[1] Founded in 1947 by the French occupational authorities as a grande école, today it is operated under the joint responsibility of both the Federal Republic (Bund) and all 16 German states (Länder).

The school was founded in 1947 as École Supérieure d'Administration by the French occupational authorities in order to democratize the German senior civil service.

[4] In 1950 it was formally established as a German institution of public law with legal capacity and entrusted with "fostering the administrative sciences in education and research".

[14] The Master of Administrative Sciences (Magister rerum publicarum) is the school's traditional flagship program.

It is a one-year postgraduate program open to students holding an additional graduate-level degree, preferably in law, economics, history, or sociology.

The program comprises two terms at the school, an eight-week internship at German or European institutions, and a subsequent period of three months to write the master's thesis and pass an oral examination.

First year students follow a core curriculum consisting of six modules on administrative, legal, economic, methodological, and strategic topics, and complete a mandatory eight-week internship.

programs also offer a one-year option for students holding a previous relevant master's degree.

Doctoral candidates are required to complete one year of coursework in residence at the school, and produce a dissertation which makes a creditable contribution to scholarship in its field.

[17][18] The German state heavily subsidizes university study to keep higher education affordable regardless of socio-economic background.

[24] Like most German public universities, Speyer charges no tuition fees for academic programs, for both EU and non-EU citizens.

[28][29] With its 17 chairs dedicated to public and constitutional law, administrative sciences, economics, modern and contemporary history, sociology, and political science, the school maintains a strategic partnership with the German Research Institute for Public Administration, which is part of the Leibniz Association, and is located on the campus.

[30] Besides numerous politicians, diplomats, professors, judges, and high-ranking government officials at local, state, federal, and international level, the university's noted alumni and faculty include President of Germany Roman Herzog; Professor Niklas Luhmann, one of the most important social theorists of the 20th century; current Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht; former Federal Minister and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Klaus Töpfer; Federal Minister Wolfgang Bötsch; First Mayor and Prime Minister of Hamburg Christoph Ahlhaus; vice president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany Ferdinand Kirchhof; president of the Bundesbank Helmut Schlesinger; president of the Federal Court of Auditors of Germany Dieter Engels; Head of the German Chancellery Waldemar Schreckenberger; president of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany Willi Geiger; president of the Federal Employment Agency of Germany Florian Gerster; Executive Director of the Bundesbank Thilo Sarrazin; Attorney General of Germany Alexander von Stahl; Advocate General at the European Court of Justice Carl Otto Lenz; former CEO and current Chairman of BASF Jürgen Strube; and former CEO of Allianz Global Investors and current Chairman of the Deutsche Börse Group Joachim Faber.