About WU Vienna

Only about 1% of all business and economics universities worldwide can claim the prestigious triple accreditation awarded by EQUIS, AACSB, and AMBA – and WU is one of them. The high quality of WU’s teaching and research regularly earn our university excellent ranking results.

Teaching

• Two german-taught and one english-taught bachelor’s programs

• Seven German-taught and nine English-taught master’s programs

• Three German-taught and two English-taught doctoral/PhD programs

• Our alumni are an important part of the WU community. An international network, networking events, series of panel discussions, and a direct connection to their alma mater – our alumni maintain close and long-lasting ties to WU.

Research

Researchers at WU work in the following fields:

• Business Administration and all its branches Economics

• Law

• Linguistics, focus on Business Communication Socioeconomics

• Mathematics and Statistics

• Economic History and Economic Geography

New campus

The new location is dubbed "Campus WU" and had its groundbreaking ceremony in October 2009. Close to the Prater public park, and next to the exhibition centre of Vienna, the campus features 6 main building complexes resting on approximately 25 acres (10 ha). The master plan was created by BUSarchitektur under the guidance of the architect Laura P. Spinadel. Architectural firms from Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Austria designed the buildings of the campus. The dominant element of the campus is the Library & Learning Center, which was planned by Zaha Hadid.

Construction began in June 2010 and paved the way for the largest campus for business sciences in Europe. With a total investment of 492 million Euros and a planned construction period of 3 years, the project was concluded in 2013. Campus WU is situated close to the public transport hub Praterstern and is serviced by two stations of the underground line U2 and a number of buses.

The LC has five cores, each with a different complex geometry. The core walls are inclined at different angles and so are the corners which are also rounded with different radii. MEVA has developed and uses both standard and special formwork, or a combination of both, to meet the forming requirements for these complex building parts. Steel formwork, for example, is used for rounded corners if required for structural reasons. Trapezoidal areas of inclined cylindrical corner areas are poured with special Mammut 350 wall formwork panels and special designs of MEVA’s circular column formwork Circo are used for the tilted and rounded corners.

History

• 1898      Founded as the Imperial Export Academy, located in Vienna’s Palais Festetics

• 1919      Becomes the state-run University of World Trade

• 1938      Austria’s “Anschluss” to Nazi Germany had far-reaching consequences (students and faculty expelled/stripped of their academic degrees)

• 1948      Degree programs include Global Trade, Business Administration, Economics, and Business Education

• 1975      The University is restructured and receives the name Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien

• 2004      The Universities Act (UG 2002) grants autonomy to Austria’s universities

• 2006      Starts to implement the Bologna system in its degree programs

• 2007      WU is granted the EQUIS accreditation, an important seal of excellence

• 2013      Move to the new Campus WU on Welthandelsplatz

• 2014      With its AACSB accreditation, WU becomes the first Austrian university to hold triple accreditation (from AACSB, EQUIS, and AMBA)

• 2018      Launched first English-taught Bachelor’s Program in Business and Economics in Austria

• 2019      Campus WU climate neutral in operation

• 2020      25 new professors hired, as negotiated in the 2019-2021 Performance Agreement