Our faculty has a long tradition. Like the Faculty of Law, it emerged in 1975 from the joint parent faculty – the Faculty of Law and Political Science. As such, the faculty celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in the year 2025. The faculty is part of the University of Graz, founded in 1585, which is the second-oldest university in Austria. One of the deans of the predecessor faculty was the world-famous economist Joseph Schumpeter (Professor in Graz from 1911 to 1921, Dean in 1916/17). Joseph Schumpeter explored the importance of entrepreneurs for economic development. He also coined the term ‘creative destruction’. The faculty’s motto
“Innovative since 1585!”
is intended to reflect Schumpeter’s spirit. In this respect, the faculty combines tradition and modernity. In recent years, the faculty has adopted a new structure. Schumpeter’s innovative spirit is evident, among other things, in the activities of the Graz Schumpeter Centre. Entrepreneurship is put into practice at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Applied Business Administration, amongst other places.
Dean's chain
The Dean’s Chain was commissioned to mark the establishment of a separate faculty under the University Act of 1975. The medallion, attached to a link bearing the Austrian coat of arms, features the university coat of arms at the centre of the front, surrounded by six symbols that refer to the interactive dynamics of human activity and its study within the social and economic sciences. Clockwise: a human hand, a cogwheel, two vertical parallel bars connected in the centre by a wheel, two arrows arranged in a circle, a square open at one corner with an arrow pointing outwards, and a spoked wheel.
Text: Alois Kernbauer
