In January, the two law departments of WU Vienna University of Economics and Business – the Department of Public Law and Tax Law and the Department of Private Law – presented the first edition of the newly established Hans Kelsen Prize. The prize is awarded to the ten best graduates who completed the Bachelor’s Program in Business Law in the previous academic year. The prize aims to turn the spotlight on these students’ outstanding academic achievements and support them in their graduate studies.

The award winners are selected based on a ranking of graduates according to their academic performance over the course of their bachelor’s studies, measured in terms of weighted grade point average. With an impressive grade point average of 1.05, Lena Marie Wöß from Upper Austria topped the table as the best graduate of the academic year 2023/24. Prizes were presented to a total of seven women and three men.

Award speech by Christoph Badelt

Christoph Badelt, former WU Rector and current president of the Austrian Fiscal Advisory Council, gave a speech at the award ceremony, in which he highlighted the crucial interconnections between business, economics, and law. He also stressed the importance of a business-oriented legal education. The high levels of demand for the WU Bachelor’s Program in Business Law are impressive proof of the important status of this education: The program has consistently enjoyed great popularity since it was launched in 2006. Last year, WU once again saw a new all-time high in applicant numbers, with almost 2,000 applications for 870 places available in the program.

WU and Hans Kelsen

The Hans Kelsen Prize is named after one of the most important legal scholars of the 20th century, Hans Kelsen. The award was created to honor and commemorate Kelsen’s close ties to WU. Kelsen is widely known as the “father of the Austrian constitution.” He earned a venia docendi in 1911, based on a thesis on the key problems of constitutional law. Due to his Jewish origins, he had to flee to the USA in 1940, after holding several academic positions in Austria. Kelsen’s close ties to WU – specifically to its predecessor institution, the Imperial Export Academy – are less widely known. It was a position at the Export Academy that allowed Kelsen to devote much of his time and energy to academic pursuits at a young age. Kelsen also contributed to the further development of the institution: In an expert opinion written in 1913, he spoke out in favor of calls for transforming the Imperial Export Academy into the University of World Trade (Hochschule für Welthandel), which would later become today’s WU.

Further information about the Hans Kelsen Prize (in German) and photos of the award ceremony are available on the WU website.