Recommended Study Path - Guide

Course Types & Attendance

In general, there are three types of courses that you will need to register for, as a part of your studies:

• Lectures (abbrev. "VO"  in the Course Directory from the German word Vorlesung)
• Seminars (abbrev. "SE" in the Course Directory from the German word Seminar)
• Exercises (abbrev. "UE" in the Course Directory from the German word Übung)

Attendance is expected on all courses of the study program, even though it is only mandatory for Seminars (SE) and Exercises (UE). It is the lecturer’s decision on how to deal with absence from these courses.

Course Assessment

For a positive assessment in Lectures (VO) usually no attendance or participation during the academic semester is required. This is why Lectures (VO) are classified as courses with non-continuous assessment, because the only prerequisition for successfully completing such a course is passing an exam at the end of the semester. 

For a positive assessment in Seminars (SE) and Exercises (UE):

• regular attendance
• active participation

is required. For such courses, you have to complete oral and/or written partial achievements and therefore, the assessment is continuous throughout the academic semester. Your final grade is calculated on the basis of these partial achievements. For more detailed information on the partial achievements necessary to complete each SE or UE course, please see the information provided on u:find and/or during the respective course. 

Course Registration

The registration for the VO courses is not mandatory but recommended. It is only compulsory to register for the UE and SE courses, within the appointed registration deadlines, which you can find in the:

• Course Directory by clicking on the name of each course as well as in
• Course Registration Guide below.

Kindly note that the time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served). 

For all students: At the bottom of this page, you will find a Recommended Study Path for your Master's Degree. That is an overview of all the courses, for which you need to register in each study semester, so that no gaps are created in-between and for you to avoid any unnecessary delays for the completion of your studies.

For the first-year students: Please find a course registration guide for the current academic semester below:

Recommended Study Path

1st Semester (30 ECTS)

•     VO Introduction to Media and Politics (3 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     VO Introduction to Strategic Communication (3 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     VO Introduction to Journalism and Society (3 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     SE Scientific Skills (9 ECTS, 4 hours per week)
•     VO Introduction to Research Designs and Data Collection (3 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     UE Planning Research Designs and Data Collection (3 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     VO Introduction to Data Analysis (3 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     UE Applied Data Analysis (3 ECTS, 2 hours per week)

2nd Semester (30 ECTS)

•     SE Advanced Data Analysis 1 (5 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     SE Advanced Data Analysis 2 (5 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     SE Research Project A, Part I (10 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     SE Research Project B, Part I (10 ECTS, 2 hours per week)

3rd Semester (30 ECTS)

•     SE Advanced Data Analysis 3 (5 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     SE Research Project A, Part II (10 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     SE Research Project B, Part II (10 ECTS, 2 hours per week)
•     SE Master Seminar (5 ECTS, 2 hours per week)

4th Semester (30 ECTS)

•      Master Thesis (25 ECTS)
•      Defense (5 ECTS)