Winter Semester 2025/26

Since the summer semester of 2025, the Competence Center has been conducting an ongoing analysis of courses offered at WU Wien that relate to its core topics of Emerging Markets and Central & Eastern Europe. The following sections provide an overview of the relevant courses identified through a keyword analysis. The center has created an overview of prevalent topics, patterns, regions, and departments.

In addition, a list of all identified courses can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. 

Distribution by teaching programs

In the winter semester of 2025/26, approximately 49 relevant courses were offered, representing an increase of around 20 % compared with the summer semester. About 84 % of these courses were taught at the bachelor’s level, while approximately 16 % were offered at the master’s level, indicating no substantial change in the overall distribution. However, no courses were classified as PhD-level.

EM&CEE related courses in WU Master’s Programs

Among the master’s-level offerings, the range of programs represented has broadened compared with the previous semester. CEMS, the Master’s Program in International Management, accounts for a considerable share of the relevant courses, followed by the Center’s specialized Masterclass CEE program. Other represented programs include the master’s programs in Taxation and Accounting and in Law, while Marketing appears as a newly represented field.

Clustering of the courses (BA and MA level)

Six major thematic clusters were identified across the analyzed courses. Compared with the previous semester, ‘International Business Management & Marketing’ and ‘Sustainability’ have gained in importance, while ‘Business Communication & Language’ remains a particularly prominent cluster. A substantial share of courses also falls within the areas of ‘Global Economics & Socioeconomics,’ ‘Intercultural Competence,’ and ‘Law & Regulation.’ Overall, the findings point to a stronger emphasis on international management and sustainability-related topics.

Dominant keywords

The list of identified courses was compiled by searching for courses containing specific regional references, such as ‘ASEAN’ and ‘Africa,’ as well as thematic terms, including ‘developing countries’ and ‘emerging markets.’ The frequency of these keywords provides an indication of the relative prominence of particular regions and topics within the course portfolio.

Changes in the most frequently occurring keywords broadly reflect shifts in the thematic clusters. In particular, the stronger emphasis on business-oriented topics, as opposed to business communication, is visible in the increased occurrence of the term ‘Emerging Markets’ relative to language-related terms such as ‘Russian.’

The terms ‘China’ and ‘Asia’ continue to appear frequently. Overall, however, the keyword profile has remained relatively stable across the two semesters.

Regional-to-cluster linkages

Using the keyword analysis, each course’s thematic cluster can be linked to the specific keyword through which the course was identified. The chord diagram visualizes these connections and highlights the relationships between regional or thematic keywords and the corresponding course clusters.

The growing importance of the ‘International Business Management & Marketing’ cluster is reflected in its stronger connection to the term ‘Emerging Markets.’ This points to an increasing emphasis on business dynamics in rapidly developing economies and transitional regions.

Within the ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Global Economics & Socioeconomics’ clusters, the strong connections to ‘China’ persist, underscoring the importance of Asia in discussions of global environmental, economic, and geopolitical challenges.

The ‘Business Communication & Language’ cluster also remains closely linked to ‘Russia’ and ‘Russian,’ reflecting the continuing historical, social, and economic relevance of language competence for engagement with Eastern Europe and post-Soviet contexts.

The world map

The world map visualization underscores these findings: CEE and Asia appear remain as the two dominant regional anchors, while individual courses extend coverage to regions such as Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. This shows the continuously breadth of geographical focus offered by WU courses.

Overview of the EM&CEE courses at WU

Altogether, the results suggest that WU students are consistently exposed to topics that combine practical regional expertise with broader thematic approaches, equipping them to critically engage with economic, political, and social dynamics in global markets. It is noteworthy that business related topics have become a more prominent topic in courses related to Emerging Markets and Central & Eastern Europe over the course of the last academic year.

Finally, the identified courses can be downloaded as an Excel file.