50 Years of Business and Economics at TU Dortmund University

Founded in 1973 as the Department of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at the still relatively new University of Dortmund, the Department began teaching with just 54 students. The three subject areas of Business, Economics and Sociology worked together symbiotically and thus formed the foundation for the subsequent work of the growing department. Since 2017, it has operated as the Department of Business and Economics, and today it offers the second largest Bachelor's degree program at the university - with almost 400 new students every year.

With 21 professors and five assistant professors, the Department is dedicated to a broad spectrum of research: in addition to the traditional areas of business and economics, the Department specializes in empirical economic research as well as in entrepreneurship, technology and innovation management and digital transformation.

Collaborations between Departments

In his address at the ceremony, President Prof. Manfred Bayer highlighted that the Department of Business and Economics would also contribute across departmental boundaries with its economic knowledge. For example, the Department of Business and Economics offers several degree programs in collaboration with other departments: In addition to teacher training courses for various types of schools, students can benefit from the collaborative subject expertise in Industrial Engineering, Economic Policy Journalism and Business Mathematics as well as in the Master's degree in Econometrics. In addition, together with the Department of Informatics, a team from the Department is currently developing a new degree program in Business Informatics.

Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, also sent her congratulations on the anniversary. Ms Brandes, native of Dortmund, spoke about the particular significance of research in business and economics for solving current issues facing society in a video message. "Through our research, our Department can support policymakers and companies in making decisions on how to tackle major current challenges, such as the energy transition or dealing with new technologies," added Dean Prof. Steffen Strese as the host of the event. “However, we also help to promote economic and, in particular, entrepreneurial thinking among all graduates and researchers at our university. That's why we, as a Department, want to continue to advocate for the strengthening of entrepreneurship and start-ups from TU Dortmund University.” The Department has been closely associated with the Center for Entrepreneurship and Transfer (CET) at TU Dortmund University since its inception in 2017.

Extensive networks

Another unique attribute of the Department is its close ties with alumni: founded in 2002, the Alumni Club now has over 400 members who are active in science, business and entrepreneurship. Three of them gave keynote speeches on the occasion of the anniversary: Prof. Kerstin Schneider (University of Wuppertal), Dr. Ulrich Hüllmann (CFO of the Viessmann Group) and Christian Winter (partner and investor at Cusp Capital) spoke about the need for an improved availability of data for evidence-based research in Germany, the importance of economic education for university graduates, and the promotion of entrepreneurship at universities.

In his speech, Dortmund's Lord Mayor Thomas Westphal thanked the members of the Department for their multifaceted support in various projects for the development of Dortmund as a business location, including studies on the economic ties between the city and the surrounding region. In addition, many professorships maintain diverse and long-standing collaborations with practice partners in Dortmund and the surrounding regions. Prof. Steffen Strese looked forward to the future of the Department of Business and Economics: "Building on the successes of the past, the Department is excited to enter the years to come: together with our partners in Dortmund and the region, in companies and other universities, we want to further expand our networks, strengthen research and internationalization and foster entrepreneurship."

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