WU Wien

Visit to the Vienna University of Economics and Business: A leading European economic university with an attractive new campus

Thirty members of the Commercial Counselors Club and the American Chamber of Commerce in Austria participated in a visit to Europe's largest business university, the "Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien", ranked 22nd of 70 business schools in the "Financial Times" for the past two years running. Prof. Dr. Bodo Schlegelmilch, Dean of the WU Executive Academy, and Dr. Martin Mueller, Head of the Service Center, initiated the program, which included a presentation of the school's research activities and ended with a wine tasting of Austrian and Romanian wines.

The WU Executive Academy's portfolio includes MBA and Master of Law programs, university certificate programs, the Diplom BetriebswirtIn (BBA) program, short focused and custom programs. In recent years, it has become one of the leading providers of business education in Central and Eastern Europe.

The group was welcomed by Dr. Astrid Kleinhanns-Rolle, Managing Director of the WU Executive Academy, who presented a short overview of the history of the university, its present activities and its new building site. Two architects provided guided tours through the campus and explained the functionalities of the buildings. All our group members were impressed by the beauty and functionalism of the campus. They were especially impressed by the extraordinary architecture of the library building. The architects also provided the group with interesting background information on the buildings, which international architects were involved in the planning and realization, and their ideas. It was also very interesting to discover that the final cost of the campus did not exceed the planned budget.

After the tour, Mag. Reinhard Sefelin, M.Sc., Head of Research Service Center, gave an interesting presentation about the research activities and research strategy of the university. He pointed out that the university?s researchers are active in the following seven core research areas:

* Applied Economics and Socio Economics
* Business and Economic Law
* Empirically-Focused Research on Management, Marketing and Strategy
* Finance and Accounting
* Information Systems, Computing and Supply Chain Management
* International Business, especially CEE Region Studies
* International Business Taxation

Faculty members from various departments are affiliated with the 15 research institutes of the university, and are encouraged to focus on interdisciplinary topics which preferably cross departmental boundaries.

After the presentation, the group was treated to a wine tasting sponsored by Austrian wine grower Willi Opitz and a Romanian winery from Transylvania which is currently entering the Austrian market with the brand name "Liliac". The wines presented were of excellent quality and the tasting provided an ideal opportunity to network. The members of the Commercial Counselors Club and the American Chamber of Commerce had a wonderful time.