ZHAW School of Management and Law

ZHAW School of Management and Law (Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Departement School of Management and Law) is a department of ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, a public institution founded in 2007 through the merger of several predecessor institutions in the canton of Zurich, with roots going back decades earlier. Located in Winterthur — Switzerland's sixth-largest city and a traditional hub for engineering, insurance, and manufacturing — the school occupies a distinct position in Swiss higher education as a Fachhochschule, or university of applied sciences, with a statutory mandate to connect scholarship directly to professional practice. That mandate shapes everything: research projects are expected to produce usable outputs, and teaching staff are typically expected to maintain active ties to industry or professional practice alongside their academic roles. Today the school covers management, law, and social sciences, serving roughly 4,500 students across degree and continuing education programs.

Accreditations and Rankings

• Institutional Accreditation: ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences holds Swiss institutional accreditation under the Higher Education Act (HEdA), granted by the Swiss Accreditation Council
• AACSB: Not currently accredited
• EQUIS: Not currently accredited
• AMBA: Not currently accredited
• QS World University Rankings – Business and Management Studies: ZHAW appeared in the 251–300 band (2024)
• Reuters Top 100 – Europe's Most Innovative Universities: ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences ranked among Europe's most innovative universities, reflecting the institution's applied research output
• CFA Institute University Affiliation Program: The school's finance programs hold CFA Institute affiliation, recognising curriculum alignment with the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge

Note: As a university of applied sciences, ZHAW is not typically evaluated within the Financial Times or Bloomberg Businessweek MBA/Executive Education rankings, which focus primarily on research universities and their business schools.

Executive Education at a Glance

ZHAW School of Management and Law has built one of the more substantial continuing and executive education portfolios among Swiss universities of applied sciences, with particular depth in areas that mirror the Swiss economy's own strengths: financial services, risk management, supply chain and operations, compliance and law, and digital business. The school runs both open-enrollment programs and custom corporate programs, with the latter developed in close partnership with Swiss and international firms — often mid-sized industrial companies or financial institutions headquartered in the greater Zurich region. Open programs span from intensive short courses of one to three days through to MAS (Master of Advanced Studies) and CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) qualifications, which are the Swiss continuing education credential framework; CAS programs typically run over several months on a part-time basis, making them well-suited to working professionals. Flagship offerings include the MAS in Business Administration, CAS in Digital Leadership, CAS in Compliance Management, and a range of finance-focused CAS programs aligned with Swiss financial market practice. Program fees for CAS-level open programs typically range from CHF 5,000 to CHF 15,000 depending on duration and topic area, with MAS programs priced higher; the school periodically offers reduced fees for alumni or early registration.

Campus and Facilities

The School of Management and Law is headquartered on ZHAW's Winterthur campus, a modern, purpose-built environment that has expanded significantly since the university's 2007 consolidation. Facilities include well-equipped seminar and workshop rooms designed for interactive formats rather than lecture-hall passivity, along with library resources, digital labs, and collaborative spaces used by both degree students and executive participants. Winterthur is only twelve minutes from Zurich by direct train, which means executive participants can draw on the full depth of Europe's largest financial centre as an extended classroom — whether for site visits, networking, or simply the density of relevant industry contacts that the Zurich metropolitan area concentrates. For programs in banking, insurance, and asset management in particular, that proximity to Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse carries genuine practical weight.

Faculty and Research

The school's faculty numbers several hundred academic and research staff across its management, law, and social work departments, with a profile that deliberately blends academic credentials with professional experience — a feature built into the Swiss Fachhochschule hiring model rather than bolted on as an afterthought. Key research institutes include the Institute of Financial Management, the Institute of Business Information Technology, and the Institute for Risk & Insurance, each of which generates applied research commissioned by Swiss industry partners and feeds directly into executive program content. Faculty members regularly engage in mandated projects with Swiss companies, cantonal authorities, and federal agencies, which means classroom material tends to reflect current Swiss business and regulatory reality rather than case studies drawn from another context entirely. The school's research in compliance, risk, and digital transformation is particularly well regarded within Swiss professional circles, with publications appearing in both academic journals and practitioner-oriented outlets.

Student Body, Alumni, and Career Outcomes

Participants in ZHAW SML executive and continuing education programs are predominantly Swiss-based professionals, reflecting the school's regional mission, though international participants — particularly from Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein — are a consistent presence in open programs. The broader ZHAW alumni network numbers in the tens of thousands and is densely concentrated in Swiss industry, with strong representation in financial services (UBS, Zurich Insurance, Swiss Re), engineering and manufacturing (ABB, Sulzer, Georg Fischer), healthcare, and the public sector. Because the school's programs are strongly tied to Swiss professional qualifications and the Swiss regulatory environment, alumni tend to find the credentials directly applicable to career progression within Switzerland — a meaningful differentiator for internationally educated professionals who have relocated to the country and need local credentialing to complement their existing qualifications. Career support for executive participants is delivered primarily through program-embedded networking rather than a formal placement office, which reflects the school's assumption that its participants are already mid-to-senior professionals managing their own career trajectories.