this year we were experiencing lots of encouraging positive developments at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Cologne (WiSo):

SUCCESS IN ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT PROCEDURES AT THE WiSo-FACULTY
Successful appointments prove the consistent attractiveness of the WiSo-Faculty. In 2015, we successfully completed almost all appointment and tenure negotiations. This year alone, 12 professors have accepted the offer  to teach and to do research at the WiSo. In 2016 we will as well allocate vacant professorships and new departments with renowned scientists in order to guarantee the high quality of research and teaching at our faculty.
SUCCESSFUL RANKING RESULTS
University rankings play an important role in the perception of the university in national and international environments. We are pleased that we were able to expand our position in many prestigious rankings this year:
Top research: 1st place among German universities in business administration and economics Handelsblatt ranking1
Top Education: 2nd place in business administration and information systems, 3rd place in economics according to the latest Business Week ranking; thus our graduates² are being preferred by HR Managers 
Top Degrees: 7 Bachelor's, 13 Master's programs including Master in International Management / CEMS MIM, which is offered in Germany only in Cologne. (CEMS: for years at the top places in the Financial Times Masters in Management Ranking³), international double masters programmes, international PhD programmes.
(1Sum of points from the current Handelsblatt research ranking BWL 2015 and Economics 2014 (154 points); ²2015 Wirtschaftswoche ranking BWL, Information Systems 2nd and Economics Place 3; ³ Financial Times Masters in Management ranking 2015 CEMS program no. 4 all around the world.)
GET OFF TO A GOOD START AT THE WISO-FACULTY
This year more than 2.000 students have started in our accredited study programmes at the WiSo-Faculty. We are proud of our students and are looking forward to accompany them with our WiSo Student Services and the International Relations Center.
HIGHLIGHTS 2015
LAUNCH: Cologne Rotterdam Executive MBA: - We have developed a Triple Crown accredited (AACSB, ABMA, EQUIS) training program at the Excellence University of Cologne this year. Our Executive MBA is the result of a close cooperation of the University of Cologne (WiSo) and the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). This joint Executive MBA program brings RSM’s expertise in delivering premium management education to Cologne, at the crossroads of Europe’s trade routes.
JOINT VENTURE: WiSo Student Services. The WiSo Student Services include two important counselling institutions (the WiSo Career Service and the WiSo student guidance center) for current  and prospective students. With this joint venture of the two institutions, our students will be supervised centrally and accompanied by the Student Lifecycle.
NEW: WiSo Alumni Service. We want to communicate with you! Since the beginning of December we are offering our WiSo Alumni Services. Please visit us and let us know about your expectations and ideas, so that we can continue to develop our alumni service offerings. We are pleased to cooperate with KölnAlumni and complement their services to jointly foster a global, subject specific relationship between our Alumni and the WiSo Faculty.
ECO-CUP 2015: The winner of our soccer tournament “WiSo Eco Cup” is team "locomotive Logistics" from the Department of Business Policy and Logistics - Professor Delfmann.
It has been a busy and a successful year for the WiSo-Faculty.
We were able to accomplish this only because of the outstanding commitment of all colleagues and employees in in research, teaching, management and administration, excellent students and the support of our friends and partners. Therefor I would like to thank you all.
I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year 2016.

Best regards
Werner Mellis