The University of Mannheim also known as UMA, is a public research university situated in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967 the university has its origins in the 1763 established Theodoro Palatinae (Palatine Academy of the Sciences Mannheim), which was founded by the later Duke of Bavaria Charles Theodor, as well as the Handelshochschule (Commercial College Mannheim), which was initiated by Mannheim's senior mayor Otto Beck and Heidelberg's professor for Economics Eberhard Gothein in 1907.
The University offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs as well as Ph.D degrees within business administration, economics, law, social sciences, humanities, mathematics, computer science and information systems – all with an interdisciplinary and international focus. The University of Mannheim's campus is located in the city center of Mannheim and mainly centers on its main campus – the Mannheim Palace (completed in 1760). The university has around 12,362 full-time students, 800 scholars enrolled, 840 academic staff and a total income of more than €120 million in 2016. It is organized into 5 academic departments and 2 academic colleges.
The UMA is considered to have by far the best and most prestigious business school in Germany and is consistently ranked #1 in national university rankings and among the top business schools worldwide for its business administration and economics programs. Moreover, the university's programs for social sciences, politics as well as business informatics rank nationwide within the Top 3 and its programs for law and computer science within the Top 10. The 2015 QS World University Rankings ranked the UMA among the best one hundred universities within the disciplines of Social Sciences & Management, Accounting & Finance, Business Administration & Management and Economics & Econometrics, as well as among the Top 50 universities within the discipline of Political Sciences. Furthermore, the University of Mannheim is placed 83rd with regard to global employer reputation. The THE world university ranking in 2016 ranked the University of Mannheim 102nd worldwide.
The University of Mannheim is a member of the German Universities Excellence Initiative, the International Association of Universities, the European Network for Training Economic Research, the International Business Education Alliance (IBEA), the Council on Business & Society, the German Research Foundation (DFG), and it is accredited by the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) as well as the Association of MBAs (AMBA).