The History of the WiSo Faculty

Over a hundred years of history shaped by renowned researchers.

The Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Cologne has a long history. It is one of six faculties at the University of Cologne, founded in 1388 as one of Germany’s oldest universities.

The faculty was officially established in 1901 and has since evolved into a prestigious institution for management, economic and social sciences studies and research. It offers a variety of programs in business administration, economics, sociology, political science, and other related disciplines. The faculty has a strong international focus and maintains close relationships with other renowned universities worldwide.

A Journey Through Time

The curriculum for prospective teachers of commercial subjects included economics and business administration, commercial history, commercial geography, commercial law, and colonial policy, as well as languages, mechanical technology, general education courses, and teacher training. Women, who were admitted from 1907 onward, were trained primarily as teachers of commercial subjects.

Although the proportion of women rose to 25 percent during the First World War, as many men were serving at the front, the majority of students both before and after the war were male. Most came from relatively affluent families in Cologne and the surrounding region, even though the institution was already recruiting students from across Germany at that time.

When the University of Cologne resumed operations in 1919, immediately after the First World War, the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences became one of the cornerstones of the newly re-established university.

The 1920s were marked by severe economic instability and political polarization. While professors supportive of the Weimar Republic were relatively well represented among Cologne’s academic staff, right-wing extremist forces also gained increasing influence, including within the traditional student fraternities. In April 1933, the University of Cologne became the first German university to voluntarily align itself with the Nazi regime (Gleichschaltung).

During the National Socialist era, one in five lecturers at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences became a victim of Nazi persecution. Many were forced to emigrate, while others were imprisoned by the Gestapo or sent to concentration camps.

The University of Cologne suffered extensive damage during the Second World War. Nevertheless, teaching resumed shortly after the war ended. In the 1950s and 1960s, the WiSo Building (WiSo-Hochhaus) emerged as an important architectural and intellectual landmark of the faculty and the university.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the faculty experienced substantial growth, as did universities throughout the Federal Republic of Germany in the wake of educational reforms. New institutes and professorships were established, and the range of academic disciplines expanded considerably.

Since the early 2000s, the faculty has undergone a far-reaching process of internationalization. This development has not only fostered international publications and scholarly exchange at conferences, thereby contributing to academic excellence, but has also promoted student mobility and intercultural understanding among people from different countries.

• The CEMS Global Alliance has made an important contribution in this regard.
• In 2008, the Cologne Graduate School (CGS) was established with the support of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the University of Cologne.
• In 2012, the faculty successfully obtained the international EQUIS Accreditation. Since then, it has successfully completed several reaccreditation processes.

At the same time, the faculty continues to benefit from its local environment. Cologne remains an important location:

• as a major logistics hub, with the Rhine serving as a key waterway and Cologne/Bonn Airport connecting the region internationally;
• as a center of the media industry;
• as a leading trade fair location;
• as the headquarters of major companies in retail, insurance, automotive manufacturing, the chemical industry, and construction; and
• as home to a vibrant ecosystem of young, knowledge-intensive start-ups, particularly in the fields of digitalization, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence, and sustainability.

Today, the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences is one of the largest and most renowned faculties of its kind in Germany and beyond. Academic excellence, outstanding teaching, and supportive working conditions for faculty and staff will remain key objectives in the years to come.

The faculty is committed to ethical principles and guided by values such as equal opportunity, anti-discrimination, and gender equality.

Its strategy is also increasingly shaped by a commitment to sustainability.

For many years, the faculty has hosted the WiSo Sustainability Days.

In 2026, the WiSo Sustainability Award will be presented for the first time to an early-career researcher. The recipient will be selected by an international jury composed of leading scholars from around the world.

The faculty is also participating in the University of Cologne’s “Summer of Sustainability” initiative in 2026.

In 2027, it will host the “Forum Nachhaltigkeit” (Sustainability Forum) as a faculty partner of the Vice Rectorate for Sustainability.

The history of our faculty has always been closely intertwined with economic, political, and social developments, from the local to the international level. Researchers, teachers, students and their student representatives, as well as professional and administrative staff and their representative bodies, are all part of these broader transformations and actively help shape them through research, teaching, governance, and public engagement. Our graduates, too, assume responsibility in academia, business, politics, and society.

The Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne connects its 125-year history with the motto “Today’s ideas. Tomorrow’s impact.” through innovative research and teaching. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and close exchange with the world of business and practice, it develops forward-looking approaches to addressing the challenges of the future.

Our motto is an invitation to help shape the decades ahead together—with intellectual curiosity, a sense of responsibility, and the firm conviction that education and scholarship have the power to change the world.