At a Glance

Goethe University Frankfurt is a research-intensive university in Frankfurt am Main, continental Europe’s most important financial hub. Founded in 1914 by citizens for citizens, it is today one of Germany’s 10 largest universities, also in terms of external funding. On January 1, 2008, it acquired a unique degree of independence by returning to its historical roots as a foundation university. At the same time, it also gained a new appearance: A new campus was built around the historic Poelzig ensemble in Frankfurt’s Westend, which continues to set aesthetic and functional standards to this day.

The Faculty of Economics and Business at Goethe University Frankfurt numbers among the most attractive in Germany, not least due to the successful combination of theory and practice as well as its openness toward a broad spectrum of theoretical, practical and sociopolitical issues. The foundation for this special focus is over a hundred years of history. In 1901, Wilhelm Merton, the prominent entrepreneur and social politician, founded the Academy for Social and Commercial Sciences and in so doing sowed the seed for Goethe University Frankfurt – our faculty traces directly back to these early beginnings.

As a co-founder of Metallgesellschaft AG, Wilhelm Merton was one of the leading German entrepreneurs of the Wilhelminian Era. His aim was to create an academic institution that answered the needs of a modern economic society in terms of education and research. Our faculty still follows this guiding principle today.

The faculty’s high appeal, ensured by continuous internal and external evaluations, is reflected not only in the fact that it has approximately 6,000 students. It can also be seen in the large number of national and international companies that recruit our graduates on a regular basis. Successful (re-)accreditations, top places in important national and international rankings and numerous awards for our teaching staff and early career researchers attest to the faculty’s commitment to excellence. It was here that Ludwig Erhard wrote his dissertation, Erich Gutenberg lectured and Reinhard Selten, Germany’s first Nobel Prize laureate in economic sciences, completed his habilitation.