History, Organization and Activities of the Speyer University

The University was founded in 1947 by the French occupation authorities as a state academy for administrative sciences. In 1950, a law passed by the government of Rhineland-Palatinate reaffirmed its status as an institution of public law with legal capacity. As a result of a special agreement in 1952, the national and the states’ (Länder) governments assumed joint responsibility for the University. After the German Unification, also the 'new' States (Länder) Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia acceded to this agreement.

In December 1997, the University adopted its current name of "German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer". 

The work of the university covers three broad activities in the field of administrative sciences: postgraduate education; in-service training; and research. This includes the training of future senior civil servants (one-term course or one-year Master's Programme), in-service training for senior civil servants, and research into the legal, economic and social problems of international, national and local administration. The university is authorized to award doctorates and confer eligibility for professorships. It is a member of the "German Rectors Conference", the organization of universities and similar educational and research institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany.

There are 17 professorial chairs presiding over Public Law, Administrative Sciences, and Economics, as well as Modern and Contemporary History, Sociology and Political Science. In addition, senior civil servants, judges and business executives holding part-time lectureships teach applied administration. This close association between the theoretical science of administration and its practical application has not only proven to be extremely useful for teaching, but has also provided the impetus for numerous recent research projects.