Modul University Vienna is a private university, which puts it under the Privatuniversitätengesetz rather than the Universitätsgesetz 2002 that governs Austria's public universities. In practice that means its rules come from its own Study Regulations rather than a state framework, and they are more specific than most. Teaching and assessment are in English throughout.
Where the rules actually live
There is no separate thesis handbook to hunt down. The master's thesis is governed by Section 9 of the Study Regulations for your programme, and those regulations differ by programme: the MSc regulations and the MBA regulations are separate documents. Read the one for your own degree rather than assuming they match.
Because the rules sit inside the Study Regulations, they are written as regulation rather than as advice. What they say is binding, and what they do not say is genuinely left open.
The grading split, and why it matters
This is the rule most worth knowing early.
| Component | Weight | Passed separately? |
|---|---|---|
| Written paper | 80% | Yes |
| Oral defence | 20% | Yes |
The thesis and the defence are assessed and must be passed separately, and on top of that the supervisor gives an overall grade weighted 80/20. A strong paper does not rescue a failed defence. Students routinely treat the defence as a formality after months on the writing, and at Modul that assumption is expensive.
Your thesis is assessed by a committee of your supervisor and a chair of the defence selected by the Dean, and supervisors must justify their assessment in writing.
Supervision and topic
Your supervisor must hold an academic doctoral degree or equivalent. External supervisors, and supervisors without a PhD, need the Dean's approval, so confirm that early if you are hoping to work with someone from industry or another institution.
You announce the topic and your initial work to the Dean in writing, together with a supervision statement from the faculty member or external lecturer supervising you. If you cannot find a suitable topic, the Dean will assign you to a lecturer who suggests one.
Then the constraint that catches people:
The topic can be changed once, and only within the first three months after you announce it to the Dean.
That makes the announcement a real decision rather than an administrative step. Three months is enough to discover that a topic will not work, but only if you start testing it immediately. Do your feasibility checks — data access, scope, whether the literature supports the question — before the window closes rather than after.
Theses are normally written individually. A group thesis is possible, but only with the Dean's approval.
Writing and submission
The thesis must be written in English. It has to be written in accordance with the principles of academic work, and its purpose, as the regulations put it, is to show you can deal with a problem in your programme's field independently on the basis of your scientific knowledge.
For submission you provide:
- One printed, hardbound copy
- An electronic version
- A written statement in the printed copy confirming you wrote the paper independently and used no aids other than those referenced in the text
That independence statement is part of the printed submission, not a separate form, so build it into your document rather than leaving it to the print shop.
The Master Thesis module is worth 18 ECTS, split across the Master Thesis Seminar, the thesis itself and the defence. You need to complete the required research course before you can register for the Master Thesis Seminar, so check that prerequisite against your own progress rather than assuming the seminar is open to you.
The defence
The oral defence is open to the public. If you or your supervisor want it held online, the Dean may allow it, but the regulations frame this as exceptional rather than routine, so plan for an in-person defence in Vienna.
Given the 20 percent weighting and the separate pass requirement, prepare for it as an assessment in its own right: know your methodology well enough to defend the choices, be ready to say what your findings do not show, and rehearse the parts of your argument you find least comfortable.
Publication and the five-year hold
Master's theses are archived in the library and may be published on the internet by the university. If your thesis contains information worth protecting — commercially sensitive data from a partner organisation, for example — you or your supervisor can apply in writing for a hold.
| Hold | Rule |
|---|---|
| Maximum duration | 5 years |
| Applied for by | You or your supervisor, in writing |
| Decided by | The Dean |
If you are working with company data, raise the hold with your supervisor while you are negotiating data access, not at submission. An organisation that expects confidentiality will want to know the arrangement before it hands anything over.
The PhD route
The PhD in Business and Socioeconomic Sciences runs eight semesters and 240 ECTS full-time, structured around four modules: philosophy of science and research design; quantitative and qualitative techniques; state-of-the-field seminars in your concentration; and scientific writing with pedagogical training.
Three assessments punctuate it:
- Preliminary Exam, covering the foundation coursework
- Dissertation Proposal Defense, where you defend your proposal to a PhD committee and take their feedback
- Dissertation Defense, the oral presentation and examination of the finished work
The dissertation itself is either a single-authored monograph or a compilation of three single-authored manuscripts linked to a focused research area. Note that both routes require single authorship, which shapes how you plan collaboration with your supervisor and any co-researchers from the start.
What Modul does not publish openly
Being straight about the gaps is more useful than guessing at them. From the publicly available Study Regulations and programme pages, the following are not specified, and you should ask your supervisor or the programme office rather than assume a standard:
- No word count or page length for the master's thesis
- No font, margin, line spacing or page layout requirements
- No prescribed referencing or citation style
- No stated plagiarism-detection tool or procedure
- No published policy on generative AI use in theses
- No published submission deadlines by semester
- No stated resubmission rules if the thesis or defence is failed
- For the PhD, no published committee composition or manuscript publication-status requirements
The absence of a rule is not permission, particularly on AI use. Ask, and get the answer in writing if it matters.
A practical substitute for the missing formatting guidance: Modul publishes its completed master and MBA theses. Reading two or three recent ones from your own programme tells you more about accepted length, structure and citation practice than any general advice, and your supervisor can point you at ones they considered strong.
Pre-submission checklist
- Topic and initial work announced to the Dean in writing, with a supervision statement
- Supervisor holds a doctorate, or has Dean approval if external or without a PhD
- Any topic change made within the three-month window
- Required research course completed before the Master Thesis Seminar
- Written in English, to academic standards
- Independence statement included in the printed copy
- One printed hardbound copy plus the electronic version ready
- Hold applied for in writing if the thesis contains protected information
- Prepared for a public defence, assessed separately from the paper
- Checked formatting and citation expectations with my supervisor, since none are published
Where to get help
Your supervisor is the first stop for anything the regulations leave open, which at Modul is most of the formatting detail. The Dean's office handles topic announcements, supervisor approvals, group-thesis permission, the defence chair and the publication hold. The programme office can confirm prerequisites and deadlines for your intake.
If the writing itself is the sticking point rather than the rules, our thesis writing support works chapter by chapter with you.
