CHRONICLE OF THE WIRTSCHAFTSAKADEMIE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
Behind every success stands an idea. Behind every idea are people who came up with them and who were committed to getting involved. This is also the case with the Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein.

A sparkling idea
The Schleswig-Holstein entrepreneur consul Hans-Detlev Prien and the later Landesbank director Wilhelm Ehlers had received signals from the business community, but also from the state government, that there was a lack of qualified junior staff in the state. With this knowledge and in the readiness to support many companies in Schleswig-Holstein, the then state government and the city of Kiel, the idea was born into an association that deals exclusively with tasks of education and training and a "business academy" for training particularly qualified Should develop young people for the economy of the country.

The first chapters
On May 31, 1967, with the participation of representatives of Schleswig-Holstein companies and the chambers of industry and commerce, the association was founded - initially as a support association for the Higher Business School, which was directed by the state capital. After discussions with representatives of the state capital and the state government, the association took over in 1968 the sole sponsorship of the higher business school and expanded the offer of the technical school by training and further education events for employees from business and administration.

Managers with national experience were assigned to the management. In addition to the full-time employees, a freelance lecturer pool with recognized experts from all sectors of the economy was established. As part of a nationwide reorientation in education, the Minister of Education of the state of Schleswig-Holstein awarded the Höhere Wirtschaftsfachschule the status of a state-recognized university of applied sciences, area of ​​business administration. Two years later, this branch was taken over by the state and integrated into the state university of Kiel. At this time, the registered association was renamed the Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein and at the same time a separate state-recognized technical college for business administration was founded in addition to the field of education and training.

Positive effect throughout the country
Parallel to these developments, a new two-storey academy building as well as a ten-storey dormitory was built in the Kiel district Wik with the support of the economy, the city of Kiel, the state of Schleswig-Holstein and the Federal Republic. Prime Minister Gerhard Stoltenberg wished the Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein on the occasion of the inauguration a positive broadcasting of its activities to the whole country. This wish became reality.

In 1973, a technical college for business administration in Lübeck and a year later one in Flensburg was built. In 1974, the Berufsakademie was founded. In addition to the parallel founded Berufsakademie in Baden-Württemberg, the Wirtschaftsakademie is one of the first Berufsakademien in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Inter-company training center Elmshorn

The Überbetriebliche Ausbildungszentrum (ÜAZ) Elmshorn could look back on a similar history. Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, interested companies from the region, the districts Pinneberg and Steinburg and the city of Elmshorn implemented in 1974 with the founding of the registered association for the promotion of the Elmshorn supra-company training center a long-term planning for the establishment of an "outsourced company training workshop".

The aim of the training center at the foundation was to offer the medium-sized structured economy opportunities for practical training. The needs of the economy were analyzed and it was determined that the ÜAZ had to bring apprentices up to the state of the art. There was also an urgent need in the electrical and metal sectors and in the adaptation training of employees and trainers. Later, the basic training was added as vocational preparation. With the help of the Federal Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Economic Affairs Schleswig-Holstein and the State Labor Office, a new building was built in 1978 in the Ramskamp in Elmshorn.

Both the business academy and the inter-company training center continued to expand their education and training from 1978 onwards. It developed a close co-operation with the employment offices and the vocational promotion services of the Federal Armed Forces. In 1978, the Business Academy participated in an initiative of the state government, which launched together with the federal government an 800-place program for training place improvement. The business academy was commissioned together with other educational companies to take on vocational preparation tasks as well as temporary initial training tasks. The advancement of further education gained more importance for the career planning of the employees of the Schleswig-Holstein economy. The demand for recognized continuing education degrees increased constantly, so that the offer with IHK degrees, eg for specialists, professional merchants and masters, has been steadily expanded. At the beginning of the 80s, the business academy positioned an internationally operating sector.

Flexible, innovative education
The offer of the business academy Schleswig-Holstein consisting of Berufsakademie, college for business administration in the training and education with the sub-areas promotion and adaptation training for the employees of the Schleswig-Holstein economy and administration, vocational training for young people and jobseekers as well as national and international projects be steadily expanded in the following years.

With an ongoing adaptation of this offer to the changing needs in the world of work, the Business Academy has also implemented a continuous improvement in the content of its programs. These quality efforts of the business academy were honored with a continuous regional and spatial expansion in Schleswig-Holstein.

The ÜAZ also had extensions. In the 80s, the electronics was included, so that hydraulics and pneumatics were an integral part of the offer. This was followed by the establishment of the areas of CNC, PLC, CAD and microelectronics. With the support of the Fritz Landmann Foundation, it was possible to start with the inter-company training for packaging mechanics and to secure the accommodation of the participants with the construction of a private boarding school.

Adaptable organization
The steady expansion of the business academy required a change in the legal form of the association. In 1988, the registered association became an association by state award.

Good neighbors
From 1990 to 1993, the Business Academy introduced its knowledge to the process of German unity. The three chambers of industry and commerce in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern commissioned the business academy to support the establishment of training and further education institutions in the state. After three years, well-functioning educational centers could be handed over in Neubrandenburg, Greifswald, Rostock, Schwerin and Wismar. As part of this support, the ÜAZ concentrated on the Schwerin site, where it set up an education center with a focus on industrial-technical services from 1991 to 1998 on behalf of the Schwerin Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

United and strengthened
In the year 2004 it came to the merger of the association by state award Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein with the association for the promotion of the Überbetrieblichen training center Elmshorn registered association and at the same time to a conversion into the legal form of a company with limited liability.

In its 40th anniversary year in 2007, the business academy with four subsidiaries in the eleven districts of the state and the four independent cities is present at 22 locations.

The flyer for the anniversary can be downloaded here .

Education business in transition
The Berufsakademie went through a continuous process of change and innovation in the following years. The conversion from diploma to bachelor's degree in 2006 led to the passing of the first Bachelor graduates in 2009. Cooperation was even more in demand than in previous years: in 2007, a cooperation with the Chinese Zhejiang Economics and Trade Polytechnic (ZJETP) from Hangzhou, 2012 with the Irish Waterford Institute of Technology and 2017 with the Lillebaelt Academy in Denmark took place.

The state-recognized area of ​​the Business Academy in 2012 will be added: The Kieler Wirtschaftsgymnasium (KWG) will start its school business as a vocational business high school from grade 11 onwards. In 2015, the first year of secondary school graduation can receive its graduation certificates - and the KWG at the same time its state recognition, so that in the future the Abitur can be acquired as in public schools.

In the following years, too, the training and education business sector is subject to numerous changes: publicly funded educational programs are changing in form, implementation and scope, and new products from the retail banking sector are moving into the program. Webinars are successfully implemented as a new form of learning in cooperation with partners.

From 2015, the business academy will significantly expand its involvement in German entry, language and integration courses. Nationwide, language courses are successfully implemented in the following months and years, with great logistical effort and creativity in the search for suitable additional premises.

In 2016 alone, over 3,000 migrants will be prepared for vocational and language entry in the north.

50 years Business Academy Schleswig-Holstein
In 2017, under the heading of digitalization, the innovation process in the business academy will continue and will become one of the decisive topics. Thus, the management decides to put the celebratory event on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Schleswig-Holstein business academy of the future and not looking back on the leitmotif "digitization in education".

Berufsakademie becomes DHSH

For the Berufsakademie, there have been many far-reaching changes. Starting in 2015, a changeover process between the Berufsakademie and a private dual university for applied sciences began in close cooperation with the Academy's Supervisory Board.

In 2018, this process of change was passed with the handing over of state recognition by Minister of Science Karin Prien: The Berufsakademie becomes the Duale Hochschule Schleswig-Holstein (DHSH - state-recognized university of applied sciences under the auspices of the Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein).