The University of St.Gallen accommodates five schools:
The five schools are responsible for teaching and offer a great number of degree courses at the Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. Levels. In addition, all the schools conduct basic research. The schools entertain close relations with the institutes and research units.
The five schools provide an integrative and practice-oriented education that transcends their own disciplines. The largest part of integrative teaching is provided by the department of economic sciences with the School of Management (SoM-HSG), the School of Finance (SoF) and the School of Economics and Political Science (SEPS). The Law School (LS) is geared to business law and offers law programmes with a high degree of practical relevance. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) plays a particular role. It combines various humanities and social sciences and offers students a general academic education that complements core studies in a specific manner.
The faculty members of the University of St.Gallen are also connected with the schools. Thus each faculty member is part of a department. The full professors are also members of the school conference of their school. The school conference is supplemented by an appropriate representation of the non-tenured faculty and the Student Union. The school conference is chaired by the dean, who is elected by the school conference and runs the school for a period of two years.
The schools are autonomous units of the University without a legal personality of their own. Thus the dean is responsible for the fulfilment of the target agreement and the performance agreements, as well as the medium-term task and financial plans of the school. In addition, he/she assumes responsibility for his/her school's personnel development and thus also promotes young academics. Furthermore, the dean represents the school in bodies of the University as a whole.
The so-called "sixth school", the Executive School of Management, Technology and Law (ES-HSG), has been conceived as an institute with special tasks pursued for the University as a whole. It is intended to contribute to the HSG's good reputation with its executive education programmes. It supports the overall budget of the University financially.