The German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer (German: ''Deutsche Universität für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer''; sometimes referred to as Speyer University), is a national graduate school for administrative sciences and

public management Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

located in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Founded in 1947 by the French occupational authorities as a

grande école A (; ) is a specialized top-level educational institution in France and some other countries such as Morocco and Tunisia. are part of an alternative educational system that operates alongside the mainstream List of public universities in Franc ...

, 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 a postgraduate 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 prac ...

programs, grants

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

s and

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

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 managers, globally. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometimes lead to ...

. The school is a major training ground for German and international senior government officials. Noted alumni and faculty include former

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

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 11, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and systems theorist. Niklas Luhmann is one of the most influential German sociologists of the 20th century. His thinking was ...

; former

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Christine Lambrecht, current Justice at the

Federal Constitutional Court of Germany The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme court, supreme constitutional court for the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, Basic Law ...

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 (, , colloquially Buba, sometimes alternatively abbreviated as BBk or DBB) is the national central bank for Germany within the Eurosystem. It was the German central bank from 1957 to 1998, issuing the Deutsche Mark (DM). ...

Helmut Schlesinger Helmut Schlesinger (4 September 1924 – 23 December 2024) was a German economist and President of the Bundesbank from 1991 to 1993. Having worked for the institution and its precursor from 1952, he pursued monetary stability. Biography Early l ...

, 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 of

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

Jürgen Strube Jürgen or Jurgen is a popular masculine given name in Germany, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands. Notable people named Jürgen include: A * Jürgen Ahrend (1930–2024), German organ builder *Jürgen Alzen (born 1962), German race car driv ...

. 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 the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

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. Created as a sister institution to

École Nationale d'Administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

, 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 doctorates, 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 degrees. Furthermore it runs

doctoral programs A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

, 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 Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs is the public policy and environmental studies school of Indiana University with locations on both the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses. It is the largest and highest-ranked publ ...

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 ...

'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 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 A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other jur ...

''), 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 of ...

among the top third in the previous

academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...

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

international student International students or exchange students, also known as foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their secondary or tertiary education in a country other than their own. In 2022, there were over 6.9 million international ...

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, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

, 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), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

range from €1,560 to €3,240.

Research

The university performs "

fundamental research Basic research, also called pure research, fundamental research, basic science, or pure science, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenome ...

with high relevance to practice", and regularly publishes

treatise A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Acc ...

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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

, administrative sciences, economics, modern and contemporary history, sociology, and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, the school maintains a strategic partnership with the German Research Institute for Public Administration, 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. Funding and Structure As of 2020, 96 non-u ...

, 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 The Transatlantic Policy Consortium (TPC) is a network of 42 North America and European higher education institutions that conduct education, training, and research in the field of public policy and public administration. Its ostensible mission is ...

(TPC), the

National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) is a Washington, D.C.–based non-profit organization. It is an international association and accreditation body of public affairs schools also known as schools of publ ...

(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 (29 July 1938 – 8 June 2024) was a German politician ( CDU) and environmental politics expert. From 1998 to 2006 he was executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Personal life 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 197 ...

; First Mayor and Prime Minister of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

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 Dieter Engels; Head of the German Chancellery

Waldemar Schreckenberger Waldemar Schreckenberger (12 November 1929 – 4 August 2017) was a German lawyer, professor emeritus, and politician born in Ludwigshafen. After his graduation from Heidelberg Law School, he earned a doctorate, and completed his habilitation a ...

; president of the

Federal Court of Justice of Germany The Federal Court of Justice ( , ) is the highest court of civil and criminal jurisdiction in Germany. Its primary responsibility is the final appellate review of decisions by lower courts for errors of law. While, legally, a decision by the F ...

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 ...

;

Attorney General of Germany The Public Prosecutor General at the Federal Court of Justice ( or ''GBA ) is the federal prosecutor of Germany, representing the federal government at the '' Bundesgerichtshof'', the federal court of justice. The office of the Public Prosecuto ...

; Advocate General at the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially 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 Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

Carl Otto Lenz Carl Otto Lenz (born 5 June 1930) is a German lawyer, member of the German Bundestag (1965–1984) for the CDU and Advocate General at the European Court of Justice (1984–1997). Biography Born in Berlin, Carl Otto Lenz is the son of t ...

; former CEO and current Chairman of

; 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 Deutsch ( , ) or Deutsche ( , ) may refer to: * or : the German language or in particular Standard German, spoken in central European countries and other places *Old High German language refers to Deutsch as a way to define the primary characteris ...

Joachim Faber.

References

External links

*
German 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 research institutes Public universities and colleges in Germany Postgraduate schools in Germany Universities and colleges in Rhineland-Palatinate Universities and colleges established in 1947 Speyer 1947 establishments in Germany