Expansion and successful institutionalization: the founding of the Faculty of Business and Economics

The structural expansion of economics in Basel continued into the 1990s and 2000s. Within the broader trend of specialization in the field, Basel focused on enhancing areas such as business administration, fiscal science, and economic theory.

Since the mid-1980s, economics as a field had undergone a process of institutional consolidation in Basel. One visible sign of this development was the unification in 1987 of all business and economics chairs and facilities, previously scattered across various institutes, under one roof to form the Business and Economics Center (Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Zentrum, or WWZ), thanks to the efforts of René L. Frey and Silvio Borner. The WWZ was a novelty in the Swiss university landscape and quickly became a model institution. Academic activities in teaching, research, documentation, and outreach were centralized, resulting in more coordinated efforts than the previous model of individual chairs and institutes. Additionally, the WWZ allowed for the profitable external contacts of the business and economics disciplines to be more effectively managed and pooled than the prior decentralized structure. The field thus had a more unified, autonomous, and externally visible organizational form. The evolution of its various disciplines, and later of the WWZ, into a department-cum-faculty in 1996, and into a separate faculty a year later, was a logical progression from the foundation of the WWZ.

The WWZ also includes the Swiss Economic Archives, which since the 1950s have not only served as an archive but also increasingly as a documentation center and specialized library. The archive has experienced significant change to the present day; its holdings, for instance, doubled from the middle of the 1990s to 2010.

The WWZ also redefined its external contacts with the business and political communities. The WWZ-Forum (“for project support and knowledge transfer”) was newly established as a service division affiliated with the WWZ, acting as an interface between the WWZ and the regional economy. The forum consolidates knowledge transfer between academia and private users and organizes continuing education offerings for the regional economy. It is largely funded through external sources, i.e., through contributions from users of its services. It also boasts an academic alumni association and a support association, which mainly comprises representatives from the private sector and is particularly involved in promoting young scholars. Even though the field of business and economics in Basel has experienced fundamental methodological and theoretical change over the last few decades, the close networking between science, business, and politics remains a central element of Basel’s economic scientific tradition to this day.

Expansion since the 1980s
During the 1980s, the number of students doubled compared to the previous decade, from 450 to 820. In response to this rapid growth, the number of faculty members was adjusted, and the range of courses offered in economics and business administration was significantly expanded. By the end of 1987, Basel’s Governing Council had approved the creation of a second chair in business sciences. Additionally, there were plans to expand personnel capacities in the areas of “money and finance” and “computer science.” Consequently, in 1987, the Institute for Computer Science was founded under the leadership of Markus Lusti. Precarious options for teaching space meant that the computer science classes at the time had to be divided into two divisions within the institute: a division of computer science for natural sciences on Mittlere Strasse and, starting in 1988, a division of computer science for humanities and social sciences at the Rosshof site.

The Institute for Economics, established on 1 October 1987, was a merger of the Institute for Applied Economic Research and the Institute for Social Sciences. At that time, four full professors were still teaching (Bernholz, Borner, Frey, and Hellwig), with the latter succeeding Gottfried Bombach in 1987 as the chair of economics.
By the summer semester of 1988, the faculty already comprised a teaching staff of forty. The many changes in personnel and academic areas eventually led to a new study and examination regulation. This resulted in a clearer structure of the undergraduate curriculum and increased opportunities for specialization in the advanced stages.

In the 1990s, the chair for bank management was established and filled by Henner Schierenbeck. In 2001, Heinz Zimmermann (financial market theory) accepted a position in Basel. During those years, the expansion of finance as a specific area was one major focus. Two endowed professorships were approved to this end in 2007 and filled by professors Gantenbein (financial management) and Kind (corporate finance).

The field of economics also saw significant enhancement in research and teaching activities in 2001. Two chairs in economic theory were established with Yvan Lengwiler and Aleksander Berentsen. This team was further strengthened in 2006 with the addition of Georg Nöldeke.

From a discipline to a faculty
Despite their expansion in scope and in their footprint at the university, economic disciplines remained housed within the Faculty of Science. This changed in 1995 with the establishment of a new faculty; since its founding, what were once called chairs have been referred to as departments. The year 1988 was pivotal for the business and economics sciences in Basel. In 2008, the WWZ celebrated three twenty-year anniversaries: the move to the new Rosshof building and the creation of the WWZ the WWZ support association; and the Association for the Promotion of Business Administration at the University of Basel (Verein zur Förderung der Betriebswirtschaftslehre an der Universität Basel, or VBÖ).

Outlook
At the turn of the new millennium, the WWZ once again faced major reorganization and relocation. The move of the entire institution and its facilities, including the library, to the Jakob Burkhardt Haus behind the SBB railway station was planned for the beginning of 2009. This also included the creation of new professorships, some of which were expected to be financed by companies and private donors.

“Over the last and this year, various chairs have been and are being newly filled and created. These will significantly enhance the WWZ’s potential in research and teaching. It is also noteworthy that a portion of these professorships have been made possible by companies or private donors. However, living with limited government funds remains a pressing issue. Looking ahead, the WWZ will leave its building at Rosshof at the beginning of 2009 and move to the new Jakob Burckhardt Haus on Peter Merianstrasse, where a true center for economic sciences will be possible, as the library and offices, as well as several lecture halls and other needed infrastructure, will be housed in one location. The proximity to the Faculty of Law and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland will offer excellent opportunities for exchange. At the end of February 2008, the long-time managing director of the WWZ Forum will retire, having contributed to the development and implementation of new structures for the Forum (full integration into the WWZ). Since the construction of the new building at Rosshof, the WWZ has itself also been undergoing reorganization. Hopefully, this will not change even after moving into the new building: without the courage to continually evolve, the WWZ would lose the foundation for its success.”