The European School of Management and Technology, also known as ESMT Berlin, is a private non-profit

business school A business school is a higher education institution or professional school that teaches courses leading to degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, s ...

based in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany. The business school was founded in 2002 by 25 companies and institutions and offers a range of MBAs,

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

s, and other degree and executive education programs. The owner of the business school is the ESMT European School of Management and Technology GmbH (ESMT GmbH), which is recognized as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

. ESMT Berlin is regarded as one of the most prestigious business schools in Europe. It is one of four business schools in Germany with

triple accreditation Triple accreditation (also known as the triple crown) refers to a business school being accredited by all three leading international accreditation organizations: the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in the US, the ...

from

EQUIS The EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) is a business school accreditation managed by Brussels based EFMD. It provides accreditation for higher education institutions of management and business administration and is run by the European Fou ...

AACSB The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is an American professional and accreditation organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to business ...

, and AMBA.

History

ESMT Berlin was founded on October 31, 2002, by 25 multinational corporations seeking to break from the traditional approaches of German executive education by creating a more international business school in Germany. The founding companies invested approximately 65 million euros into the ESMT foundation, which owns the school. In October 2003, ESMT Berlin was granted permission from the

Senate of Berlin The Senate of Berlin (; unofficially: ) is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the Constitution of Berlin the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to ten ...

to operate as a private university. Initially, programs were held in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, while the ESMT campus in Berlin was under construction until 2006. In December 2006, the first students at the business school received their degrees. Following financial problems, a further 60 million euros was invested in ESMT Berlin's endowment fund in 2010. Since then, the university has been fully financed. In December 2013, the state of Berlin authorized ESMT Berlin to award doctorates for five years, while extending ESMT's status as a private university for an additional ten years. Since 2008, the university has been participating in the Berlin Doctoral Program in Economics and Management Science (BDPEMS), which merged into the Berlin School of Economics in 2019. State Council building in Berlin

Besides the main campus in Berlin, the school operated a campus

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Schloss Gracht, until 2018. The historic castle and grounds, which served as the

Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ( ; 15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich () or Prince Metternich, was a Germans, German statesman and diplomat in the service of the Austrian ...

family's residence for centuries, became the site of ESMT's German-language executive education courses right after the school's foundation. Following integration of these courses into the main campus of ESMT, Schloss Gracht was sold in 2018. In 2022, the foundation assets amounted to around 123 million euros. In early 2024, over 1,000 students were enrolled, and 45 faculty members were employed at ESMT.

Organisation

Chancellor Merkel gives keynote speech hires

The school focuses on management, analytics, and innovation and is a state-accredited university. ESMT has a satellite campus in Berlin-

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...

and a branch office in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. The school has more than 8,000 alumni in chapters located worldwide and around 3,500 executives and managers participate in the ESMT Executive Development Programs each year. The main governance structures are the Executive Management Committee, chaired by Jörg Rocholl, PhD, President and Managing Director of ESMT Berlin, and the Supervisory Board of ESMT GmbH chaired by Werner Zedelius, Senior Advisor at

Allianz SE Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...

. Former presidents before Rocholl were Derek F. Abell (until 2006) and Lars-Hendrik Röller (from 2006 to 2011). The Board of Trustees of the ESMT Foundation consists of Chairman

Ola Källenius Sten Ola Källenius (born 11 June 1969) is a Swedish-German business executive. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO of the Mercedes-Benz Group. Källenius was the first non-German to hold both positions prior to obtaining ...

and Deputy Chairman

Christian Sewing Christian Sewing (; born 24 April 1970 in Bünde) is a German banker who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Deutsche Bank. He has been a member of the management board since January 2015, and CEO since April 2018. Sewing was the head of Deu ...

. Centers and institutes * DEEP – Institute for Deep Tech Innovation * Digital Society Institute (DSI) * ESMT Institute for Sustainable Transformation * Hidden Champions Institute (HCI) * Institute for Endowment Management and Entrepreneurial Finance (IFEE) * Bringing Technology To Market Center (BTM) Chairs * Deutsche Bank Professor in Sustainable Finance * Deutsche Post DHL Group Professor in Sustainable Accounting * Deutsche Telekom Chair in Leadership and HR Development * ESMT Chair in Entrepreneurship * Ingrid and Manfred Gentz Chair in Business and Society * Joachim Faber Chair in Business and Technology * Lufthansa Group Chair in Innovation * Michael Diekmann Chair in Management Science * Volkswagen Group Junior Chair for Diversity in Organizations

Programs

ESMT Berlin is accredited by the

Association of MBAs The Association of MBAs (AMBA) is a global organisation headquartered in London, UK. It was founded in 1967 with the primary objective of accrediting Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. Roles Based in London, AMBA is one of t ...

(AMBA), Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (

European Quality Improvement System The EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) is a business school accreditation managed by Brussels based EFMD. It provides accreditation for higher education institutions of management and business administration and is run by the European Fo ...

(EQUIS), and

Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation The Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) is recognised accreditation body in all German speaking countries (Germany-Switzerland-Austria), FIBAA was founded in 2002 to accredit schools of business. Since the l ...

(FIBAA). It is one of only four business schools in Germany with

. ESMT Berlin offers a full-time MBA, an executive MBA, a part-time MBA, a global online MBA, a master in global management, a master in innovation and entrepreneurship, a master in analytics and artificial intelligence program, and several

executive education Executive education (ExEd or Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-level business schools for executives, business leaders and managers, globally. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometimes lead to ...

courses as well as a Ph.D. program. The majority of courses are taught in English, with some executive education seminars taught in German.

MBA programs

ESMT offers five Master of Business Administration programs: * The full-time MBA is a 15-month, personalized program that starts in January each year. * The part-time Blended MBA in Business Innovation is a two-year course similar to the full-time MBA, offered to students in full-time employment. The course consists of 75% online study and 25% on-campus study over 14 weekends. * The Berlin Global Online MBA is a 24-month program with the option to take up to five years to complete, which is aimed at professionals working full-time. * The 18-month part-time Executive MBA (EMBA) has been offered at ESMT Berlin since 2007. Since October 2018, ESMT has been offering a dual Executive Master of Business Administration/Master of Public Administration (Executive MBA/MPA) together with the Doha Institute's School of Public Administration and Development Economics. Students can choose add-ons to the scheduled courses, for example, career coaching.

Master programs

Since 2014, ESMT Berlin has been offering a 24-month English-language international Master in Management (MiM) program. In 2023, the master's programs were restructured and three two-year master's degree courses were introduced: the Master in Global Management, focused on working in global companies and organizations, the Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, centered around company founders and intrapreneurs, and the Master in Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, focused on data analysis and technological change. Master's students also take part in targeted internships, social impact projects and additional finance courses.

Executive Education programs

The so-called "Executive Education" programs at ESMT are aimed at professionals to further develop their leadership skills. They are organized as open programs for individuals as well as group programs for companies.

Doctorates

In 2022, 13 people were working on their

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

at ESMT.

Campus

The school's headquarters and main campus is located in the former

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

State Council Building The State Council Building () is a building in the former East Berlin that hosted the State Council of East Germany, State Council (), the collective head of state of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany or GDR), from 1964 to 1990. Histo ...

next to the

Federal Foreign Office The Federal Foreign Office (, ; abbreviated AA) is the Foreign minister, foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency (Germany), federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with ...

and opposite of the

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Museum Island The Museum Island (, ) is a museum complex on the northern part of Spree (river), Spree Island in the Mitte (locality), historic heart of Berlin, Germany. It is one of the capital's most visited sights and one of the most important museum sites ...

. It was constructed in the 1960s socialist architectural style to host the State Council of East Germany. From 1999 to 2001, the building served as the

Federal Chancellery (Berlin) The Federal Chancellery (, ) in Berlin is the Official residence, official seat and residence of the chancellor of Germany as well as their executive office, the German Chancellery. As part of the move of the German Federal Government from Bonn to ...

under former German Chancellor

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

. In the years 2004 and 2005, the building underwent an extensive renovation supervised by the German architect

HG Merz Hans Günter Merz, better known as HG Merz (born 1947 in Tailfingen) is a German architect and museum designer. He is the founder and director of ''hg merz architekten museumsgestalter'', an architecture office that specializes in museum and exh ...

. Since its renovation, the former State Council Building has acted as a venue for seminars, lectures, conferences, and social events at ESMT Berlin. The building received further improvements in 2017, with the remodeling of the third floor to accommodate the significant increase in the number of students. This led to the creation of a new library, four seminar rooms, the ESMT research lab, eleven group study rooms and a student lounge. Since 2023, the last unused part of the State Council building has also been under renovation. In November 2023, a photovoltaic system was installed on the roof of the main building, which is expected to cover around 25% of the university's electricity requirements. Around 80% of ESMT students move to Germany from abroad. Members of a program often originate from up to 40 nations. In 2018, the university planned to build a student residence on campus, in particular for its international students, but the project was rejected by the

Berlin Senate The Senate of Berlin (; unofficially: ) is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the Constitution of Berlin the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to ten ...

Events

The ESMT Annual Forum was held at ESMT Berlin from 2008 to 2022. The forum was attended by German and international individuals from various sectors such as business and politics. In 2023 for the first time, the ESMT hosted the Berlin Global Dialogue, including guests such as

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

and

Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...

Rankings

European Business Schools *''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' European Business School Rankings 2024: 19 *''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'' European Business School Rankings 2023/2024: 16 MBA *''

'' Global MBA Ranking 2025: 80 *'' AméricaEconomia'' Global MBA Ranking 2021: 24 Executive MBA *''

'' Executive MBA Ranking 2023: top ten for stand-alone programs Master in Global Management *''

'' Global Ranking 2024: 19 Executive Education *''

'' Executive Education Customized 2025: 4

Partnerships and cooperations

ESMT is a member of the

Global Network for Advanced Management The Global Network for Advanced Management is a collaboration of graduate schools of business that seeks to foster intellectual ties among business schools, students and deans from both economically strong regions and those on the horizon of econo ...

, a collaboration of graduate schools of business that seeks to foster intellectual ties among business schools, students and deans from both economically strong regions and those on the horizon of economic development. Partner institutions in this network include

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

, IIM Bangalore,

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

among others. ESMT is a part of the Global MiM Network in association with

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

Singapore Management University Singapore Management University (SMU) is a publicly funded private university in Singapore. Founded in 2000, SMU is the third oldest autonomous university in the country, modelling its education after the Wharton School. The university is trip ...

and

Queen's University at Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public university, public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and ...

, which enables students at each member school to take courses at one or more partner institutions, providing the option for studying abroad without the bureaucracy or the cost of a full-time overseas program. The ESMT is also part of the European exchange program

Erasmus+ Erasmus+ is the European Commission's programme for education, training, youth, and sport for the 2021–2027 period, succeeding the previous programme (2014–2020). As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for the mobi ...

. ESMT has national partnerships with

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...

, Free University Berlin,

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

, Hasso Plattner Institute among others. ESMT is a member of the MBA alliance, comprising the top 5

business schools A business school is a higher education institution or professional school that teaches courses leading to degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, s ...

in Germany with Mannheim Business School,

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management Frankfurt School of Finance & Management is a :de:Private Hochschule, private university with a right to award doctorates, recognized under Hesse's Higher Education Act. The parent organization is the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management ...

, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management and

WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management is a private German business school with campuses in Vallendar and Düsseldorf, Germany. As of September 2024, there are 2,007 students (including doctoral students) at WHU, about 251 employees and 5 ...

. Furthermore, ESMT is a member of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). Together with other international business schools, ESMT has founded the Future of Management Education Alliance (FOME).

Founders

The school's founders include: *

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

Allianz Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...

Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (, DIHK) is a German 'chamber,' similar to an English guild but is required under German law and provides political influence of a trade union. This organization was formerly known as the ' ...

Axel Springer Axel Cäsar Springer (2 May 1912 – 22 September 1985) was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press m ...

Bayer Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the "Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three large ...

* Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie * Confederation of German Employers' Associations *

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

DHL Group Deutsche Post AG (), trade name, trading as DHL Group, is a German multinational corporation, multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies ...

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

E.ON E.ON SE is a European multinational electric utility company based in Essen, Germany. It operates as one of the world's largest investor-owned electric utility service providers. The name originates from the Latin word '' aeon'', derived from ...

* Hypo Vereinsbank – UniCredit Bank AG *

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

Mercedes-Benz Group Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

* Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft *

Robert Bosch Robert Bosch (23 September 1861 – 12 March 1942) was a German business magnate, engineer and inventor, founder of Bosch (company), Bosch. Biography Bosch was born in Langenau, Albeck, in the Swabia, Swabian Highlands near Ulm. He was one of t ...

* RWE *

SAP Sap is a fluid transported in the xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a s ...

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It resulted from the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg and E ...

Traton , type = Public , traded_as = {{ubl , {{FWB, 8TRA , MDAX , ISIN = {{ISIN, sl=n, pl=y, DE000TRAT0N7 , industry = Automotive , genre = , fate = , predecessor = Volkswagen Group's heavy vehicle operations , successor = , founded = {{st ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:European School Of Management And Technology Business schools in Germany Universities and colleges in Berlin Educational institutions established in 2002 2002 establishments in Germany