Innovation has a long tradition at WU. When the Imperial Export Academy, the institution that would later become today’s WU, was founded in 1898, it was a completely new type of higher education institution, offering a comprehensive education in the field of international trade. In addition to commerce-related subjects and the study of trade goods, the curriculum also included foreign languages, economics, economic geography, and public and private law. In 1917, the first female graduate completed her studies at the academy.

It didn’t take long for the academy to outgrow its original building on Berggasse. Before the start of WWI, a decision was made to construct a new building in Vienna’s Währinger Park. The institution eventually moved to its new home in 1916.

There had already been plans to grant the academy the legal status of a university during the final years of the Habsburg monarchy. In 1919, the academy was transformed into a public university and its name changed to University of World Trade (Hochschule für Welthandel). Just like the Imperial Export Academy before, the University of World Trade also awarded a diploma to graduates who completed the institution’s six-semester program. As of 1930, graduates received the academic degree of “Diplomkaufmann,” pursuant to a decree passed in the same year. In the field of commercial studies, the university offered courses on international trade and banking, complemented by economics and law. In 1930, the University of World Trade was granted the right to award doctoral degrees, which transformed it from a completely teaching-oriented institution to a place of research.

The new Nazi laws had dire consequences, particularly for students who were regarded as “non-Aryan” under Nazi doctrine and forced to leave the university immediately. The university also expelled faculty members who expressed dissenting political opinions or were considered “non-Aryan.” Professors from German universities and Austrian academics known to be staunch Nazi supporters were brought in to replace the ostracized teachers.

New, German-style study regulations were adopted in the 1939 winter semester. Under the new curriculum, the academic program taught had a duration of six semesters but included only one major diploma examination, which covered general business administration and specializations in business administration, economics, law, and an elective. Academic degrees earned during the war years were recognized and remained valid after the end of the Nazi regime. The faculty was depleted after the defeat of the German Reich: No fewer than 60 professors, assistant professors, lecturers, and civil servants were expelled from the university because they had been affiliated with the Nazi regime, and the professors who had been brought in from German universities returned back home.

One of the most important changes was the return to two mandatory foreign languages, which had merely been voluntary electives during the war years. The students preferred the German-style curriculum, however, because they found it less demanding.

In 1948 and the following years, the University of World Trade started creating new chairs and research institutes again. It remained the only Austrian university to offer degree programs in business administration until 1966, when changes in Austria’s political landscape brought about reforms in tertiary education and new degree programs in social sciences, business, and economics were established at several other universities.

From that time on, the University of World Trade offered four specializations: retail and trade (still available exclusively at the University of World Trade), business administration, economics, and business education. Graduates of the eight-semester program were awarded the degree of Magister, and doctoral graduates received the title of doctor of social and economic sciences.

Further reforms brought about additional changes: Following the adoption of the Austrian Universities Act 2002 (Universitätsgesetz), WU became a public university with full legal autonomy and authority to make its own decisions. With the foundation of the ZBP Career Center in 1983, WU was the first Austrian university to establish its own career center to help students get off to a good start in the job market. In the years following 2005, WU once again played a pioneering role: It introduced a new organizational structure based on departments and was the first university in Austria to implement the Bologna architecture in all of its degree programs, transforming its diploma programs into bachelor’s and master’s programs.

The EQUIS accreditation came as the most prestigious international distinction WU had received up until that point and made WU the first Austrian university to join the elite circle of EQUIS-accredited schools. Aside from WU, only three other universities from the German-speaking area were EQUIS accredited at the time (University of Mannheim, WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, University of St. Gallen).

The central building, the Library & Learning Center, is surrounded by six building complexes designed by internationally renowned architects. 35,000 m² of the campus area is built up, the remaining 55,000 m² are publicly accessible grounds.

Campus WU is a unique university campus that provides an ideal environment for studying and teaching. 25,000 students and 1,500 teachers, researchers and administrative staff study and work on Campus WU.

Since 2015, WU has held triple accreditation by EQUIS, AACSB, and AMBA, the 3 most prestigious accreditation agencies for business and economics universities. Only 3 universities in the CEE region*, 8 universities in the DACH region, and fewer than 1% of universities worldwide can claim triple accreditation from these organizations. In the CEE region*, WU shares this extraordinary status only with the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Kozminski University (Poland).

^{* This includes the following CEE countries: CZ, EE, HU, LV, LT, PL, SK, SI, AL, BA, BG, HR, MK, ME, RO, RS, XK, BY, MD, RU, UA, AT}