Rankings, Accreditations & Certifications

The European accreditation EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) is awarded to institutions of higher education worldwide characterized by outstanding quality across all fields. EQUIS focuses on ensuring equal balance between superlative academic quality and practical application as well as establishing an effective learning environment. Given its all-encompassing approach, the EQUIS accreditation is highly challenging. WHU was the first German higher education institution to receive this accreditation in 1998.

During the most recent re-accreditation proceedings in 2024, WHU was praised for the personal and academic preparation of its graduates and their successful career placements, the high quality and prolific nature of its research output, the enduring strength and vitality of its corporate and academic partnerships, all underpinned by the excellent WHU Spirit.

AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) is one of the world's most important accreditations for business schools. The American agency is characterized by its long tradition, its extensive network, and mutual learning from one another. 'Engagement,' 'innovation,' and 'impact' are the driving forces at the heart of the AACSB. A central tool that has found its way from this accreditation into WHU's everyday university life is the Assurance of Learning (AoL).

During the last re-accreditation in 2021, the peer review team highlighted WHU's culture of openness, collaboration and decentralized leadership, the interplay of central quality assurance and great individual freedom for innovation and adaptation, as well as the cooperation with companies established throughout the program portfolio, the strength of the alumni association and the particular focus on thought leadership and impact.

WHU was one of the first German business schools to be authorized to (re-)accredit its degree programs internally and to award them the seal of the German Accreditation Council following a successful audit. This certifies that the school's QM system is suitable for guaranteeing the high-quality standards of its degree programs, which, therefore, meet strict national and international requirements.

WHU last successfully underwent this system re-accreditation in 2018. Like the initial accreditation, it was carried out by FIBAA (Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation). In the last procedure, the experts emphasized, among other things, that internationality is actively practiced at WHU and can be felt everywhere in everyday campus life. Furthermore, the school's well-developed and established QM system, which ensures high quality in all areas, was notably recognized.

In 2022, WHU became the first German Business School to complete the Business School Impact System (BSIS) certification. The BSIS process is designed to determine the extent of a school’s impact upon different predefined impact zones from the local to the international level. The impact of the business school is analyzed based on seven areas of impact: financial, educational, business development, intellectual, societal image, and impact within the regional ecosystem.

Through the BSIS certificate, WHU has been able to demonstrate that it has had a considerable impact on life and society within Germany, with WHU’s activities generating a sizeable income for various suppliers and service providers through WHU’s own expenditures, as well as those from conferences and other events held by WHU and its student clubs, the students themselves, and their families. Apart from its financial successes, the social and societal commitment within the WHU community were also deemed noteworthy.

The experts who visited WHU over two days in March 2022, found that “WHU is undeniably a high impact school. […] Its intellectual, educational, financial, and business impacts are at the highest levels of what one may expect from a privately funded business school of this size in Europe.”

Since 2013, WHU has been a member of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), an initiative supported by the United Nations that was founded in 2007 and aims to address the topic of sustainability in teaching on the basis of seven principles. Acting in accordance with the PRME principles focuses on serving society and protecting our planet.