University of Mannheim

Otto Beck, one of the Founding Fathers of the Handelshochschule Mannheim

In 1907, the Städtische Handelshochschule Mannheim (Municipal Commercial College) was founded on the initiative of Mannheim's senior mayor Otto Beck (1846–1908) and the economics professor Eberhard Gothein (1853–1923) as a college for future merchants. It conducted teaching and research in business administration, economics, pedagogy, psychology, law, languages and the humanities. From the beginning, women had a strong standing at the Handelshochschule.[6] In 1908, it was the first college of higher education in Germany to employ a female professor;[7] one quarter of all students were female.[6]

In 1933, the Handelshochschule was merged into the University of Heidelberg by the Nazi municipal administration. Otto Selz, a German philosopher and psychologist with a Jewish background, who had been a professor at the Handelshochschule since 1923 and its rector in 1929/30, was discharged on 6 April 1933 – following the Badischen Judenerlass administered by NSDAP politician Robert Heinrich Wagner, a waiver designed to ban Jewish academics from German universities. In 1943, Selz was executed in Auschwitz concentration camp;[8] only 3 of the 14 Jewish docents at Mannheim's Handelshochschule survived the Holocaust. With the transfer of all institutes, inventory and staff to Heidelberg University the merging process was completed, the "Jews released" and the Handelshochschule closed.[9]

In World War II, Mannheim was heavily bombed from December 1940 until the end of the war and saw more than 150 air raids.[10] The largest raid on Mannheim took place on the 5 and 6 September 1943 when a major part of the city was destroyed. In May 1945, only around 30 percent of the building stock was left.[11] In 1944, the Mannheim Palace was almost entirely destroyed, leaving only one room undamaged out of over 500 – only its external walls survived.[12]

Eberhard Gothein, one of the Founders Fathers of the Handelshochschule Mannheim

In 1946, the Handelshochschule was reopened under its new name Staatliche Wirtschaftshochschule Mannheim (State College for Economics) with a student body of 586 students in the first year.[6] In 1955, the Wirtschafshochschule moved into the rebuilt East Wing of Mannheim Palace. In the same year, the seal, which is still in usage today, was created. It depicts the Mannheim Palace on top and the square-based outlay of Mannheim's downtown below; surrounded by In Omnibus Veritas, the university's official motto in a shortened version, which is based on a line in the constitution of Carl Theodor's Palatine Academy of Sciences: In Omnibus Veritas Suprema Lex Esto, translated as "Truth in everything should be the supreme law".[4]

In 1963, the Wirtschaftshochschule extended its faculties to a total of three – Business Administration and Social Sciences, Philosophy-Philological Sciences and Law. It subsequently gained the status of "university" on 4 July 1967. The University of Mannheim started out with around 3,000 registered students. During the growth phase of the university in the 1960s and 1970s the number of students and faculties increased. In 1969, the University of Mannheim expanded its faculty number to eight by adding the faculties of Economics, Geography and Political Sciences and by splitting the faculties of Business Administration and Social Sciences as well as Philosophy-Philological Sciences.[6]

The emphasis at the University of Mannheim has always remained on business and economics, although teaching was broadened to further disciplines. In 2000, its Business School received accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.[13]

In 2008, the rectorate passed a reform to strengthen the core disciplines of the University of Mannheim, that is the economic and social sciences. This transformation, which started in 2002 with the closure of certain departments and the fusion of formerly independent faculties, did not go without protests.[14] In September 2006, around 1,000 students and professors demonstrated against the plans.[15] Two years later, a compromise was found and the reform passed the Senate as well as the University Council without votes against. In the wake of it, the number of schools decreased to five.[14]

In 2005, the Mannheim Business School (MBS) was founded. It offers MBA programmes for executive education. In 2018, it was ranked #1 in Germany in the international MBA Rankings by Businessweek, Financial Times, Forbes and The Economist. According to these rankings, the MBS also belongs to the Top 20 business schools in Europe and Top 60 in the world.[16]

From 2007 until 2017, the University of Mannheim was funded by the "Excellence Initiative" of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation. Under this initiative, the University of Mannheim established the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences (GESS) which offers Ph.D. programmes with a focus on empirical and quantitative methods and their interdisciplinary application in the economic and social sciences.[17]

The University of Mannheim is organized into five schools (Fakultäten):

• Business School (1963)
• School of Law and Economics (1963)
• School of Social Sciences (1963)
• School of Humanities (1963)
• School of Business Informatics and Mathematics (1967)

And two Graduate Colleges:

• Mannheim Business School (2005)
• Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences (2007)

• 
  The Mannheimer Villen of the Business School
• 
  Department of Economics
• 
  Glass Cube belonging to the School of Social Sciences
• 
  Mannheim School of Computer Science and Mathematics
• 
  The Westflügel (West Wing) that hosts the department of law and the central lending library
• 
  School of Social Sciences
• 
  Entrance to the former Palace Library
• 
  Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES)

The University of Mannheim is administered by the Rectorate, which comprises the Rector (President), three Pro-Rectors (Vice Presidents) and the Chancellor, who is also head of the central administration. The main task of the rectorate as executive body is to implement the strategic aims concluded by the University Council (Universitätsrat).[23] Since October 2012 the UMA is headed by rector Ernst-Ludwig von Thadden.[24]

The Senate is the "legislative branch" of the university. The rector and the members of the rectorate are senators ex officio, as are also the deans of the faculties. Another 18 senators are elected for four-year terms, within the following quotas: nine university professors, three academic staff, three delegates of the student body, and three employees of the university administration. The University Council is the advisory board to the aforementioned entities.[23]

The Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss of the University of Mannheim (AStA) is the student government of the university. It is elected by the Student Parliament (StuPa) which in turn is elected by the entire student body. Elections are held each year. The AStA's task is representing the interests of the UMA students.[23]

• GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
• IDS – Institute of German Language
• IfM – Center for SME Research and Entrepreneurship
• IMU – Institute for Market-oriented Management
• InES – Institute for Enterprise Systems[30]
• MaCCI – Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation
• MaTax – Leibniz ScienceCampus Mannheim Taxation[31]
• MAZEM – Mannheim Center for Empirical Multilingual Research
• MCEI – Mannheim Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation[32]
• MZES – Mannheim Centre for European Social Research
• OSI – Otto-Selz-Institute of Applied Psychology
• ZEW — Centre for European Economic Research
• ZI – Central Institute of Mental Health[33]

The University of Mannheim has been featured in various international college and university rankings. In the 2024 edition of the QS World University Rankings, it was placed at the 454th position globally and ranked 24th in the national context.[34] Concurrently, in the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the institution received a global ranking of 187 and a national rank of 18.[35]

In the QS Social Sciences & Management ranking of 2023, the university was globally ranked at 122nd, while being 4th nationally.[36] The Times Higher Education 2023 rankings for Business and Economics placed the institution 41st globally and 2nd nationally.[37] Moreover, in the 2023 rankings for Business & Management Studies and Economics & Econometrics, QS placed the university at 75th and 43rd globally, with national ranks of 1st and 2nd, respectively.[36] In the 2022 ARWU Subject Ranking, the university ranks first in Germany in political science and finance.[38]

QS Subject Ranking 2023[36] Subject Global National Life Sciences & Medicine N/A N/A Psychology  101–150  4–7 Social Sciences & Management  122  4 Accounting and Finance  80  1 Business and Management Studies  75  1 Communication and Media Studies  201–250  9–10 Economics and Econometrics  43  2 Politics  51–100  2–4 Sociology  101–150  5–8 THE Subject Ranking 2023[37] Subject Global National Arts & humanities  201–250  18–20 Business & economics  41  2 Education  176–200  11–12 Social sciences  36  2 Computer science  151–175  11–14 Physical sciences  601–800  39–44 Psychology  68  3

ARWU Subject Ranking 2022[38] Subject Global National Social Sciences Economics  76–100  2–3 Political Sciences  37  1 Sociology  76–100  3 Education  201–300  8–15 Communication  38  3 Psychology  151–200  12–17 Business Administration  101–150  1–2 Finance  51–75  1 Management  201–300  4–8 Public Administration  151–200  8–10

The university's programs for social sciences, politics as well as business informatics rank nationwide within the Top 3 and its programs for law and computer science within the Top 10.[39][40][41]

In 2008, the Business School was the first German institution to receive the "Triple Crown", that is accreditations by the world's three largest business school accreditation associations AMBA (UK), AACSB International (USA) und EQUIS (Belgium).[25]

In the German CHE University Ranking 2017/2018, the psychology as well as the romance languages department were ranked highest in Germany, receiving more top scores than any other institution of their discipline nationwide.[42][43]

The university's Master in Management is ranked 14th in Europe by the FT.[44][45] The university's business school is ranked 1st in Germany by the Eduniversal ranking and 34th worldwide.[46]

In 2018, there were about 50 active student organizations at the University of Mannheim. Among them are groups of different NGOs, such as the Amnesty International Student Initiative 1388 Mannheim, the UNICEF Student Initiative Mannheim, Model United Nations Mannheim or Enactus Mannheim, several departments of European and global student organizations, such as AEGEE Mannheim or AIESEC Mannheim, business or economics related student groups[49] such as the Student Consultancy INTEGRA as well as initiatives focusing on community life, from helping deprived school children in Mannheim[50] to welcoming refugees or incoming exchange students at the university.[51]

The official organization of former students of the University of Mannheim is ABSOLVENTUM Mannheim, which was founded in 1995.[52]

The Mannheim Forum is an economic congress organized by students.[53]

Founded in 2016, Q-Summit is the biggest German innovation and entrepreneurship conference solely organized by students.[54]

The university offers courses in 82 different athletic disciplines. For students most of the courses are free of charge.[55] The sports programme includes ball sports, body fitness, self-defence and martial arts, outdoor sports, yoga, dance courses, water sports and E-Sports.[56] The University of Mannheim also offers a sports scholarship for top-athletes at the university. In 2017, 55 students were funded,[57] e.g., Lisa Hattemer (Artistic Cycling UCI World Champion 2016),[58] Alexandra Burghardt (World Relay Champion 2017), Sarah Brüßler (U23 Kayak Vice World Champion 2017),[59] Cécile Pieper (Indoor Hockey World Champion 2018)[60] and Malaika Mihambo (Long Jump World Champion 2019)[61]

The Arena of Pop in 2007 on University of Mannheim's Ehrenhof

Each year the University of Mannheim hosts the Schlossfest (Palace Festival), a festival at which the Mannheim Palace campus is open to visitors and introduces the university to incoming freshmen. During the Schlossfest several arts, science and music events take place. The science events include live experiments and academic speeches regarding specific subjects, while the arts events include art exhibitions, workshops, dance acts, museum guides as well as guides through the old, non-public areas within the Mannheim Palace.[62] In 2016, the Schlossfest counted about 20,000 visitors.[63]

Besides the Schlossfest the University has a long-established tradition of weekly Schneckenhof parties that usually take place Thursdays on UMA's quadrangle "the Schneckenhof" during the summer terms and in UMA's catacombs during the winter terms. The parties are regularly organized by the Fachschaften (student councils) of the different faculties. The tradition of conducting parties on the Schneckenhof dates back to the early 1970s. The first party was organized by the Norwegian students at the University of Mannheim, who were the largest group of international students until the late 1980s.[7] The Norweger Parties (Norwegian Parties) still exist today. Normally, the event takes place during the academic summer at the Schneckenhof and is organized and hosted by Norwegian exchange students or Mannheim students with Norwegian background, in conjunction with international UMA societies. During the event the Schneckenhof is decorated in Norwegian themes and offers traditional beverages and food from Norway.[64]

Another famous party is the "BWLer Fete" hosted by the Fachschaft BWL (Student Council of Business Administration) once each academic term.[65] Each party usually ends at around 1am with the refrain of the song "Meine Stadt" by the Söhne Mannheims:

"Meine Stadt holt ihren Mann Heim, Ganz egal wo er auch ist.

Diesen Reim schickt ihr der Mann Heim, der sie so oft vermisst."[66]