Application pools

Registration procedure for courses, in particular design studios, theory modules and artistic projects

All courses offered are listed in the course information system TISS. Here you will find all information on the individual courses, from the topic, supervisor, ECTS points, compulsory or optional subject to registration and examination modalities and times. Please note the information below on the registration procedure for Design, Theory Modules and Artistic Projects. 

Application procedure for design, theory modules and artistic projects

Registration takes place via the application pools in TISS, which allow an application with preference nomination and portfolio upload and a centralised allocation of places.  

Please note that the new curriculum applies with immediate effect, in which a new, additional type of design studio with 15 ECTS credits is offered in the Master's programme. As with the Bachelor's design studio, which has also been increased to 15 ECTS credits, these design studios must be completed as individual work and not as group work. Please note that 15 ECTS and 10 ECTS Master's design studios are offered in a joint pool. If you only want to take the 15 ECTS type or only the 10 ECTS type, you should exclude the designs studio of the other type from this pool by selecting the ‘not interested’ option for them

The courses are summarised in the application pools, in which you can choose three preferences from the courses on offer. 

The registration period for students via TISS starts on 15.09.2025 (09:00) and ends on 17.09.2025 (23:59) for modules and elective seminars; for design from 19.09. (9:00) to 22.09. (12:00). 
From 11.09.2025, short presentation videos of the design courses, elective seminars and modules will be available at the following link:  https://colab.tuwien.ac.at/display/PA/Poolbewerbung+Architektur 

Frequently asked questions about the design studio application

You can find the application pools at the addresses above, which are only active from the start of the application period.

ATTENTION: If you click on the link to the pools before the start of the application period, TISS will display the error message Requirements not met. Please wait until the start of the enrolment period to check whether you are on the relevant whitelist (see next point).

We recommend that you add the LVAs for which you have applied to your favourites in TISS. You will then find an icon next to the entry to indicate the status of your application.

A portfolio upload is only required for the Design application. In order to be considered for registration via Portfolio, registration with a portfolio upload is required by the end of the application deadline for Entwerfen at the latest.
 

Access is granted via a whitelist based on the following criteria:

Design Studios
All master's students and those bachelor's students who have already successfully completed the bachelor's design studio. Priority will generally be given to students already enrolled in the master's program when allocating places.

Module
All students in the Master's program as well as those students in the Bachelor's program who have already successfully completed the elective seminar and the Bachelor's design or a major design (10 ECTS).

The whitelists are updated daily according to the criteria mentioned above to also take into account newly acquired certificates.

If you are not on the whitelist, although you meet all criteria, please contact daniela.zeinzinger@tuwien.ac.at or petra.bilak-foederl@tuwien.ac.at   by email with a pdf of your certificate.

The final group assignments for the individual courses will be visible in TISS one day after the application deadline for the modules and within the following three to four days for the design courses. You will receive an email notification to your TU address.

10 ECTS and 15 ECTS Design Studios are organised in a pool and therefore cannot be taken in parallel. If you only want to take the 15 ECTS type or only the 10 ECTS type, you should exclude the designs studio of the other type from this pool by selecting the option ‘not interested’.’

You will be allocated to the course with the first priority. If more students have registered with their first priority than there are places available, they will be ranked and selected according to their progress (ECTS). 
If you are not allocated to your first choice due to your study progress, you will be allocated to the 2nd choice and so on. For the allocation of designs, 2/3 of the places with 1st priority can be registered directly by the lecturers (portfolio registration)
The time of registration or grade point average have no influence on the ranking.

When registering for a pool, please note that the algorithm allocates places based on preferences and academic progress. To ensure you get a spot early, it's advisable to pay attention to the first-place rankings during the pool registration process in TISS. These already indicate how many students have set a course as their top priority. This means that the higher the first-place rankings, the more popular the course is and the higher the likelihood that many students with advanced academic progress will be registered.n. 

Because the algorithm fills courses with 1st priority first, followed by 2nd and 3rd, the chance of 2nd or 3rd priority can be considered during the registration process. Example: 24 first-place finishers for 12 places – a course is assigned 12 x 1st priority based on academic progress. No students with 2nd or 3rd priority will be admitted to the course because it has already been filled with first-place finishers.

Only when there are still free places available and the first places have already been allocated will the further 2nd/3rd preferences be allocated.

In order to get a place, it is therefore advisable to indicate your 2nd or 3rd priority for courses with low first rankings.

Please note: For designing, you can also upload a portfolio to increase your chances of securing a spot. Two-thirds of the top-ranked students will be registered by the lecturer based on their uploaded portfolios. One-third of the spots will then be filled by the algorithm based on your progress.

NO portfolio for modules and elective seminars, as there is no selection of teachers and allocation is 100% based on the algorithm.