History of the HWZ

The HWZ University of Applied Sciences Zurich was founded in 1986 as the part-time HWV (Higher school for Economics and Administration) by the KV Switzerland and the Juventus Schools of Zurich. It was subsequently opened on 28th October 1986. The upgrading of the then “Handels- und Verkehrsschule” to the HWV resulted in an exponential growth rush.

The first HWV graduates completed their courses in 1990 with a federally recognized degree. Ten years after its foundation, more than 500 students studied at the HWV, whilst the preparations to become a University of Applied Sciences were in full force. In 1998, the Federal Council approved the establishment of a University of Applied Sciences, the University of Applied Sciences Zurich. One year after that, the branch school in Schaffhausen was founded.

In 2003, the HWZ with its 1,200 students moved into the newly built Sihlhof. In the same year, the long-serving Dean Hugo E. Götz retired and Heinz Knecht was appointed as the new Dean. Since 2005, Prof. Dr. Jacques Bischoff has been the new Dean of the University of Applied Sciences Zurich, which by now has 1,500 students.

HWZ Lecture Series
The HWZ Lecture Series are lectures being held by top-class personalities. An extract from the list of lecturers:

• Jürg Keller (Commercial Director of the Tonhalle): “Notes and Bank-Notes, a Common Destiny”
• Kaspar Villiger (Federal Councilor): “The mechanisms of a future oriented Fiscal Policy”
• Christoph Müller (Economist-lawyer): “White-collar Crime in Switzerland”
• Kent Ruhnke (Ice-hockey coach): “Performance – when it counts”
• Joseph Deiss (Federal Councilor): “The Pillars of Swiss Foreign Policy”
• 2006: Micheline Calmy-Rey (Federal Councilor): “The European Union as an important Factor for the Security and Prosperity of Switzerland”
• 2007: Marcel Ospel (CEO UBS): “Further Education at the Management Level”
• 2008: Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (Chairman of the Board of Directors Nestlé S.A.)
  "Energy and Water" (German)
• 2009: Andreas Meyer (CEO SBB)
  "Position and challenges of SBB"
• 2010: Dr. Konrad Hummler (Wegelin & Co. Privatbankiers)