Mannheim: A city at the crossroads of Germany

Located where the Rhine and Necker Rivers meet and where the three Federal States of Rheinland Pfalz, Hessen and Baden-Württemberg converge, Mannheim is a dynamic city with plenty of opportunities. World-renowned enterprises including BASF, Roche, John Deere, DaimlerChrysler and Siemens have offices here. And the short distance from the financial capital Frankfurt and the car capital Stuttgart make Mannheim somewhat of a hub.

Mannheim introduced

Wasserturm Mannheim, Photo: Wiki Commons (cc) Heidas Mannheim is a medium-sized city with 330,000 inhabitants. It is unusual in the fact that the central area is laid out in a grid pattern. The main route through the center of town leads to a huge 18th-century palace. It is here that the University of Mannheim is housed.
Mannheim has a wide range of educational and training institutions. All in all, about 24,000 young people study here.
Numerous leisure facilities, attractive residential areas, well-kept municipal parks, the landscape between the Palatinate and the Odenwald and, above all, the open -mindedness of the citizens of Mannheim allows new arrivals to feel at home after a very short period of time.

Overview of the universities

The University of Mannheim
Mannheim Friedrichsplatz, Photo: Flickr (cc) fisherbray Built between 1742 and 1799, the palace’s front alone stretches over a distance of more than 450 meters and it boasts more than 500 rooms. And because it’s so big, most of the university’s facilities are in fact housed in what is the largest Baroque palace in the world. The university has approximately 11,000 students enrolled in five schools: the School of Law and Economics, Business School, Faculty of Social Sciences, School of the Humanities and the School of Mathematics and Computer Science. The university is an international place to study, with close ties to over 450 academic institutions all over the world, and more than 15 percent of its students coming from abroad. It can also lay claim to being the smallest academic institution to be included in the German government’s “Initiative of Excellence”, which provides funding to high quality German university programs and research institutions.

Mannheim Business School
The Mannheim Business School is particularly outstanding and can lay claim to being one of Europe’s leading institutions in the field. Mannheim is ranked number one for business education in Germany in a whole host of different rankings and is the only German institution to be accredited by AACSB International, AMBA and EQUIS, the three leading international accreditation organizations (so called ‘Triple Crown’).

Mannheim University of Applied Sciences
Biotechnology, computer science, engineering – these are just a few of the science-based programs on offer at the University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim, some of which are taught in English at Master’s level. It’s a modern campus-style university that cooperates with universities and businesses worldwide and enjoys an excellent reputation, as well as top positions in the university rankings.

Modedesignschule Manuel Fritz, Mannheim
This fashion design school offer students the full experience: From sketching out designs, to hands-on cutting and sewing the pieces, it’s all there. And students can take their ideas further too, as there are courses about planning and creating a collection, as well as fashion marketing.

What Mannheim is like

Fernando Reich completed his Bachelor in economics at home in Ecuador and worked for a few years before coming to Germany. The young South American decided to apply to different schools for an MBA and then chose the Mannheim Business School because of its good reputation and the excellent positions it achieves in various MBA rankings.

So what is Mannheim like as a student?

Mannheim Industrie, Photo: Flickr (cc) smokeonit Life in Mannheim is incredible and Mannheim is a very nice city. There are a lot of cultural activities and there are many things to visit: the SAP Arena, the Mannheim Palace where the university is located, the museum and the theater.

Would you recommend it to foreign students?

Yes, definitely. For somebody who wants to study in Germany and doesn’t know too much about the German culture or how to handle the situation of being in a German city, I think Mannheim is a very good place. It is not too big and it is not too small. 10 percent of people are foreigners so you can meet people from everywhere. It is close to different important cities and there are a lot of cultural and sports activities you can do here.

What's your favorite spot?

The Lanzpark in Lindenhof is one of my favorite places. It is a very big place and in the summer you can go there and jog, play football, read, or barbecue. It is next to the Rhine and so the landscape is really nice there too.

Did you know?

Germany’s famous national team coach Sepp Herberger was born in Mannheim in 1897. Herberger was in charge of the German team from 1936-64 and famously won Germany’s first World Cup in 1954, in what became known as the “Miracle of Bern”.
The inventor Carl Drais invented the first bicycle dubbed “draisine” in 1817 in Mannheim.
Carl Benz’ first car appeared on the streets of Mannheim in 1886. The three-wheeled vehicle he produced in his workshop, powered by a single cylinder petrol-fueled engine is widely regarded as the first automobile.

Things to check out

Mannheim Luisenpark, Photo: Flickr (cc) scarecrow_001 The water tower, Mannheim's famous landmark, stands on the highest point of Friedrichsplatz square. With its magnificent fountains, this square is considered one of Europe's finest Art Nouveau architectural ensembles. In the summer, the area around the water tower is a popular meeting point for people of all ages. It's also a great place to stroll, relax, enjoy festivals, unwind and escape the stresses of everyday city life.
The Luisenpark is considered on of the most impressive parks in Europe. From tropical plants and flowers from the train forests, to little bonsai trees in the China Garden there are thousands and thousands of plants, trees and flowers to admire in the park. And if you are fed up with the plant kingdom – you can switch to the animal world as the park has plenty of creatures to check out, too.