WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management

Rankings WHU is regularly placed in the top positions in German university rankings. ==History==

WHU was founded in 1984 by the Koblenz Chamber of Commerce as the Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung, with preparations for the founding starting in 1983. Starting in 1986, the school began offering a doctoral studies program, and the process for offering postdoctoral studies began in 1997. In 1997, an executive MBA with Kellogg School of Management was started. A year later, the school received a EQUIS-accreditation, followed by a FIBAA in 2005 and the beginning of MBA studies the same year. In 2006, the school became a member of AACSB, and was re-accredited by EQUIS in 2009. == Controversies ==

Accusations of problems with the internal culture and excessive stress since 2010 The business school has been accused of fostering an overly competitive environment, even at the cost of the mental health of its students. Additionally, they were accused of overly focusing on rankings and grades but insufficiently developing the ability for critical discourse and not succeeding at creating a student body with an appropriate diversity of backgrounds. Additional criticisms, including by former students, often focus on excessive memorisation and a failure to foster a culture of out-of-the-box thinking. === Controversy about the academic work of Ulrich Lichtenthaler in 2012=== A former student and then-professor at the University, Ulrich Lichtenthaler, was accused of repeated and significant misconduct in his research and publications. WHU and the University of Mannheim later withdrew his right to teach, and he resigned from his position. == Notable alumni ==

• Verena Hubertz, German Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Building • Thomas Buberl, CEO of Axa Group • Julian Deutz, CFO of Axel Springer, diploma • Robert Gentz, founder and board member of Zalando, diploma 2007 • Andreas Nick, Member of the Bundestag (German parliament), diploma 1990, PhD 1994 • Matthias J. Rapp, CFO of TÜV SÜD AG • Oliver Samwer, CEO of Rocket Internet • Christoph Schweizer, CEO of the Boston Consulting Group • David Schneider, founder and board member of Zalando, diploma 2007 • Oliver Zipse, board member of BMW, EMBA 1997 == References ==