Founded on October 1st, 1898 as the Imperial Export Academy. The curriculum prepared students mainly for employment in international trade.

The academy soon took on the characteristics of a university and finally became Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration in 1975.Between 1981 and 1993, the number of students more than doubled, from 8,000 to over 16,000. In the 1990s, the number stabilized at about 20,000 students.

In 1989, WU became a member of PIM (Partnership in International Management). One year later, WU was one of the first universities to join the CEMS network (Community of European Management Schools and International Companies).

In two steps, one in 1993 and a major one in 2004, WU gained autonomy from the Austrian Ministry for Education, Science and Culture. The university started a major strategic planning process.

Since October 2005, WU has been systematically replacing all its first-degree (Magister) programs with Bachelor's and Master's programs. With this, WU is adopting the three-cycle system promoted by the Bologna process.

In 2007, WU became the first Austrian University to receive the

international EQUIS accreditation

. EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) is an internationally recognised accreditation system offered by the European Foundation of Management (EFMD).

In 2013, the realization of a new

WU campus

represents an important step in the university’s development, and a further milestone toward reaching its goal of further improving its top position among European business schools.

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