Vienna University of Economics and Business
Encyclopedia
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien ("WU Wien" ˈveˈuː ˈviːn or just "WU" ˈveˈuː in Austria and Germany) or Vienna University of Economics and Business is the largest University
focusing on business
and economics
in Europe
and, in terms of student
body, one of the largest universities in Austria
. Until 2008, its official name in English was "Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration".
WU Wien was founded on October 1, 1898 as k.u.k.
Exportakademie to provide professional training to future businessmen and thus stimulate the Austro-Hungarian empire
's economy
. From humble beginnings as a professional school, it quickly grew to become an important institution, which was awarded the status of a fully-fledged Hochschule
(an educational institution equivalent to a university, but specializing in a certain field such as technology or business or art) in 1919. At that time, it was renamed to Hochschule für Welthandel. The course of studies leading to the academic degree of Diplomkaufmann provided training preparing for the export and banking businesses and was very practical, comprising courses in business administration, economics, law and others.
In 1930, the Hochschule für Welthandel was granted the right to issue doctoral degrees
.
After World War II
, the Hochschule für Welthandel increased its breadth in research. It started to become a very important institution in Austrian society at that time; most Austrian managers and many politicians received their university education here.
From 1966 onward, it began to offer a more theoretical course of studies in economics. In 1975, it was renamed to Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien. At the same time, the number of students began to increase dramatically. In 1983, it moved to its current campus in Vienna
's 9th District
.
increasingly draws students from outside Austria, mostly from Central
and Eastern Europe
. Most of the faculty are of Austrian or German nationality.
The university is part of the respected consortium of Europe's leading schools and corporate partners - Community of European Management Schools (CEMS
).
WU Wien has achieved accreditation from the London-based Association of MBAs
(AMBA) and Brussels-based EQUIS
.
and the exhibition centre of Vienna. The master plan was created by BUSarchitektur under the guidance of the architect Laura P. Spinadel. The buildings of the campus are designed by architectures from Spain, England, Germany, Japan and Austria. The dominant element of the campus should be the Library & Learning Center which was planned by Zaha Hadid
.
The start of the construction will be in 2010 and pave the way for the largest campus for business sciences in Europe. After a construction period of 2 years the investment of 250 million Euros will be finished in 2012. The connection to the public transport system is the new extension of the underground line U2, buses and the closeness to the hub Praterstern.
WU Wien is not associated with the School of Austrian Economics which developed at the University of Vienna
in the late 19th and early 20th century. While the University of Vienna's economics department remains particularly strong in academic research and publication in peer-reviewed journals, WU Wien's economics department today exceeds it both in terms of faculty size and number of students. With students in Austria being free to choose at which university they enroll, WU Wien has become the most popular business and economics university in Vienna and in Austria.
Beginning in Fall 2006, WU Wien has begun to modify its study programs to a bachelor/master/doctor system in order to align them with the Bologna Process
. Currently, the following bachelor's degree programs are offered:
WU Wien plans to offer a range of 14 master's degree programs, including several programs taught completely in English. As of May 2009, the programs for Business Education
, Business Law and Information Systems are already on offer. A new Master's degree program in Quantitative Finance was launched in October, 2009.
Additionally, WU Wien offers the following advanced degrees:
The following four-year studies leading to a Magister der Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften (Master of Social and Economic Sciences) degree are still in progress for students enrolled prior to Fall 2006:
As at any Austrian or German university, scholars can also achieve a Habilitation
at WU Wien.
Furthermore, several courses in continuing education are offered (e.g. in advertising and sales, tourism management).
In 2011 the university's master program in management was ranked 18th in Europe by Financial Times.
Entrepreneurs and Managers
Public Institutions
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
focusing on business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and, in terms of student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
body, one of the largest universities in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Until 2008, its official name in English was "Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration".
History
K.u.k.
The German phrase kaiserlich und königlich , typically abbreviated as k. u. k., k. und k. , or k. & k., refers to the Court of the Habsburgs in a broader historical perspective . Some modern authors restrict its use to the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918...
Exportakademie to provide professional training to future businessmen and thus stimulate the Austro-Hungarian empire
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
's economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
. From humble beginnings as a professional school, it quickly grew to become an important institution, which was awarded the status of a fully-fledged Hochschule
Hochschule
Hochschule is a German term with two meanings.The literal meaning of the word Hochschule is “high school” which is not appropriate as a translation.- Generic term :...
(an educational institution equivalent to a university, but specializing in a certain field such as technology or business or art) in 1919. At that time, it was renamed to Hochschule für Welthandel. The course of studies leading to the academic degree of Diplomkaufmann provided training preparing for the export and banking businesses and was very practical, comprising courses in business administration, economics, law and others.
In 1930, the Hochschule für Welthandel was granted the right to issue doctoral degrees
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Hochschule für Welthandel increased its breadth in research. It started to become a very important institution in Austrian society at that time; most Austrian managers and many politicians received their university education here.
From 1966 onward, it began to offer a more theoretical course of studies in economics. In 1975, it was renamed to Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien. At the same time, the number of students began to increase dramatically. In 1983, it moved to its current campus in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
's 9th District
Alsergrund
Alsergrund is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria . It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. The area is densely populated, with a lot of government-built housing. According to the census of 2001, there were...
.
WU Wien Today
Today, WU Wien has more than 20,000 students and over 400 researchers and teachers, among those about 80 full professors. Itincreasingly draws students from outside Austria, mostly from Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. Most of the faculty are of Austrian or German nationality.
Rankings and Accreditations
The Financial Times has ranked WU Wien as one of the top 50 European Business Schools (#16 in 2009 for the master program International Business Administration).The university is part of the respected consortium of Europe's leading schools and corporate partners - Community of European Management Schools (CEMS
Global Alliance in Management Education
CEMS, the Global Alliance in Management Education is a cooperation of the world's leading business schools and universities with multinational companies and NGOs...
).
WU Wien has achieved accreditation from the London-based Association of MBAs
Association of MBAs
The Association of MBAs is a London-based international organization that accredits postgraduate business programs at business schools worldwide. The Association is one of the three main global accreditation bodies in business education and styles itself "the world's impartial authority on...
(AMBA) and Brussels-based EQUIS
Equis
Equis may refer to:*European Quality Improvement System an international system of assessment and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration run by the European Foundation for Management Development....
.
New building
The first turn of the sod for the new location was in October 2009. On a surface of about 100,000m² the university will be built close to the public park PraterPrater
The Wiener Prater is a large public park in Vienna's 2nd district . The amusement park, often simply called "Prater", stands in one corner of the Wiener Prater and includes the .-Name:...
and the exhibition centre of Vienna. The master plan was created by BUSarchitektur under the guidance of the architect Laura P. Spinadel. The buildings of the campus are designed by architectures from Spain, England, Germany, Japan and Austria. The dominant element of the campus should be the Library & Learning Center which was planned by Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
.
The start of the construction will be in 2010 and pave the way for the largest campus for business sciences in Europe. After a construction period of 2 years the investment of 250 million Euros will be finished in 2012. The connection to the public transport system is the new extension of the underground line U2, buses and the closeness to the hub Praterstern.
Research
Researchers at WU Wien work in the following fields:- Business administration and all its branches
- EconomicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
- LawLawLaw is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
- LinguisticsLinguisticsLinguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, focusing on business communications - SociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
- MathematicsMathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and StatisticsStatisticsStatistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.... - Economics history and economic geographyEconomic geographyEconomic geography is the study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities across the world. The subject matter investigated is strongly influenced by the researcher's methodological approach. Neoclassical location theorists, following in the tradition of Alfred...
WU Wien is not associated with the School of Austrian Economics which developed at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
in the late 19th and early 20th century. While the University of Vienna's economics department remains particularly strong in academic research and publication in peer-reviewed journals, WU Wien's economics department today exceeds it both in terms of faculty size and number of students. With students in Austria being free to choose at which university they enroll, WU Wien has become the most popular business and economics university in Vienna and in Austria.
Studies
Due to its large size, WU Wien is able to offer a very broad range of electives which is probably unparalleled anywhere in German-speaking countries.Beginning in Fall 2006, WU Wien has begun to modify its study programs to a bachelor/master/doctor system in order to align them with the Bologna Process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
. Currently, the following bachelor's degree programs are offered:
- Business, Economics and Social Sciences, with a choice of four different majors:
- Business Administration
- International Business Administration
- EconomicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
& Socio-economics - Information SystemsInformation systemsInformation Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...
(already a bachelor's degree program before 2006)
- Business Law
WU Wien plans to offer a range of 14 master's degree programs, including several programs taught completely in English. As of May 2009, the programs for Business Education
Business education
Business education involves teaching students the fundamentals, theories, and processes of business. Education in this field occurs at several levels, including secondary education and higher education or university education. Approximately 38% of student enroll in one or more business courses...
, Business Law and Information Systems are already on offer. A new Master's degree program in Quantitative Finance was launched in October, 2009.
Additionally, WU Wien offers the following advanced degrees:
- Doctoral Program in Social and Economic Sciences
- Doctoral Program in Business Law
- PhD in Finance (as part of the Vienna Graduate School of Finance initiative)
- International MBA (in English; jointly with the University of South CarolinaUniversity of South CarolinaThe University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
) - Executive MBA (in English; jointly with the University of MinnesotaUniversity of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
) - LL.M. in International Tax Law (in English)
The following four-year studies leading to a Magister der Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften (Master of Social and Economic Sciences) degree are still in progress for students enrolled prior to Fall 2006:
- Business Administration
- International Business Administration
- Economics
- Management Science
- Socio-economics
- Business and Law
- Business educationBusiness educationBusiness education involves teaching students the fundamentals, theories, and processes of business. Education in this field occurs at several levels, including secondary education and higher education or university education. Approximately 38% of student enroll in one or more business courses...
As at any Austrian or German university, scholars can also achieve a Habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
at WU Wien.
Furthermore, several courses in continuing education are offered (e.g. in advertising and sales, tourism management).
Rankings
In 2011 Vienna University of Economics and Business was ranked 21st in the list of the 392 worldwide leading higher education institutions by Mines ParisTech. The study obtained the higher education career of the CEOs of the world's leading 500 companies.In 2011 the university's master program in management was ranked 18th in Europe by Financial Times.
Notable alumni
Politicians- Thomas KlestilThomas KlestilThomas Klestil was an Austrian diplomat and politician. He was elected the tenth President of Austria in 1992 and was re-elected to the position in 1998...
(1932–2004), Austrian President (1992–2004) - Franz VranitzkyFranz VranitzkyFranz Vranitzky is an Austrian politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria , he was Chancellor of Austria from 1986 to 1997.-Early life and career:...
(1937– ), Austrian Chancellor (1986–1997) - Ferdinand Lacina (1942– ), Austrian Finance Minister (1986–1995)
- Hannes AndroschHannes AndroschJohannes Androsch is an Austrian entrepreneur and consultant; a former Social Democrat top politician who served as an Austrian Minister of Finance from 1970 to 1981 and additionally as Vice Chancellor from 1976–1981; and a former banker who from 1981-1988 was the General Director of the...
(1938– ), Austrian Finance Minister (1970–1981) and Vice-Chancellor (1976–1981); - Christoph ChorherrChristoph ChorherrChristoph Chorherr is an Austrian politician. From 1996 until December 1997 he was federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party....
, Green Party Spokesperson (1996–1997) - Madeleine PetrovicMadeleine PetrovicMadeleine Petrovic is an Austrian politician. From 1994 to 1996 she was federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party....
, Green Party Spokesperson (1994–1996). - Wolf KlinzWolf KlinzWolf Klinz is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament with the Free Democratic Party of Germany , part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ....
, Liberal Party member of the European ParliamentMember of the European ParliamentA Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
(2004–present) - Christoph MeinekeChristoph MeinekeChristoph Meineke is a German non-party politician and since January 2007 the first directly elected mayor of the municipality of Wennigsen .- Career :...
(1979– ), Mayor.
Entrepreneurs and Managers
- Peter Brabeck-LetmathePeter Brabeck-LetmathePeter Brabeck-Letmathe is an Austrian businessman. He is the Chairman and former CEO of the Nestlé Group.-Early life:Brabeck-Letmathe was born in a family with its origins in Iserlohn-Letmathe in North West Germany....
(1944– ), Chairman and CEO Nestlé AG; - Dietrich MateschitzDietrich MateschitzDietrich Mateschitz is an Austrian businessman who co-founded the Red Bull energy drink company and holds 49 per cent of the company's shares.-Biography:...
(1944– ), CEO Red Bull - Claus Raidl (1942– ), CEO Böhler-Uddeholm,
- Hans-Peter Haselsteiner (1944– ), CEO Strabag SE
- Peter LöscherPeter LöscherPeter Löscher is an Austrian manager and former President, Global Human Health at global pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG on May 20, 2007 as the successor of Klaus Kleinfeld, and was selected to take on the new position on July 1, 2007...
(1957– ), CEO Siemens AG
Public Institutions
- Maria Schaumayer (1931– ), President Austrian Central Bank (1990–1995).