation documents (master certificate) of the university, where the defence has taken place (important: date of the defence/final exam). If the final title of your thesis or the name of your main thesis supervisor are not mentioned in the graduation documents of the host university, please submit an additional document issued by the host university stating them (e.g. the thesis contract).
  • Transcript of Records Host University (with signature and stamp, including all exam dates)
  • Assessment of the thesis by co-supervisor (BOKU) (= official letter, signed and stamped, including a short statement about the thesis and a grade or BOKU thesis assessment form – copy sent by e-mail sufficient)
  • Confirmation of approval from university library: send an e-mail to
  • Transcript of Records from all other attended universities during your master programme
  • UStat questionnaire (Info-Guide UStat - Info-Guide Substitute Code) 

The documents have to be submitted as originals or certified copies. You can send the copies to the administrative coordinator at BOKU-IR by e-mail.

Please also make sure to submit the permalink of your thesis from the host university's library to your co-supervisor at BOKU OR (if you do not have a permalink) a hard copy of your thesis to the BOKU library. Only then, can your co-supervisor at BOKU enter the co-supervision in BOKU's research database (FIS) to have his thesis co-supervision acknowledged.