The University of Mannheim in the Latest Rankings

Shanghai Ranking

The University of Mannheim has achieved a prominent standing in the 2024 “Global Ranking of Academic Subjects” by Shanghai Ranking, specifically within the disciplines of social sciences and economics. For the past seven years, the university has maintained a position within the global top 50 in the fields of political science and communication science. Last year's findings reaffirm the remarkable standard of research being carried out at the University of Mannheim.

Recognized around the world, the Shanghai Ranking serves as a vital reference point for evaluating the academic success and scientific reach of universities. According to the 2024 Shanghai Ranking, the University of Mannheim is positioned among the top three German universities in two out of 14 fields within the social sciences category, which includes both economics and communication sciences. Nationally, the university holds the second position for political science and has advanced nine spots to reach 35th place globally. The institution ranks among the top three universities in Germany for the field of finance. Within the field of communication science, the university earned the fourth spot nationally and the 40th position worldwide. Mannheim is also positioned fourth for management and fifth for sociology among German institutions.

Established in 2003 by Jiaotong University in Shanghai, the Shanghai Ranking assesses approximately 2,000 universities globally each year, focusing on factors like scientific output, citation counts, and international research partnerships. From 2017 onward, the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) has presented thorough findings pertaining to distinct areas of study. The latest report evaluated the achievements of more than 1,900 higher education institutions across 55 different disciplines.

DFG Funding Atlas

The University of Mannheim ranks very well in the current Funding Atlas of the German Research Foundation (DFG). In the field of Economics, it ranks second among the universities that have acquired the most external public funding from DFG.

Between 2020 and 2022, the researchers at the University of Mannheim raised a total of 33.5 million euros from the DFG. The current data have been published in the “Funding Atlas 2024” of the DFG.

Looking at individual subject groups, Economics stands out in the current edition: With a funding amount of 10.4 million, they rank second in Germany behind the University of Bonn. Social Sciences ranked fourth with 26 million euros in funding.

The DFG Funding Atlas is published every three years and is the most extensive collection of numbers and data on public external funding. The Funding Atlas 2024 and the funding profile of the University of Mannheim can be found on the DFG website.

WirtschaftsWoche Research Ranking

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Christian Homburg has once again been awarded the top position in the WirtschaftsWoche research ranking, category “Lifetime Achievement”. Senior Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Martin Weber takes third place in the same category.

Prof. Christian Homburg and Senior Professor Weber are followed in the ranking of the top 250 researchers in the “Lifetime Achievement” category by Mannheim researchers Prof. Stefan Reichelstein, Ph.D. (14th place), Prof. Dr. Armin Heinzl (68th place), Prof. Dr. Christoph Spengel (79th place), Prof. Dr. Erik Theissen (132nd place) and Prof. Ernst Maug, Ph.D. (165th place).

The list of the top 100 professors in terms of current research performance, measured over the last 5 years, includes Homburg (63rd place) and Heinzl (84th place).

The ranking of the most research-intensive professors is published every two years in WirtschaftsWoche. It covers the publications of researchers working at chairs, Fraunhofer and Max Planck Institutes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The data source is the bibliometric web portal Forschungsmonitoring, which is operated by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich.

QS Business Master’s Rankings

In the current “QS Business Master's Rankings” the Mannheim Master in Management scored top results. It ranks second in Germany, outranked only by a private university, and 29th worldwide, making it one of the top 30 Master's programs in business administration worldwide.

Text: Editorial Team / April 2025