Our world is facing grand challenges and WiSo, as one of the largest and most renowned faculties in Management, Economics, and Social Sciences, feels the obligation to address them, in research, teaching, and with knowledge transfer activities.

Table of Content

• Key Research Initiatives
• Teaching Portfolio
• Affiliated Institutes
• University of Cologne Business School
• WiSo's Strategic Goals

Key Research Initiatives

In our exiting Research Centres, C-SEB and ECONtribute, researchers from multiple disciplines within WiSo, the University of Cologne, and other institutions have acquired substantial resources to work on relevant topics that have the potential to make a difference to the world. We will support the research centres in their growth, but will also foster new joint research activities and have started four Key Research Initiatives that leverage the expertise of our faculty to address some of the grand challenges our world is facing. The Key Research Initiatives are Analytics and Transformation, Behavioural Management Science, Demography and Social Inequality and Sustainable Energy and Mobility.

Teaching Portfolio

We already offer a broad study programme portfolio that is structured along our disciplines in Management, Economics, Sociology, and Politics or cross-disciplinary topics that we consider particularly relevant, that is, in Health Economics, Economic Education, Information Systems, and Economics and Social Sciences.

We will extend the teaching portfolio by a Bachelor in Management, Economics and Social Sciences that enables students to make a difference. It addresses digital transformation, sustainability and sociological challenges and fosters an entrepreneurial mindset. Our new Master in Business Analytics and Econometrics will also foster entrepreneurship, but focuses on specific topics that require in-depth expertise and that are of particular relevance for businesses and organizations. Finally, we have established a new Research Master in Economics to prepare master's students for an academic career and we will analyse whether a similar programme could be established that is related to Management.

Affiliated Institutes

We believe that it is beneficial to cooperate with various stakeholders outside of the academic realm, such as companies and institutions. By working with practitioners, we increase awareness of current challenges that the world is facing enhance our ability to identify questions that need to be addressed to drive positive change and foster of our external ties via our Affiliated Research Institutes, Adjunct Faculty and other Corporate and Social Partners.

Business School

The development of the University of Cologne Business School (UCBS) is a central element of our strategy. It is a key pillar for WiSo to offer a structured approach for bi-directional knowledge exchange with practice. It allows WiSo to transfer knowledge from its research units to industry and to expose its research units to current and relevant topics. It also enables the University of Cologne and WiSo to address the demand for life-long learning, sustain the University’s leading position in management education, and helps to retain the faculty and attract great students.