The German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Deutsche Universität für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer''; sometimes referred to as Speyer University), is a national

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

for administrative sciences and

public management Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

located in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Founded in 1947 by the French occupational authorities as a

grande école A ''grande école'' () is a specialised university that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. The grandes écoles offer teaching, research and professional training in s ...

, today it is operated under the joint responsibility of both the Federal Republic (''Bund'') and all 16 German states (''Länder''). It runs four

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

programs, grants

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

s and

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

s, offers a postgraduate certificate program, and administers programs of

executive education Executive education (ExEd or Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-level business schools for executives, business leaders and functional managers globally. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometim ...

. The school is a major training ground for German and international senior government

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

s. Noted alumni and faculty include former

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

Roman Herzog Roman Herzog (; 5 April 1934 – 10 January 2017) was a German politician, judge and legal scholar, who served as the president of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the first president to be elec ...

, Professor

Niklas Luhmann Niklas Luhmann (; ; December 8, 1927 – November 6, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and a prominent thinker in systems theory. Biography Luhmann was born in Lüneburg, Free State of Prussia, where his father's fa ...

; current

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

Christine Lambrecht, current Justice at the

Federal Constitutional Court of Germany The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its in ...

Heinrich Amadeus Wolff Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

, former President of the

Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (), literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the mos ...

Helmut Schlesinger Helmut Schlesinger (born 4 September 1924 in Penzberg) is a German economist and former President of the Bundesbank. Education After his military duty, he studied economics at the University of Munich, from where he graduated with a Diplom in ...

, former Prosecutor General of Germany

Alexander von Stahl Alexander von Stahl (born 10 June 1938 in Berlin) is a German lawyer, liberal politician and civil servant. He served as Attorney General of Germany from June 1990 until July 1993. Before he was appointed Attorney General, he served as an Under- ...

, and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

BASF BASF Societas Europaea, SE () is a German multinational corporation, multinational chemical company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The ...

Jürgen Strube. The school was founded in 1947 as the State Academy of Administrative Sciences Speyer (''Staatliche Akademie für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer''). In 1950 it was renamed the

School A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

of Administrative Sciences Speyer (''Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer'') and after reunification became the German

of Administrative Sciences Speyer (''Deutsche Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer'').

History

The school was founded in 1947 as ''École Supérieure d'Administration'' by the French occupational authorities in order to democratize the German senior

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. Created as a sister institution to

École Nationale d'Administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...

, it was the first and only German school to employ the French

model. In 1950 it was formally established as a German institution of public law with legal capacity and entrusted with "fostering the administrative sciences in education and research". In 1961 and 1970 respectively, it was bestowed with the right to grant

s and

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

s, thereby receiving full university status. Since its inception, the school has had a reputation as an "elite training center". The school is the only German university run jointly by the Federal Republic (''Bund'') and all 16 German states (''Länder'').

Academic programs

The university offers programs leading to a postgraduate certificate and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

s. Furthermore it runs doctoral programs, and administers programs of

. The language of instruction is predominantly German, although each year a series of seminar courses offered in cooperation with

Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs The O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs is one of the undergraduate and graduate schools of Indiana University, and is the largest public policy and environmental studies school of its kind in the United States. Founded in 1972, as ...

is delivered in English language. In 2015 the cooperation expanded to include the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

's Price School of Public Policy. Master's students may earn the European Master of Public Administration diploma by studying an additional semester abroad at one of the twelve partner schools in the EMPA network. The one-term postgraduate certificate program offers complementary studies in public management. It is aimed at young and future government officials holding a graduate-level degree. It resembles the first semester of the Master of Administrative Sciences program. The Master of Administrative Sciences (''Magister rerum publicarum'') is the school's traditional flagship program. It is a one-year

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

program open to students holding an additional graduate-level degree, preferably in law, economics, history, or sociology. Students can choose from some 100 courses that are divided into five policy areas: 1. Public tasks, Organization and Proceedings, 2. Public Management, 3. European and International Affairs, 4. State and Economy, and 5. Higher Education and Research Management. The program comprises two terms at the school, an eight-week internship at German or European institutions, and a subsequent period of three months to write the master's thesis and pass an oral examination. International student enrollment in this program regularly hovers around 50 percent. The Master of Arts in Administrative Sciences is a two-year interdisciplinary program focusing on public administration in an international context. First year students follow a core curriculum consisting of six modules on administrative, legal, economic, methodological, and strategic topics, and complete a mandatory eight-week internship. In the second year, students choose courses from the following six optional modules: 1. Government and Administration, 2. Public Policy, 3. Europeanization and Internationalization of Public Administration, 4. Organization and Personnel, 5. Funding of Public Services, and 6. Competition and Regulation in the Infrastructure Sector. At the end of the second year, students complete the master's thesis. The Master of Arts in Public Economy is a two-year program dedicated to the study of the public economic sector from an interdisciplinary perspective. During the first year, students follow the core curriculum of the M.A. in Administrative Sciences. Second-year students complete four deepening modules in Public Finance, Competition and Regulation, Procurement, and Public Corporate Governance, choose one optional module on Public Enterprises, or Infrastructure, and write a master's thesis. Both M.A. programs also offer a one-year option for students holding a previous relevant master's degree. The Master of Public Administration in Higher Education and Research Management is a two-year part-time program for professional university or research institute administrators. The university runs doctoral programs in administrative sciences ('' Doctor rerum publicarum''), law (''

Doctor juris The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

''), and political sciences and economy ('' Doctor rerum politicarum''). Doctoral candidates are required to complete one year of coursework in residence at the school, and produce a dissertation which makes a creditable contribution to scholarship in its field. The dissertation must be supervised by a member of the faculty. The school's executive education provides in-service training for senior civil servants of all government levels. The seminars, workshops and conferences deal with contemporary problems of administration, legislation, and European affairs. The Speyer Leadership College (''Führungskolleg Speyer'') is a two-year in-service program preparing senior executives holding at least the rank of a ''Government Director'' to assume higher positions.

Admission and fees

Admission to the school is competitive and is limited to 25 seats per program and year for the M.A. programs, and to 60 seats for the Master in Administrative Sciences program. Formal minimum entry requirement for all degree programs is a

class rank Class rank is a measure of how a student's performance compares to other students in their class. It is commonly also expressed as a percentile. For instance, a student may have a GPA better than 750 of their classmates in a graduating class o ...

among the top third in the previous

academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including unde ...

program. Professional administrative experience is considered an asset. For prospective

international student International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

s, a

language test Language assessment or language testing is a field of study under the umbrella of applied linguistics. Its main focus is the assessment of first, second or other language in the school, college, or university context; assessment of language use ...

for German at CEFR C1 level is required. The German state heavily subsidizes university study to keep higher education affordable regardless of socio-economic background. Like most German

public universities A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university ...

, Speyer charges no

tuition fee Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...

s for academic programs, for both EU and non-EU citizens. For the professional M.P.A. in Higher Education and Research Management program, the school charges €8,000 in tuition. The annual housing costs for on-campus

dormitories A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

range from €1,560 to €3,240.

Research

The university performs "

fundamental research Basic research, also called pure research or fundamental research, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena. In contrast, applied resear ...

with high relevance to practice", and regularly publishes

treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions."Treat ...

s on administrative, legal, political, and economic matters in the Speyer University Monograph Series (''Schriftenreihe der Hochschule Speyer''). With its 17 chairs dedicated to

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

, administrative sciences,

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

, modern and contemporary history,

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

, and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, the school maintains a strategic partnership with the

German Research Institute for Public Administration The German Research Institute for Public Administration (''GRIP'', German: ''Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für öffentliche Verwaltung, FÖV'') is a non-university research institute for public administration located in Speyer, Rhineland Palatinat ...

, which is part of the

Leibniz Association The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines. As of 2020, 96 non-university research insti ...

, and is located on the campus. It also maintains individual research cooperations with 20 universities in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. It is a member of the European Group of Public Administration (EGPA), the Standing Conference of European Public Service Training Agencies (SCEPSTA), the Transatlantic Policy Consortium (TPC), the

National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

(NASPAA), and the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA).

Alumni

Besides numerous politicians, diplomats, professors, judges, and high-ranking government officials at local, state, federal, and international level, the university's noted alumni and faculty include

; Professor

, one of the most important social theorists of the 20th century; current

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Christine Lambrecht; former Federal Minister and

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under ...

Klaus Töpfer Klaus Töpfer (born 29 July 1938) is a German politician ( CDU) and environmental politics expert. From 1998 to 2006 he was executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Early life and education Töpfer was born in ...

; Federal Minister

Wolfgang Bötsch Wolfgang Bötsch (8 September 1938 in Bad Kreuznach – 14 October 2017 in Würzburg) was a German politician, representative of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). Between 1974 and 1976 he represented the Landtag of Bavaria. From 1976 ...

; First Mayor and

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Christoph Ahlhaus Christoph Ahlhaus (born 28 August 1969) is a German politician. He is a representative of the German Christian Democratic Union which he joined in 1985. He was the mayor of Hamburg from August 2010 to March 2011. Personal life Ahlhaus was bo ...

; vice president of the

Ferdinand Kirchhof; president of the

; president of the

Federal Court of Auditors of Germany The Bundesrechnungshof (Federal Court of Auditors; also Federal Audit Office) is the supreme federal authority for federal audit matters in Germany. There are equivalent bodies at state level. The status of the Bundesrechnungshof, its members and ...

Dieter Engels; Head of the German Chancellery Waldemar Schreckenberger; president of the

Federal Court of Justice of Germany The Federal Court of Justice (german: Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction (''ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit'') in Germany, founded in 1950. It has its seat in Karlsruhe with two panels being situat ...

Willi Geiger; president of the Federal Employment Agency of Germany Florian Gerster; Executive Director of the

Thilo Sarrazin Thilo Sarrazin (born 12 February 1945) is a German politician and former member of the SPD, writer, senator of finance for the State of Berlin from January 2002 until April 2009, former member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank u ...

;

Attorney General of Germany The Public Prosecutor General at the Federal Court of Justice (german: Generalbundesanwalt or ''Generalbundesanwältin beim Bundesgerichtshof'' (GBA), lit.: "General Federal Attorney at the Federal Court of Justice") is the federal prosecutor of G ...

; Advocate General at the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

Carl Otto Lenz; former CEO and current Chairman of

Jürgen Strube; and former CEO of

Allianz Global Investors Allianz Global Investors (commonly called AllianzGI or AGI), is a global investment management firm with offices in over 20 locations worldwide. It is owned by the global financial services group Allianz. Employing nearly 3,000, it manages over ...

and current Chairman of the Deutsche Börse Group Joachim Faber.

References

External links

German University of Administrative Sciences SpeyerGerman Research Institute for Public AdministrationEuropean Master of Public Administration ConsortiumCity of Speyer
{{Authority control Public administration schools Public policy research Public policy schools Social science institutes Public universities and colleges in Germany Postgraduate schools in Germany Universities and colleges in Rhineland-Palatinate Educational institutions established in 1947 Speyer 1947 establishments in Germany