[Nathanielle]

Hm, there universities with these kind of courses, indeed. At least I met someone, who's sibbling studied Wirtschaftsgeographie. But if your heart is set on economics it is probably better to focus on economics, as you will have there enough courses to take and if you want to get high, than probably a double degree would be more helpful. Or you find a course where you can take a minor or a free to take additional courses?
I know there are courses on Master's level, but on Bachelor Level with Economics as Major it will be tough to find something. But with this interest in mind, you should probably search, where it would be possible to write a Bachelor thesis in this field and/or you can persue your interest during your Bachelor, even in your free time.
Or if it is really possible for you to think of as a minor, look also into the Agricultural/Geography/Horticultural Departments, because they often cater for those kind of interests. (I mean in term of programs. Would this be to far away for you? http://www.forst.wzw.tum.de/fileadmi...chelor_FRM.pdf I know, it is not Economics, but I try to understand what you really search, because until know, I think most of the answers went into the direction of pure Economics, Managament.)

[Nathanielle]

Hm, there universities with these kind of courses, indeed. At least I met someone, who's sibbling studied Wirtschaftsgeographie. But if your heart is set on economics it is probably better to focus on economics, as you will have there enough courses to take and if you want to get high, than probably a double degree would be more helpful. Or you find a course where you can take a minor or a free to take additional courses?
I know there are courses on Master's level, but on Bachelor Level with Economics as Major it will be tough to find something. But with this interest in mind, you should probably search, where it would be possible to write a Bachelor thesis in this field and/or you can persue your interest during your Bachelor, even in your free time.
Or if it is really possible for you to think of as a minor, look also into the Agricultural/Geography/Horticultural Departments, because they often cater for those kind of interests. (I mean in term of programs.)

[perlsh]

St. Gallen and Mannheim. Hands down.

St. Gallen has a ridiculous entrance exam for foreigners though.

[AcesLacy]

Mannheim has a fantastic reputation for Economics (BWL/VWL). It's also very competitive!

[Sir Fox]

As a German I'd personally say Mannheim and St. Gallen, maybe Zürich. They are all especially reputable for economics.

[Entrepreneur1]

As a German studying at a top business school I can say that there are only 4 very good busines schools in the German-speaking region. Mannheim, St. Gallen, EBS and WHU.

Mannheim and St. Gallen are public universities and are very overcrowded. EBS and WHU are private, therefore they can offer much more and for example the placement in consulting and IB is unbeatable.

I am studying at the EBS (having offers from other business schools from the list) and I appreciate it very much!

Furthermore, almost all lectures are in English - more than 10% are exchange students!

[Lara140112]

(Original post by Entrepreneur1)
As a German studying at a top business school I can say that there are only 4 very good busines schools in the German-speaking region. Mannheim, St. Gallen, EBS and WHU.

Mannheim and St. Gallen are public universities and are very overcrowded. EBS and WHU are private, therefore they can offer much more and for example the placement in consulting and IB is unbeatable.

I am studying at the EBS (having offers from other business schools from the list) and I appreciate it very much!

Furthermore, almost all lectures are in English - more than 10% are exchange students!

Maybe those are the only "top" business schools, but at least EBS and WHU are expensive, exclusive and elitist, which is not for everyone.


There are many universities though that offer very good courses in economics or business studies (as mentioned above). german education though is more for masses than elites, so the idea of an Oxbridge equivalent his hard to find and there are very few rankings.
As for universities being overcrowded, one could always consider "Fachhochschulen" some of them very high regarded within the industry. They are in general smaller, cheaper, better equipped and have lecturers with work experience. However should you aim for an academic career than FH's are not for you.

[Nathanielle]

As said WHU, EBS are only advisable for a small amount of people(who like the course) and rather not for aspiring academics with in addition an interest in land economy/forestry/development etc. as our Threadstarter.

In all the expensive study places (e.g. EBS, WHU, St. Gallen) you will find a lot of students who would have made a career regardless of the university/polytechnic, they went to, as they were born into rich families with connections, so all this: "Look at the statistics/job prospects" has to be taken with a pinch of salt. In addition a lot of the ones with good grades and the right background are going to the old, more academic universities, because they know, they are good enough and there is no real disadvantage having gone to e.g. Mannheim, München, Bonn.

[janjanmmm]

The reason all the rankings are so different is that there is an international reputation of econ departments, based on the number of publications in English magazines, and there is a German reputation, which is very different. Also you have to remember that ranking of the University as a whole may be very different from the ranking of the Econ department.

On the international scene the best in Economics are:

Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakutät, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

Abteilung für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Universität Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

School of Economics and Political Science, Universität St. Gallen, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland

Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany (LMU)

Wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher Fachbereich, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, Germany

Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany


Frankfurt or Wien is not nearly as good as these six.

[alokalamban]

For those who want information abt St. Gallen, Read a student's prespective at my blog,

http://alambanlives.blogspot.ch/2011/11/hsg-days.html

Cheers