i) First of all find the list of approved universities in Austria which is also available on Oead(Austrian exchange organization like

HEC in pakistan) website. Link at the end of this section which gives you a broucher in PDF regarding all details about studying in Austria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Austria ii) Link on wikipedia of the universities list is here http://www.oead.at/index.php? id=3516&L=1 iii) After finding the list of universities select main 5-7 universities firstly and your concerning departments where you want to join as a PhD student. In your concerning departments please see the list of people and especially mark the full professors and associate professor who can really be your supervisor for PhD. However Assistant professor can only be your supervisors with some full professor / head of the institute. iv) Please dont send email to all people in departments as some of them are technicians, other PhD / non-PhD students or post doc fellows. v) Please send the emails to only those professors in those fields in which you have sound knowledge or you feel that you can adjust afterwards. Because a lot of students face problems concerning fields and I know a lot of friends who change supervisor after arrival. (although that is not a big deal sometimes as you can change your supervisor easily if you dont get adjusted with him / her but it again consumes a lot of time which commonly not adjustable with respect to tough studies in PhD) vi) Before sending an email Please read the full profile of the professor and also see in which field he/she is making good research. You can also check his CV, list of publications and other related data on the website of university. (this is necessary to know if he/she asks about your interests or some new ideas you should also be familiar to that) vii) The format to write an email to professor should be as follows viii) First of all in title of the email write clearly Awarded full scholarship for PhD, acceptance required which clearly states that you already have been selected for the full funding for your PhD and you just need acceptance to work with professor. This is necessary as most of the professor just ignore the application because it is not clear who will proved funding for your studies. ix) Please write precise mail to professor telling him about your current achievements (including scholarship for PhD) and future prospects . x) Please do not send cv, covering letter or other reference letters to professors unless it is really demanded by them. xi) Make a general template for email and send this to as much concerning persons as much you can find for your field. xii) Please dont use words like Dear Sir/Madam and most respectfully stated., etc. etc. as these are not much common in Europe and some people dont feel it good. Rather address each professor with his / her name so that he is well aware that you are really sending him/her email and the mail is not a spam / junk. xiii) After sending a general email to all the professors (by name) waits for a little while at least for two weeks. In the meanwhile prepare your research proposal plan or read as much articles/ journal papers of the professors to whom you really want to research. xiv) After two weeks when you dont get response from any side send a reminder email to only those whose work you liked most and you really can grow with that concerning person.

xv) Now wait again for a week or so and then call the professor on his landline number which is generally available on the same website where his other credentials are xvi) Dont call everyone you have sent email rather just two or three with whom you are really interested in doing your research. xvii) Hope these steps will help you in finding an optimal position in a bright research group in Austria with some real competent and ETHICALLY good professor (as behaviour and attitude of the professor counts most in PhD if your supervisor is good in manners and can spare time for you or can help you is better way even when your field is not that associated with the field he is really working inn. On the other hand if the professor is dry or busy or not very good in dealing people happily can disturb you during your studies even you have full command in your field) xviii) Above all, if you know any Pakistani who has completed his/her studies from Austria in your city, area or near your place even on internet ask him for further guidance I am sure He/she will help you in all concerning issues (as far as I know I have met all nice people during my 3-4 years stay in Austria) xix) Last but not least after finding the supervisor if he asks what you need for further process of your scholarship means the context of acceptance letter. Ask him to send you a signed letter with seal of the university on university letter head even just one sentence I accept or give acceptance to Mr/Ms. as a PhD student provided that he avails his / her own funding this letter he should send you via post and if possible one copy scanned.