About the faculty

In the initial phase, the Faculty of Business Studies had 660 students and 22 lecturers. The chronology of the first 25 years of the university impressively demonstrates the development and expansion efforts with regard to the further development of existing study programs as well as the establishment of new ones and the internationalization of studies. In addition to the founding degree course in Business Studies, seven further degree courses were established by 1996.

Since 2006, these have been successively replaced by Bachelor's study programs. Only the part-time evening course in Industrial Engineering and Management fell victim to the sharp drop in demand following the introduction of tuition fees and was dropped without replacement. The Master's degree courses EuroMPM (MA) and Risk & Finance (MSc) as well as, again in cooperation with the Faculty of Computer Science, Business Informatics (MSc) were added to the program as completely new courses; the MBA "Business Administration for New Public Management", on the other hand, continues the part-time diploma course in Public Administration.

Even after the switch to Bachelor's and Master's degrees, there has been steady development. In the winter semester 2010/11, the Bachelor of Insurance Management was the first dual study program to be launched in combination with the training programs of regional companies. In the course of the first reaccreditations, a stronger focus on studies and internships abroad was sought in the undergraduate Bachelor of Business Studies. This promotion of student mobility is also a conceptual component of the new Bachelor's degree programs in Finance, Accounting, Controlling, Taxes (FACT) and Business Logistics, which were added in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

The international orientation of the faculty has been reflected in the International Business degree program since 1989. Developed at that time as a diploma course with the aim of providing a European university education, it has been continued as a Bachelor's degree with partner universities in France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Australia, Spain and Mexico since the winter semester of 2006.

It is not only the large number of foreign guest students that demonstrates the international orientation of the Faculty of Business Studies. This also applies to the circle of university lecturers, which regularly includes foreign guest professors. The faculty cooperates with 60 partner universities in Europe and overseas.

These contacts also form the basis for numerous research collaborations. The focus of the work has included the development of multimedia programs, expert systems for operational planning and decision support tasks and business models, as well as the development of programs for the training and further education of managers in Polish and Latvian Business Studies. The development of distance learning systems for Poland and Belarus were projects carried out with financial support from the Federal Foreign Office.

The result of these innovations and also the specific practical relevance of the training with its scientific orientation and links to regional Business Studies are reflected in the demand for study places. Following losses due to the introduction of tuition fees, more than 2,500 young people are now studying at the Faculty of Business Studies again.

The Faculty of Business Studies is characterized by extensive cooperation with players in the region.

Cooperation with industry and Business Studies is firmly anchored in teaching:

• All Bachelor's degree courses offer the option of an internship semester (in Germany or abroad).
• The dual Bachelor's degree course in insurance cooperates closely with insurance companies from the region.
• Guest lectures by representatives from industry and Business Studies are firmly established, particularly in the form of the "Practice-oriented studies" event series. Here, company representatives can give talks on current topics that affect them in practice.
• The faculty organizes open dialogue events at least once a year to bring students and companies together. The Business Event offers a special opportunity for this through company stands and presentations on career opportunities by company representatives.
• In all study programs, there is at least one course that takes place in close cooperation with a practitioner (companies, associations, public bodies, etc.) and/or members of other academic disciplines.