Vision, Mission und Strategie (EN)

We are committed to excellence in research and have established a leading position internationally. Our goal is to produce research contributions that are relevant, original, and of the highest quality. To achieve this, we strive to build an international faculty that brings together diverse backgrounds to foster an innovative and interdisciplinary environment. We will continue to attract and retain top talents with the potential to produce impactful research. We see intellectual exchange as essential to our research excellence.

With the combination of business administration, economics, finance, and informatics in one faculty, our research is truly interdisciplinary. We are determined to cultivate this strength by connecting researchers across disciplines. Our portfolio of competence centers and research programmes provides a foundation for the interdisciplinary approach and will continue to enable innovative research collaborations between different fields and departments.

We continue to offer modern and academically rigorous degree programmes at the forefront of knowledge and technology. Our curriculum promotes and fosters innovation, experiential learning, and a lifelong learning mindset. The degree programmes aim to attract ambitious students from Switzerland and around the world ready to engage with our mission. We continuously adapt our programmes to meet new developments in knowledge, market demands, and technological advances.

In the bachelor programmes students receive a broad, method-based education combined with essential analytical and critical thinking skills. In the master programmes students get a deep dive into the fields business administration, economics, finance, and informatics. Our PhD programme is research-intensive to let students explore individual research interests while refining their theoretical and methodological skills. In continuous and executive education, we actively live by the principle of continuous learning and encourage personal and professional development at all career levels; we address the challenges of the modern economy, leveraging the diverse expertise both within and outside the Faculty.

We enhance our teaching quality through learning assurance mechanisms to foster continuous feedback and adoption of innovative teaching methods. We actively incorporate new technologies in teaching and act as a trailblazer in UZH in pushing the boundary of educational practices to enrich student learning experience.

We will continue to support our students and young researchers in their personal and professional development while fostering their commitment to ethical responsibility and sustainability. We will further expand our wide range of mentoring programmes, networking opportunities, and career support, providing students with the flexibility to choose from the Faculty's and UZH's offerings according to their needs and interests.

We aim to give young researchers even greater opportunities to establish themselves in their fields, offering targeted support and career development pathways. Through regular feedback, mentoring, and opportunities for academic exchange, we will ensure that the next generation of scholars can thrive in the rapidly changing academic landscape. We will strengthen our support to young talents and guide them toward successful academic careers both locally and globally.

Our Faculty is deeply committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is celebrated, and equality is a core value. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and strive to ensure everyone has equal access to opportunities. In the future, we will build on our past progress and further expand our efforts by opening new dialogues and developing new initiatives.

Our Faculty boasts a highly international mix of professors and students. We will continue to recruit and compete internationally for the best talent. We aim to strengthen further our partnerships with leading universities and research institutions around the world and promote innovative and impactful research through the framework of our competence centers and topics. In addition to international engagement on campus, we plan to broaden the international experience available to our students by offering and supporting semester exchanges, international summer schools, and joint modules with renowned partner universities. Our focus will be on increasing the quality and breadth of the selection of partner universities to ensure an academically rewarding experience for our students.

Our financial strategy will continue to rely on two pillars of funding: cantonal and third-party funds. Cantonal funding will remain vital for our long-term financial stability, ensuring our sustainable growth and enabling us to focus on the efficient and effective use of resources. Regarding third-party funding, we will intensify our efforts to obtain competitive grants (ERC, SNFS, etc.) and expand donations for research projects and professorships, which are highly valued within the framework of the University’s autonomy and academic freedom. We will actively foster new collaborations with industry and other external partners. We also aim to promote continuous and executive education to in the long run achieve increased financial contributions, as is feasible within the context of a public university, using these resources to advance our key strategies.

Visibility in business and society will remain an important priority for our Faculty. We are known by the public and in the media for our excellent research, and our graduate programmes are highly regarded internationally. We highly value our strong connections with both public institutions and the corporate world, which will continue to enhance our engagement and influence in key societal and economic initiatives. We will further engage our alumni to help build our identity and elevate our global reputation. By fostering lasting relationships with our alumni and cultivating mutually beneficial relationships, we will continue to grow our impact on society.

Our Faculty is committed to support research and teaching through a modern, efficient, and targeted administration. Central services offered through the Dean's Office, will be continuously revised and enhanced for a streamlined, efficient, and sustainable process. We constantly strive to simplify processes, improve quality, and engage relevant stakeholders. Our goal is to be at the forefront in academic administration through self-innovation and learning from others and to provide a platform for exchanging ideas and best practices within the Faculty and the wider UZH community.