What Makes Our School the Best Choice for You?
Commitment to High Standards of Quality
The School of Business and Economics at RWTH Aachen University aligns itself with international standards of quality. To confirm the School's firm conviction that it can hold its own amongst the world's best business schools, the School chose to apply for accreditation by the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). AACSB Accreditation was awarded to the School in 2011.
Another key component of the School's quality assurance is that the students themselves evaluate courses, lectures, teachers, etc. at the end of each semester (via EvaSys). Over the years, the School has always gained excellent ratings in these evaluations. In addition, the School regularly conducts its own internal evaluations.
Interdisciplinary Focus
In today's world, globally relevant research problems can generally only be solved through interdisciplinary collaboration. In acknowledgement of this development, the School of Business and Economics has tailored its profile to incorporate interdisciplinary themes located at the interface between business and economics on the one hand and engineering and natural sciences on the other. Interdisciplinary collaboration with other schools, faculties, and centers of RWTH Aachen enables business and economics students - from the onset of their studies - to observe problems from diverse perspectives. This approach continues to give the School of Business and Economics at RWTH Aachen University a decisive edge over other business schools.
Research-Intense
Because so many research issues nowadays require an interdisciplinary approach, the School of Business and Economics has recently established four Research Areas. Each of these reflects the tightly-meshed research activities within the School and each is also a point of contact for collaboration with other schools, faculties, and centers at RWTH Aachen. The specialization areas in our Master's degree programs have already been aligned with these Research Areas. In all of our business and economics programs, teaching contents focus on the criticial discussion of current research findings and, whenever appropriate, a quantitative approach is applied.
International Focus
The School of Business and Economics promotes the internationalization of its students by offering very attractive opportunities for them to study outside of Germany for a period of time. The School's Exchange Office maintains exchange cooperations with about 60 European and non-European universities!
To keep abreast of the growing internationality of business and research, the School offers lots of classes that are taught in the English language.
Interactive Focus
Many of our teaching activities are student-centric, incorporating interactive, participatory teaching/learning methods, such as structured debating, presentations, or discussions of case studies.A wide range of eLearning services and products underpin the School's blended learning approach.
Social Responsibility
Many of the School's courses focus among other things on the social consequences of economic action and correspondingly prepare students for their future roles as decision makers in business and industry. The relevance that social responsibility holds for the School is reflected in the School's Mission und Code of Conduct for Teaching and Learning.
Research Project Orientation
Some of the teaching and learning activitites in the School of Business and Economics focus on current research projects of the School, thus giving students the opportunity to develop their own research and application skills in teamwork. Students can demonstrate that they are capable of acquiring new knowledge by themselves and of making scientifically founded decisions despite having incomplete information. Students also develop their ability to give professional presentations, to work in teams, and to communicate effectively - all of which stand them in good stead for their future careers in scientific research or business and industry.
Supportive Services
The School of Business and Economics provides an extensive range of supportive services for its students. For general information and questions about programs of study or exams, students can contact the Academic Advising Services . The Mentoring program provides early-stage help and assitance to students on planning and managing their studies. The School's Exchange Office helps students to find appropriate universities at which to study outside Germany, and the Internship Office helps students to find a suitable internship placement, and provides official recognition of completed internships.
Hands-On Orientation
Of course theory is important, but so is hands-on experience! To ensure that students are in close touch with the "real world", the School of Business and Economics maintains close contacts with well-known companies. Excursions to companies along with industrial and business internships give students the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice. The School engages lecturers from industry and also welcomes guest speakers from outside RWTH Aachen, all of whom help to give an added dimension to what students learn in class. Regular courses of lectures - such as those offered by the association of friends and supporters of the School - the Förderverein der Wirtschaftswissenschaften der RWTH Aachen e.V. - demonstrate the productive collaboration between the School and industry. Tangible evidence of the School's close links with industry is its Deutsche Post Chair of Optimization of Distribution Networks - established by the Deutsche Post AG - and its Institute for Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN) - established by E.ON.
Entrepreneurship Support
The RWTH Innovation GmbH was established in 2000 with the aim of producing young entrepreneurs out of the ranks of RWTH Aachen University. Every year, the Center assists and supports 30 to 40 new start-ups. As a key player in the entrepreneurial landscape of the Aachen region, the Center enjoys the support of the Aachen branch of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) and the Sparkasse savings banks in Aachen and Heinsberg.
The proof of how promising and exciting the practical components of business and economics studies at RWTH Aachen are, is given by the manifold spin-offs which have been established by our students or staff members. Comprehensively supported by the Aachen Entrepreneurship Center at the Chair of Business Administration for Engineers and Natural Scientists, plenty of students have launched themselves directly into their own business ventures. The success rates speak for themselves!