The academic degree program in Social Economics focuses on honing in-depth, interdisciplinary problem-solving skills at the crossroads of government, society and business. You will learn how to examine social problems from different academic perspectives, as well as play a key role in developing integral solutions.

The Master's degree program in Sociology is comprised of a comprehensive and in-depth theoretical and empirical analysis of social problems from a sociological perspective.

The Master's degree program in Civic Studies focuses primarily on contributing to one's democratic co-determination in the sense of being an "adult" citizen.

The Master's degree program in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare (COSOPO) is unique in Austria, offering an opportunity to study social policy from a comparative European perspective. Students can study on a part-time basis and part of the program is held at European partner universities. The COSOPO program is held entirely in English.

Even if your undergraduate degree is not in Social Economics, you can still enroll in the Master's degree program in Social Economics. The pre-requisite is proof of 12 ECTS credits in the subject area of of Societal and Social Policy, 12 ECTS credits in Business Administration, and 12 ECTS credits in the subject area of Sociology. If you lack some of the required ECTS credits, you can still be admitted to the program under certain conditions (meaning you will have to take individual courses, but only up to a maximum of 40 ECTS credits). Detailed information is available in the curriculum under §2 Admission Requirements.

In general, yes. However, courses requiring on-site attendance take place throughout the day (such as immersion courses, seminars) so your schedule must be flexible to a certain extent.

There are no formal requirements for proficiency in English, however, you should be able to understand articles and textbooks written in English. During the semester you can improve your English through independent studies.

In addition to taking mandatory subjects in the field of societal and social policy, the Master's degree program in Social Economics requires completing a minimum of two elective subject areas worth a total of a minimum of 30 ECTS credits. You can choose from a broad range of elective classes. Some elective courses have no prerequisites, such as a main focus on law, philosophy and economics, a main focus on gender studies, main focus on social philosophy and philosophical anthropology, main focus on educational sciences and subject didactics, etc.

Subjects you already completed during your undergraduate studies also required for admission to the graduate degree program are excluded. This means, if you completed a Bachelor's degree in Social Law for example, you will have to take Labor Law, or vice versa.

Some elective subject areas allow you to choose between a main area of focus worth 12 and/or 9 ECTS credits, or a specialization field worth 18 ECTS credits. If you wish to take the elective course "Public and Non-Profit Finance", for example, the prerequisites include having taken and successfully passed the introduction course to Public and Non-Profit Management (PNP 1).

You can only transfer academic credit for a maximum of 3 electives. If you do not wish to specialize, then you must complete 3 focus area courses (that will also appear on your transcripts). You must, however, successfully complete these courses (any additional ECTS credits cannot count toward fulfilling the autonomous studies requirement).

You may choose an area of specialization and a focus on the same subject area, meaning General Management Competence, providing you select different classes.

In order to successfully complete the Master's degree program in Social Economics, you must submit a Master’s thesis, pass a Master's thesis colloquium as well as pass a Master's examination. In addition to the Master's thesis, you must also complete a Master's thesis seminar. The Master's thesis should be between 70-100 pages. Additional information is available on the Gespol institute's Moodle page about academic papers, opens an external URL in a new window as well as in the course catalog, opens an external URL in a new window.