International.

Freie Universität Berlin was founded in 1948 with significant support from the United States. Our School, as one of the founding departments, views its academic mission within this tradition. Over the years, through a sense of history and by conviction, our School has worked closely with international organizations and businesses in economics, science, and society. Scholars from renowned national and international universities visit our School for presentations, seminars, guest teaching positions, or guest professorships. Since the foundation of the Deutsche Bundesbank Foundation endowed chair for international monetary policy in 1987, this position has regularly been held by internationally renowned economists. Many programs, including the German Research Foundation (DFG) sponsored doctoral program “Research on Organizational Paths” (Pfadkolleg) regularly lead national and international guest scientists to our School.

 

Interdisciplinary.

We are convinced that exchange and regular contact between our School and other disciplines and fields is extremely fruitful for teaching and research. So on the one hand, our School networks strongly with other departments and schools within the Freie Universität. We cooperate with the economic departments of the John-F.-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, the Institute for Latin American Studies, and the Institute for East-European Studies, the Otto-Suhr Institute for Political Science, and the departments of law and the Earth sciences. The courses of these departments at our School are integral components of our teaching program. On the other hand, we also cooperate closely with research institutions outside of the university, such as the Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung (Social Science Research Center), various Max-Planck- and Leibniz Institutes, and the Deutsche Institut für Wirschaftsforschung (German Institute for Economic Research).

 

Strong in research.

Freie Universität has a long tradition in international research. With regards to externally financed research, the School of Business & Economics has distinguished itself with an extremely high number of projects that have been financially supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the most renowned German research sponsor. As a rule, outstanding dissertations result from these projects. Research centers such as the Pfadkolleg doctoral program “Research on Organizational Paths” funded by the DFG (www.pfadkolleg.de), and located within the Department of Business Administration, has developed into a discussion forum in international research because of its interdisciplinary and international orientation.

 

In step with actual practice.

Thanks to its outstanding results in research and teaching, our School stands at the interface of science, politics, economics and society. Various continuing lecture series, discussion forums, and conferences lead business executives, managers and decision-makers from the business world to our School. The Dahlem Lectures on FACTS, a cooperative lecture program of the Department of Banking and Finance and the Department of Auditing and Business Taxation, the Management Showcase and the Network Forum at the Management Department, the continuing education program Executive Master of Business Marketing, with which the Marketing Department offers a two-semester on-the-job continuing education course in management – these are only some of our programs in which science, economics and society meet each other in an exciting exchange.

 

Interactive.

Students and Students and teachers at Freie Universität Berlin’s School of Business & Economics use the web-based Blackboard Learning System. Here, teachers can deposit teaching material and information for their courses, thus granting students access to necessary information at any time. Blackboard is also a discussion forum for academic exchange between students and teachers. Since its introduction in the summer of 2004, 16,400 students throughout Freie Universität have used Blackboard. In our School, the Learning System is implemented in 30 – 40 percent of all the courses.

 

Registration for modules, courses, and examinations was simplified for students through Campus Management. Campus Management is an SAP-supported service and communication technology that as yet is only available at Freie Universität Berlin.It was deployed in connection with the Bologna Process.