BMS is a joint graduate school of the mathematics departments of Freie Universität, Humboldt-Universität, and Technische Universität. It is funded under the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments and has enjoyed a successful four years. BMS actively pursues the goals of internationality and gender equality: of its 137 doctoral students, about 40 percent come from abroad. The percentage of women is well above the average in mathematics departments in Germany and is expected to reach 50 percent in the medium term. BMS is one of the few funded graduate schools in the Excellence Initiative that accepts students directly after the bachelor degree and prepares them for a doctoral dissertation through a structured fast-track program.

The BMS chairmanship rotates every two years between the three participating universities. The first chair of Berlin Mathematical School was Professor Günter M. Ziegler from Technische Universität, who was succeeded on December 1, 2007, by Professor Jürg Kramer from Humboldt-Universität.

BMS’s diverse program of specialized courses is augmented with mentoring, soft-skill seminars, summer schools, travel to conferences abroad, and special support for students who are parents.