UAS BFI Vienna – FH des BFI Wien

• German
• English

While the curriculum of the programme is taught almost entirely in German, students will have to be able to understand documents and data provided in English, such as EU policy and legislation papers. It is also planned to offer several courses taught in English within the pool of elective modules.

• full-time

The entire curriculum of the joint Master's degree programme is taught on campus, and while some forms of digital aids might be used in order to enhance the students' learning experience, it will not be possible to study extensive parts of this programme remotely.

1 December for the following summer semester

The curriculum of the Specialisation Semester 1 ("Vertiefungssemester 1") comprises content-related and methodological knowledge in order to identify current and future cross-border challenges and to develop and question solution strategies. In particular, students will gain an understanding of the causes and handling of cross-border economic and political crises and will be able to work out lessons and strategies for future integration. As a further focus, students are shown the challenges of digitalisation and then develop policy strategies in order to shape the digital transformation. Students classify the political systems in European member states and the European Union, and they identify similarities and differences that need to be taken into account when formulating political strategies. They also learn about the instruments of economic policy counselling and project management and apply them in a European policy context. By taking two compulsory elective modules in each of the specialisation semesters, students deepen their knowledge in economics and/or political science.

The curriculum in Specialisation Semester 2 imparts knowledge to identify goals and challenges for the European integration process in the light of the interests of different stakeholders and to develop problem-solving strategies. In addition, students deal with the role of political interest groups in the European Union and the complex coexistence and interaction of political governance of national and European institutions in the multilevel system of the EU. Additionally, they consider the resulting implications when analysing and developing economic policy strategies. Following on from the challenges of structural change, students in the Specialisation Semester Two will deal with questions of European sustainability policy and the implications of climate change. Furthermore, students deepen their understanding of the fundamentals of empirical social and economic research, apply statistical data provided by the EU for empirical analyses and country comparisons, and critically examine the quantitative and qualitative methods used in the context of European policy coordination and policy evaluation.

In the final semester, students work independently at their home university on a complex, practice-relevant problem with a European focus as part of their Master's theses, using economics and/or political science methods. They utilise specialist, methodological and research skills and in particular methods for data collection and data analysis learned during their studies. Moreover, students present their research work in the Master's seminar as well as in the colloquium. They discuss and defend their results and thus gain experience in academic discourse.