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.

Mannheim at a glance

Wasserturm, Foto: Stadt Mannheim

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. There are no street names in the city centre, instead, the ‘Mannheim Squares’ are termed in a combination of letters and numbers, like A1 or L5. The main route through the centre of town leads to a huge 18th-century palace. With its 400 meters front and more than 500 rooms it is the largest baroque palace in the world. 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.
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.
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.

Universities - Overview

The University of Mannheim

Uni Mannheim, Foto: Uni Mannheim

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 s 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 programmes and research institutions. With this funding Mannheim University established the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences (GESS).

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.

Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW)
At the DHBW Mannheim you can combine academic studies and work experience: you choose one of about 1,900 enterprises cooperating with the DHBW Mannheim and conclude a training contract with it. In turns of three months you study and work. Today about 5,500 students are enrolled at the DHBW Mannheim. Almost 85 percent of them get a job at the company they worked for while studying.

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.

Recreation in Mannheim

Teehaus im Luisenpark, Foto: Stadt Mannheim

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. You can visit this first car and other Mercedes Benz cars in the Carl Benz Museum in Mannheim.
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.