Looking at the big picture has always been important to the Business School's bachelor's and master's programs. Thanks to the Pforzheim Model, students of business administration and business law are familiarized with different disciplinary ways of thinking from the very first day of lectures. They learn to apply the knowledge, methods and tools both within their field of study and across disciplines. The master's programs benefit from the students' interdisciplinary backgrounds.

Bachelor‘s programs: The Pforzheim Model

The bachelor's programs are designed with a view to thinking outside the box: Students learn about a broad range of subjects from the very first semester as part of the Pforzheim Model. Business administration, economics, law and quantitative methods, together with the first subjects specific to the study program, provide a broad foundation on which the advanced studies, practical experience and experience abroad are built.

In the first four semesters of the business law program, students learn the fundamentals of law and economics. From the fifth semester onwards – again after the practical semester and the option of a semester abroad – they then take in-depth legal and specialization subjects.

Master’s programs: teamwork across disciplines

Interdisciplinarity is also a top priority in many master's programs at Business School Pforzheim. For example, the brand management master's program „Creative Communication & Brand Management (MCM)“ accepts business students and designers. Business, engineering, and natural science graduates interested in a sustainability master's degree meet in the „Life Cycle & Sustainability (MLICS)“ program, and graduates of a business or an engineering bachelor's degree study together in the business information systems master's program with a focus on digital transformation, the Master of Information Systems (MIS).

The MBA „International Management“ attracts students with diverse disciplinary backgrounds from all over the world to Pforzheim. Thus, the students each benefit from the different knowledge and experience backgrounds of their fellow students and deepen their ability to work interdisciplinarily.

Some master's programs are implemented in cooperation with the Faculties of Engineering and of Design, so that students experience completely different disciplines in the lecture hall. In recent years, the range of cross-faculty courses offered at Pforzheim University has expanded considerably - those who wish to study in an interdisciplinary manner have a wide range of opportunities to do so with an additional certificate, the so called Perspectum.

Cooperative research: Cross-discipline projects

Research projects at Business School Pforzheim and within Pforzheim University also have an interdisciplinary focus. Numerous projects, such as those of the Institute for Industrial Ecology (INEC), the Institute for Human Resources Research (IfP) or the Center for Consumer Research and Sustainable Consumption (vunk), but also projects within degree programs, departments and competence centers, show interdisciplinary references.

Interdisciplinary science is also evident in many conferences and publications jointly implemented by Pforzheim scientists.