WU Student Rankings – A different type of progress report

Documenting academic performance is important for any kind of application, whether it's for a graduate program in Austria or abroad, an internship, or a job. Until now, WU students had only their transcripts or progress confirmation (Erfolgsnachweis) to document their academic success. However, as compared to other universities, a number of complicating factors make it much harder for WU students to complete their studies in the prescribed minimum duration or to attain excellent grade point averages, which puts WU students at a disadvantage when in competition with students from other institutions. To help counteract this effect, WU is now offering its students a new service: WU Student Rankings.

What are WU Student Rankings?

WU Student Rankings provide you with a progress report of how your academic performance compares to other students in your bachelor or master program. This is primarily intended to make it easier for others to evaluate and rate your performance. Ranking confirmations are now available online in German and English. Download and print out your ranking at any time for use in applications, interviews, etc. Student rankings are entirely voluntary, i.e. whether or not you have a ranking generated and how you choose to use it are completely up to you.

Which rankings are available?

Rankings for WU students are available based on

• grade point average,

• rate of progress, or

• a combination of the two criteria (each weighted 50%)

The different ranking criteria are intended to take students' individuality into account. To some students, completing their studies as quickly as possible is more important than excellent grades, while other students focus more on achieving the best possible grade point average. The combined ranking is ideal for students who may not be at the top of their peer group in either category, but whose progress as a whole is good. Students are free to choose whichever ranking they prefer.

How do I get my personal ranking report?

Click the log in button at the bottom of this page and enter your password and PIN. You will be offered a list of all the programs for which a ranking report is available. You can view your rankings for the criteria grade point average, rate of progress, or a combination of the two. The data is based on four set cutoff dates per academic year (February 15, April 15, July 15, October 15).

The results of all examinations dated on or before the specified cutoff date are included in the respective rankings. The results of examinations dated after the cutoff date are included in later rankings.

Important information: The rankings are always published on the 15th of the following month after each cutoff date. Therefore in most cases all exams taken by the cutoff date will be graded and can be included in the ranking results.

If you are among the best 1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% or 25% of your peer group (see definition below), this will be noted on your progress report. If your performance is below that of the top 25%, the report will show only your grade point average, rate of progress, or the combined value of both criteria. All WU Student Rankings are available both in German and English.

Bachelor students can request a ranking after completing at least 42 ECTS, MSc students after 30 ECTS. If one of your enrolled programs is not shown on the list of available rankings, then you have not completed enough ETCS credits to be eligible for ranking.The rankings can be accessed from 15.03 at the earliest for first-time re-registration for the winter semester and from 15.08. at the earliest for the summer semester. No rankings are available for the discontinued diploma studies, individual studies, and doctoral/PhD studies.

How are peer groups and ranking criteria calculated?

Peer group

Your peer group for a particular program is defined as the total number of students who enrolled in the program for the first time at the same time as you. Semesters during which students were not re-registered or took a leave of absence are not included in the calculation.

Grade point average

Calculation of the grade point average:

Grades weighted with ECTS/Total number of ECTS per semester in the relevant study program

Example: If Student A has the following results in the bachelor's program Business Law:

then Student A has passed 47 ECTS, resulting in total weighted grades of 106; this results in a grade point average of 2.26 (the lower, the better).

Rate of academic progress

The rate of academic progress is calculated as follows:

Semester in days x total ECTS credits earned / semesters enrolled in the relevant program in days

Based on the indicators from the Intellectual Capital Report, a semester is taken to consist of 182.5 days.

Any ECTS credits transferred to a WU program for exams taken before admission to the relevant WU program are not considered for calculating the progress ranking and the combined ranking.

The figure for semesters enrolled in the relevant program in days is calculated based on the number of semesters (each 182.5 days) a student has been enrolled in the program and the date of the last result taken into account for the ranking. The semesters start either on October 1 (winter semester) or on March 1 (summer semester).

An example: 182.5 x 95 ECTS credits / 485 days = 35.7 (the higher, the better)

Combination of the two criteria

The two criteria are combined, each weighted at 50%.

Detailed descriptions of the criteria applied can also be found on the progress reports themselves.

For further questions, please contact the WU Examinations Office.