Centenary 2023

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The city of trade and merchants gets a business school

Industrialisation and the rapid development of trade during the second half of the 19^th century brought about a need for better language skills, more advanced economics, and a more theoretically-oriented higher education. Therefore, in 1923, the City of Gothenburg, which was a centre for trade and merchants, got a business school. The famous polar explorer and geographer Otto Nordenskjöld was appointed as the first dean of the school. The first cohort consisted of eleven students who were taught economics, statistics, business administration, law, economic geography, and modern languages (English, French and German and soon thereafter Russian and Spanish).

During the 1920s, the operations gradually expanded, in step with the development of business. In 1925, the School moved into "Gamla Handels" on Läroverksgatan. This two-year programme cost SEK 200 per semester. In 1926, the Student Union HHGS was formed.

During this first decade, the School of Business, Economics and Law formed its identity: an offering of a wide breadth of subjects, internationalisation, cooperation with business and society, and a close connection between research and education.

The description of the various decades in the history of the School are largely taken from Lage Rosengren's book"Handelshögskolan vid Göteborgs universitet - en historik" from 2011. 

The education becomes three years

The 1930s were a revolutionary time in the world, but at the School it was a relatively quiet decade. The operations continued to expand. Admission was unrestricted, but to be eligible to apply a matriculation degree or the equivalent was required. The training was popular and there was a risk that a continued increase in students would deteriorate the quality. Moreover, the School already lacked the rooms for all the seminars it offered. In the autumn of 1936, 120 students had applied, but the teachers’ council considered that a reasonable limit for admission was 55 students. In 1939, the education became a three-year programme.

The School becomes state funded

In 1961, the School became state funded. Financial resources increased (which was much needed) and more students were admitted, but at the same time student mobility decreased.

The 1960s was characterised by a large influx of students to universities. Parallel to the School, several departments at the University of Gothenburg offered the same subjects as the School, and it was possible to study business and economics at both the University of Gothenburg and the School. At the University of Gothenburg, admission was unrestricted (everyone who applied was admitted); however, at the School, admission was restricted. In 1969, the barriers to the School’s education were removed and the students poured in. Large facilities such as cinemas had to be rented for large lectures, which sometimes had up to 1000 students present. The teaching situation was not good and the pedagogy was affected by the large number of students. The already neglected research in business economics became even more neglected.

The School becomes part of the university

In 1971, the School was integrated into the University of Gothenburg. The Departments of Business Administration, Economics and Economic Geography merged with their university counterparts (Economic Geography became part of the Department of Human Geography). Jurisprudence only existed at the School, so that department continued intact as part of the university. The term "Handelshögskolan i Göteborg" was formally retired. Despite this, the 1970s was a decade when the School experienced significant changes.

In 1973, the international business and economics programme, "Line 19", was established, which came to play an important role for the School’s identity. In 1977, the Corporate and Administrative Law programme (FFJ) was established, which later was developed into a Master of Laws programme. This was also the decade when the Executive MBA programme started.

When the School ceased to exist, the Student Union was reorganised. The students now belonged to the Faculty of Philosophy's Student Union (FFS). The assets of School’s Student Union were transferred to the voluntary student association Göteborgs ekonomistudarendes förening (Götekon).

The School is resurrected

During the late 1970s, criticism of business education in Sweden increased. The graduates’ knowledge did not fully correspond to the needs of the business world or the public sector. In Gothenburg, the business community wanted to strengthen the quality of education, so it contributed to the re-establishment of the School.

In 1986, the School of Business, Economics and Law was resurrected within the Faculty of Social Sciences. Five departments were included: business administration, economics, human geography, law and statistics.

In 1983, the Richard C. Malmsten Memorial Foundation was established, which has annually supported the School with large grants for both research and education. The foundation also played a decisive role in the construction of the new building on Vasagatan, which was built in the 1990s.

In 1983, Reväst was formed to promote regional development in Western Sweden. Reväst is collaborative platform that facilitates the exchange of knowledge among the public sector, academia and business.

The first international accreditation

During the 2000s, the School experienced many changes that continue to be significant. The work with quality development through international accreditations began, and in 2004 the School received its first EQUIS accreditation.

The internationalisation of the operations continued, among other things through the new international Visiting Professor Programme, which was created through support from businesses and foundations. The education was adapted to the international Bologna model, with a three-year bachelor's level programme followed by a two-year master’s level programme.

During this decade, strong research environments in environmental economics, logistics and accounting were developed.

In 2001, the School’s sustainability profile was strengthened with the new Environmental Social Science programme (SMIL), which was the first of its kind in Sweden.

Quality and relevance

The 2020s had barely begun when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The School quickly switched to digital operations, and this was the norm for two years. Losing the social context meant losing much of what makes the School what it is, not the least for the students. However, digitisation also meant new skills were developed that are valuable in today’s business climate.

The School has adopted a new strategy for the period 2021–2026: "Independent thinking for a sustainable world". This concept raises the bar and emphasises quality and relevance.

In 2022, the School decided to start a bachelor’s programme in business and economics, which will be conducted entirely in English. The first students will start in autumn 2023.