Predecessors and founding years

Faculty III, like the university, was founded as a university department on August 1, 1972.

The early predecessor of the University was the Hohe Nassauische Schule in Siegen (Universa Schola Nassovica Sigenensis) 1594 - 1600, 1606 - 1609, which was based in Herborn outside this period. The important jurist Johannes Althusius, born in 1557 in Diedenhausen (County of Wittgenstein / Berleburg), taught at this High Nassau School in 1594 - 1596 and 1597 - 1600. From 1599 to 1600, Althusius was also Rector of the Nassau High School in Siegen. Today's business law students at the Faculty are committed to his work and have therefore named the annual prize for the best business law graduates after Althusius.

The actual prehistory of the Faculty begins on January 25, 1962 with the founding of the Association for the Promotion of the State Higher Business School in Siegen. This association still supports the Faculty of Economic Disciplines, Business Information Systems and Business Law at the University of Siegen today, albeit under a modernized name. The Höhere Wirtschaftsfachschule (HWF) itself began operations in Siegen in April 1962. After two and a half years of study, the Faculty awarded the degree of Betriebswirt (HWF) and later the degree of Betriebswirt (grad.). The HWF fulfilled an urgent need for companies that were desperately looking for academically trained junior staff at the time. As universities of applied sciences did not yet exist and the number of high school graduates was comparatively low, the higher state technical colleges were also an important opportunity for talented young people to acquire an academic education that would otherwise have been denied to them. Graduates of the HWF in Siegen include Prof. Dr. Herbert Henzler, former President of McKinsey Europe and Germany, and Horst-Werner Maier-Hunke, current President of the North Rhine-Westphalia Employers' Association.

Prof. Dr. Herbert Henzler

Horst-Werner Maier-Hunke

The Faculty in the 1970s

On 01.08.1971, the HWF was incorporated into the newly founded Siegen-Gummersbach University of Applied Sciences as the Faculty of Business. This Siegen-Gummersbach University of Applied Sciences was merged into the newly founded Siegen University of Applied Sciences on August 1, 1972. The department was given the name Economics - Law, as it was initially hoped that a law course could be established alongside economics and business administration as components of economics. After this proved to be unfeasible, the department was renamed the Department of Economics in the second half of the 1970s.

The first founding rector of the university from 1972 - 1980 was the economist Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Artur Woll, who is still an active member of the Faculty today. At the beginning of the winter semester 1972/1973, the faculty had 143 first-year students and 27 professors. Of these, 25 had been transferred from the HWF or the University of Applied Sciences. In addition, there were two newly appointed traditional university professors. A nine-semester long-term degree course in economics, a nine-semester long-term degree course in business administration and a seven-semester short-term degree course in business administration, which was aimed specifically at prospective students with a technical college entrance qualification, were offered in the field of economics.

The Faculty in the 2000s

The last new enrolments for the traditional Diplom degree course in Economics took place in the summer semester 2001. A newly designed Bachelor's degree in Economics started in the winter semester 2002/2003 and the associated Master's degree in the winter semester 2003/2004. They were the first degree courses in the faculty to be accredited by an external commission.

On January 1, 2003, the University-Gesamthochschule became what is now the University of Siegen.

Since the end of the 1990s, there has been a strong rejuvenation of the teaching staff. The number of professorships fell. Teaching professorships were converted into research professorships. The proportion of better-equipped C4 professorships was increased by means of reappointment procedures. The growing strength of the department at that time is reflected in the increase in external appointments, but also in the ability to fend off many of these external appointments.

In June 2003, on the initiative of Prof. Dr. Peter Letmathe, the Siegen SME Institute (SMI) was founded on the initiative of Prof. Dr. Peter Letmathe. In 2006, Professor Letmathe succeeded in acquiring commitments for an endowed professorship for corporate succession in the SME sector, which was filled by Prof. Dr. Petra Moogin the winter semester 2007/2008. has been appointed.

With effect from September 2005, the department was renamed the Faculty of Economic Disciplines, Business Information Systems and Business Law. The new degree courses in Business Information Systems and Business Law were thus also to be recognized externally. 
This made it possible for Business Law in particular to join the Association of Law Faculties and to gain approval for the award of the Dr. iur. degree, a title that is otherwise only awarded at Faculty of Law.

Students with an entrance qualification for universities of applied sciences were able to enrol for the last time in the winter semester 2005/2006 without a special aptitude test.

In January 2006, on the initiative of Prof. Dr. Volker Wulf a branch of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (FIT), St. Augustin, was opened at the university.

In the winter semester 2006/2007, the conversion of the business administration diploma courses to the Bachelor-Master structure began with the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Since the 2009/2010 winter semester, there has also been a wide range of Master's courses, including a Master's for the management of small and medium-sized enterprises. A Bachelor's and Master's in Business Information Systems began teaching in the 2007/2008 winter semester. Business Law was converted to a Bachelor's degree in the 2008/2009 winter semester.

The Faculty in the 2010s

The Research Faculty Business and Economics (RSBE) began its work on May 5, 2010. In this research Faculty, 10 doctoral students and one postdoc worked together on research topics related to the central theme of "Decentralized Organization". In particular, the RSBE takes up the idea of interdisciplinarity and brings it to life.

With the new basic regulations of the University of Siegen, with effect from 01.01.2011, the 12 departments were bundled into four Facultys. As part of this change, Department 5 was renamed Faculty of Economic Disciplines, Business Information Systems and Business Law III.

Since the winter semester 2010/2011, the faculty has been offering an Executive MBA, which is aimed at managers of small and medium-sized enterprises and is supported by the Business School. This is the first time that the Faculty has positioned itself in the increasingly important area of so-called lifelong learning. In May 2013, the first graduates of the Academy were bid farewell at the 7th annual reception of Faculty III.

The Master's degree program in German and European Economic Law with an optional focus on Corporate Law or European and International Economic Law was changed in winter semester 2011/12. Since winter semester 2009/2010, the Faculty has been offering a Master's degree course in HCI (Human Computer Interaction), the only one of its kind in Germany to date. The conversion of the teacher training courses to the Bachelor's/Master's structure took place in the winter semester 2011/12. The economics degree courses were reaccredited in the winter semester 2011/12 with a new profile, a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Master of Science in Economic Policy, in the winter semester 2011/2012. The Business Administration degree programs were also reaccredited in the 2012/2013 winter semester and Business Information Systems in the 2013/2014 winter semester.

Faculty III enjoyed impressive success in the 2012 Handelsblatt Business Administration Ranking: three professors from Faculty III (Faculty of Economic Disciplines, Business Law, Business Information Systems) were ranked among the top 250 nationwide. The Business Information Systems specialist Prof. Dr. Erwin Pesch was ranked 23rd in terms of publications (2009: 41st) and 17th in terms of research output over the last five years, making him the third-highest ranked Business Information Systems professor in the German-speaking world. Prof. Dr. Volker Wulf is ranked 210th in terms of publications. Both are also Business Information Systems specialists.

On 24.05.2012 Prof. Dr. Volker Wulf and the Institute of Business Information Systems and New Media were honored as a "Selected Landmark 2012" in the science category at the 6th annual reception of Faculty III for the project "Landmark - safe navigation system for firefighters" in the competition "365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas".

In November 2012, together with the Chair of Business Information Systems and New Media headed by Prof. Dr. Volker Wulf with the Institute for Media Research established the BeFIT branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology(FIT). The aim is to provide future-oriented support for SMEs in South Westphalia through practical research into the IT-supported optimization of sustainable business processes.

In the course of the new appointment in February 2013 of Prof. Dr. Friederike Welter to the Faculty III of the University of Siegen in February 2013, Ms. Welter also took over the presidency of the Bonn Institute for SME Research (IfM) at the same time. The research and teaching exchange is regulated in a cooperation agreement. A branch office of the IfM is currently being established in Siegen. Ms. Welter is ranked in the F.A.Z. economist ranking of 2016, which lists the most influential economists in Germany, in 18th place.

Since 2016, Faculty III has been offering the new Master's degree program "Plural Economics" has been offered. Plural economics examines economic phenomena using a variety of different approaches and is characterized by the discourse of alternative traditions of thought. The Pluralist Economics degree program is aimed at students who want to critically reflect on their own understanding of economics and leave familiar ways of thinking behind. The course offers two specializations: Political Economy and Management and Leadership.

In 2017, the celebration of the move of Faculty III to the Unteres Schloß campustook place. took place. Dean Prof. Dr. Volker Wulf welcomed numerous guests to the official opening of the Lower Castle Campus, where Faculty III students have been attending events since April 2016. Part of Faculty III had already moved to the former Siegen District Hospital two years earlier. The Faculty Council of Faculty III gave the former district hospital the name "Ludwig-Wittgenstein-Haus" (LWH for short).

The "SME Graduate School"was officially opened at the University of Siegen at the beginning of 2019. was ceremoniously opened. Young academics working on the topics of "SMEs" and "entrepreneurship" receive special support there.

The Faculty in the 2020s

The year 2020 was characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why teaching and science went digital. Lectures and conferences took place almost exclusively via digital communication tools, and a new way of sharing information for students and academic staff developed. From the 2020/21 winter semester, the new examination platform ECON E-Assessment was also introduced, which made it possible to conduct both result-oriented examinations in the form of written exams and process-oriented examinations with the help of portfolio work.

Dr. Dr. Björn Niehaves, who taught at Schools III from 2014 to 2022, was ranked 60th in the WirtschaftsWoche ranking 2020 and was thus listed among the TOP 100 business administration professors in the lifetime achievement ranking.

The COVID-19 pandemic was also relevant in the following year 2021, which is why teaching and exams continued to take place in virtual formats. From the winter semester 2021/22, students were able to return to campus and attend courses and examinations in person.

Three Siegen professors were among the top 100 best researchers in business administration in German-speaking countries in 2022. The highest-ranked scientist from Siegen was Prof. Dr. Marc Goerigk in 40th place, followed by Professors Dr. Erwin Pesch in 45th place and Dr. Martin Hiebl in 57th place.

The University and the Faculty would like to stay in contact with former students, the alumni, even after they have completed their studies. With the alumni association of the University of Siegen, the alumni network is being established.

The specialist networks of the Faculty of Economics, Business Information Systems and Business Law are integrated into the alumni network of the University of Siegen.

The alumni network builds bridges between the Faculty and practice for the benefit of alumni, students and young graduates and offers opportunities for entry into professional life as well as for career reorientation.

Alumni and students of the Faculty are invited to become part of this network by registering in the alumni directory!

Not yet part of the network? 
Register here in the alumni directory so that you can participate in the network and benefit from the advantages.

The direct route to the specialist networks of Faculty III: