The framework: Legal matters, contract, payment
The statutes of the University of Graz contain the legal framework for course types, assessment types, the processes of teaching and assessing as well as the supervision of final theses.
Remuneration for teaching is based on the collective agreement for university employees. The salary is paid in six monthly installments; the amount depends not only on the type of course, but also on other factors. Payment requires that you have signed the relevant employment contract.
Human Resources Management is responsible for drawing up the contract. You can find your specific contact person among the members of the "Academic University Staff" team (if you are employed as a researcher) and the "Teaching" team on the intranet.
The system: Course administration via UNIGRAZonline
Teaching at the University of Graz is administered via the campus information management system UNIGRAZonline (UGo). For the duration of your employment as an instructor, you can log in to UGo via uniLOGIN with a user name and password . If you do not yet have an account (user name + password), you must set one up using a PIN code. The PIN code is assigned by the UGo representative of your unit, i.e. your center or department.
UGo not only contains the description of your course content, your teaching and learning methods, objectives and the assessment format, but also the course and assessment dates and the course room. You have the opportunity to finalize the course description shortly before the semester. There are usually time slots for this in August/September (for courses in the winter semester) and in January (for the summer semester). After that, only the additional information can be changed.
If you have any questions about UNIGRAZonline, please contact the UGo representative of your unit or uniIT at servicedesk(at)uni-graz.at.
The dates: Time schedule of the University of Graz
The following time schedule applies for room allocation at the University of Graz:
08:15 - 09:45 // 10:00 - 11:30 // 11:45 - 13:15 // 13:30 - 15:00 // 15:15 - 16:45 // 17:00 - 18:30 // 18:45 - 20:15 // 20:30 - 22:00
Courses on Saturdays must be approved by the Dean's Office and must also be scheduled within this time frame. If you want or need to hold courses during the lecture-free period, approval from the Director of Studies is required.
The confirmed places: Participant limit and allocation of confirmed places
The maximum number of participants for your course can be found in the curriculum, where it is specified for all course types. If the specified maximum number of participants is exceeded, students will be admitted according to the valid ranking criteria specified in the curriculum and recorded in UGo. Assignment to a confirmed or waiting list place is made in accordance with the requirements of the faculties and by the relevant unit after the end of the registration period.
Courses must also reach a minimum number of participants in order to be held. A general rule for the minimum number is as follows:
- for compulsory courses: 5 (Bachelor, Diploma, Master) or 3 (doctorate)
- for courses in elective modules: 15 participants or 50% of the upper limit according to the curriculum
Once places have been allocated, you can create participant and attendance lists in UGo.
In rough: Course planning considering ECTS equity
In the curriculum ECTS credits are allocated to each course. One ECTS credit point comprises 25 real hours. A course with 3 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 75 hours. In the case of a course with 2 contact hours, the contact hours account for approx. 23 real hours, because a two-hour teaching assignment at the University of Graz comprises an average of 30 units of 45 minutes each (i.e. 15 units of one and a half hours each). For a course with 3 ECTS, this leaves approx. 52 hours that can be planned for independent learning, assignments, preparation and follow-up of units/topics, written tasks and assessment preparation.
When planning your course, make sure that the planned and actual workload match. The ECTS calculator of the Medical University Graz can help you to estimate this. You can also take part in the workload project and have students continuously record their workload using an app.
In detail: planning, implementation, exchange and adaptation
In the Theme Shop Teaching on this website you will find information, suggestions and instructions for planning and conducting your course.
Numerous service centers can help you with various questions, as can the dean's offices for some of them.
We also recommend that you contact your colleagues if you have any teaching-related questions. Colleagues can give you valuable information about students, organizational practices and expected challenges, as well as share tips and tricks.
Such an ongoing exchange also supports you in your teaching development, parallel to the comprehensive training program of the University of Graz.
The virtual course room: Moodle
Moodle is the central learning platform of the University of Graz. Our so-called learning management system runs on servers of the University of Graz. For every course in UNIGRAZonline, an empty Moodle course is automatically set up, named after the course. You can access Moodle using your uniLOGIN user name and password.
A summary of the most important aspects of Moodle can be found on this subpage. Further support and information on how to use Moodle and all the possibilities it offers can be found at the Center for Digital Teaching and Learning, on the intranet (uniLOGIN required), at uniIT and in the Moodle course"Digital Teaching".
The grade: Grading of assessment performance
In principle, you as instructor decide which assessment formats are suitable for your course, however, the statute section on study regulations provides basic guidelines.
The Austrian grading scale comprises "Very good" (1), "Good" (2), "Satisfactory" (3) and "Sufficient" (4), negative success is to be graded with "Not sufficient" (5). Intermediate assessments are not permitted. If this form of grading is impossible or inappropriate, the positive evaluation must be "successfully completed" and the negative evaluation "unsuccessfully completed".
Grades must be entered in UNIGRAZonline within four weeks of submission or the examination date.
Further helpful information and suggestions regarding performance evaluation can be found on the thematic page "Assessing and assessment design".