From the 1^st August 2016 the university will officially have four faculties under its command: the long standing Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences as founded in 1993, the Faculty of Law as founded in 2001 and now the new Faculty of Economics.

At the Dies Academicus 2015, which took place on the 5^th of November at the KKL, I outlined the highly attractive subject portfolio of our four faculties. With this quartet, all the prerequisites for the future success of the University of Lucerne and its students are fulfilled. You can be sure that after the successful completion of your studies, you will receive a diploma that will be highly regarded in the working world.

What makes the University of Lucerne with its soon to be four faculties so attractive? Our university combines ‘bigger’ subjects with more ‘smaller’ subjects.

By ‘bigger’ I am referring to those subjects that attract the greatest number of students. These include, above all, economic sciences and legal sciences, which together count the largest amount of enrolled students in Switzerland. The number of students is indeed a very important factor for a university. A university with only a few hundred students would face a problem of legitimacy. Furthermore, these ‘bigger’ subjects are, from a financial standpoint, comparatively cost-effective.

‘Smaller’ subjects, in other words, subjects with far fewer students than law and economics, increase the attractiveness of the University of Lucerne considerably. It is however unavoidably so that these subjects mean more costs per student. This does not however diminish the importance of such ‘smaller’ subjects for an attractive university. These less sought after subjects combine diversity and specialisation, the key features of a niche product. 
A combination of two ‘bigger’ and currently over ten ‘smaller’ subjects makes for a very attractive university for you as a student. ‘Bigger’ subjects can be enriched by dipping into ‘smaller’ subjects, and of course, vice versa.

I would like to wish you all every success in the last few semester weeks and wish you all the very best in the run up to Christmas!

Prof. Dr. Paul Richli, Rector