Encyclopedia
The
Darmstadt University of Technology, whose official name is
"Technische Universität Darmstadt", in
Darmstadt,
Germany plays a significant role among German universities. It is internationally well known for its outstanding achievements in the areas of engineering and computer science.
History
On October 10, 1877 Ludwig IV, Großherzog von Hessen und bei Rhein , named the Polytechnic School
Technische Hochschule zu Darmstadt and thereby raised the status of this educational institution to that of a university so that the Abitur became the basis for admission. In 1899 the TH Darmstadt was granted the right to award doctorates.
Early beginnings
The University's history is varied: its early phases began with the
Höhere Gewerbschule , which was founded in 1836 and received its own building near the
Altes Pädagog on Kapellplatz in 1844, followed by the
Technische Schule in 1864 and the
Großherzoglich Hessische Polytechnische Schule in 1868. At that time, heated discussions were continually held in political circles on the issue as to whether such a poor state as the Grand Duchy of
Hesse could afford a technically-oriented higher educational institution, or even a polytechnic. After the foundation of the
TH Darmstadt in 1877, student numbers kept on being so low that in the years from 1881 to 1882 there were long debates in public about closing down the University. In this difficult situation, the local government and the University made the courageous decision to set up the first chair of
electrical engineering worldwide. Thus the
School of Electrical Engineering came into being as the sixth faculty of the TH Darmstadt, which was a novelty in academia, because until then no other polytechnic or university had had its own Faculty of Electrical Engineering. This forward-looking higher education policy paved the way for Darmstadt to take up a leading position in the rapidly developing field of Electrical Engineering, which in turn led to a continuously rising number of students, so that the closure of the
TH Darmstadt never was demanded again.
First steps as a university
In 1895 new buildings were opened in
Hochschulstrasse: the
Alte Hauptgebäude and an institute building directly opposite. During the two decades before the
World War I, all disciplines of the university underwent diversification and expansion. New disciplines such as Paper Making and Cellulose Chemistry were introduced, and as early as 1913 a Chair of
Aeronautics and Flight Mechanics was set up.
Meanwhile, the political climate had become stormier, and a growing political polarization exploded in Darmstadt over the question of foreign students. The
TH Darmstadt had an extraordinarily large number of foreign students. In 1906, for instance, as many as three quarters of the Electrical Engineering students were from abroad, mainly from states of eastern Europe. This was obviously one of the reasons why the nationalist movement among the students soon gained the upper hand.
After the
World War I there was an urgent need for reform of the education system at the
TH Darmstadt, which was seen as a prerequisite for meeting the requirements of a modern industrial society. Intense discussions were held on the aim of extending the curriculum beyond the purely technical education in order to prepare the engineer for his leading role in society. A concrete step in this direction was taken in 1924, when the
General Faculty, which until then had combined all the non-technical subjects, was divided into a Department of Mathematics and Natural Science and a Department of Cultural Studies and Political Science. Moreover, the measures taken to provide students with knowledge outside their own narrow field of study included the upgrading of Economics and the creation of professorships in Political Science, History of Technology and Sociology.
During the Nazi Regime and WW II
The seizure of power by the National Socialists in January 1933 rapidly caught on the universities. As early as in October 1933 the new constitution according to the
Führerprinzip came into force: the rector became the
Führer of the university, appointed by the
Führer of the state. This
National Revolution was greeted enthusiastically at the TH Darmstadt too, so that it is difficult to say whether the universities were forced into line in compliance with orders from above, or whether they fell in line with the pronouncements on the
Third Reich.
Jewish scientists lost their job and their exodus left its mark on
Darmstadt too. The
TH Darmstadt lost some of its most respected scientists who went into exile. Among them was, for example,
Gerhard Herzberg whose wife was Jewish, and who emigrated to
Canada and later on to the USA where he was awarded the
Nobel prize for chemistry in 1971.
Restart after WW II
On the night of September 11 September 12, 1944 eighty per cent of the city, including many of the university's buildings were destroyed during a bomb attack. For a short period in 1945 the
TH Darmstadt had been closed by decree of the Allies before it was reopened in 1946. In spite of the difficult post-war situation, university staff and students alike managed to settle down to university work in the severely damaged buildings, which had to be used as a makeshift solution.
As early as 1947 the
TH Darmstadt played host to the first
Internationale Kongress für Ingenieurausbildung - IKIA , at which the participants discussed the moral responsibility of the technical intelligentsia and of the scientific elite in politics and society. In view of the disastrous consequences of the war, the participants committed themselves henceforth to do research and teaching in engineering and scientific disciplines solely for the peaceful development of mankind.
The post-war period of reconstruction was largely based on a major development programme in the sixties, by means of which universities and the state reacted to the continuously rising numbers of students. Since almost no land was available in the city centre for new construction projects, the decision was taken in 1963 to use the
Lichtwiese as a site for building extensions to the TH. Thus in the late
sixties and in the early
seventies numerous buildings, including a new student cafeteria, were erected there and ultimately became the university's second campus.
University reforms in the 1970s
After 1968 the university reform, having been initiated by the student movement, was beginning to take shape both at a national and a regional level. It aimed at creating clear university structures and the involvement of all university members in decision-making processes. In 1970 the
Hessisches Hochschulgesetz came into force. These gave the
TH Darmstadt, along with other Hessian universities and polytechnics, a new structure based on the introduction of a presidential statute and a unified administration as well as the subdivision of the University structure into schools.
In the mid
1970s there was another rapid rise in student numbers. Staff development, however, lagged far behind, resulting in inevitable restrictions on admission imposed either by the central government or by the University. Regardless of the staff's heavy workload, the
TH Darmstadt managed to set the course for the future, as evidenced by the School of Information Science, established in 1974, the
Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Technikforschung – ZIT , founded in 1987, and the School of Materials Science, established in 1989. This School, which offers a new course of studies has been housed in a new building on the
Lichtwiese since 1996.
Renaming and Autonomy
By the end of the 20th century, the
TH Darmstadt had had the legal status of a university, and had been offering a correspondingly wide range of subjects, for over a hundred years. For these reasons, and also with the objective of sharpening public awareness of the university's status at home and abroad, the
TH Darmstadt was renamed
Technische Universität Darmstadt on October 1, 1997. This name change was partly prompted by misunderstandings that had occurred in English-speaking countries, where 'Technische Hochschule' had often been mistakenly transliterated as 'Technical High School', providing a totally misleading connotation.
On January 1, 2005, the
TU Darmstadt became the first public German university to be given administrative autonomy. New administrative structures were put into place, and their success is being evaluated. For instance, the university can now autonomously administer its budget and buildings. Also, the university can hire professors and negotiate their salaries by itself .
Faculties
There are 13 faculties which altogether offer about 40 courses of studies. Thus the
TU Darmstadt is offering a broad range of academic science to students and scientists.
However, some faculties are rather small and are basically retained to provide a broader outlook for what would otherwise be an exclusively science-centered institution.
The faculties are:
- Business Administration, Economics and Law
- Social Sciences and History
- Human Sciences
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Biology
- Material- and Geo-Sciences
- Civil Engineering and Geodesy
- Architecture
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
- Computer Science
Academic Profile
The close cooperation between science and economy is an indispensable prerequisite for success. For that reason students are encouraged to learn how to put scientific ideas and principles into effect and to demonstrate in their essays and dissertations how to tackle, analyse and solve problems, e.g. in the areas of industrial processes and practices.
Research projects at the University are initiated and financed to a large extent by industrial and commercial concerns. Moreover, the University's successful collaboration with local companies is also based on a twofold strategy: the appointment of distinguished scientists and engineers to the post of professor at the University and the University's commitment to management development in companies.
The University offers a wide range of subjects, not only in the traditional fields of natural and engineering sciences, but also in those of social and human sciences, which was one of the main reasons for renaming the
TH Darmstadt 'Technische Universität Darmstadt' in the autumn of 1997. The subjects of these major areas of human knowledge add to the teacher training for the teaching profession both at secondary schools and vocational schools and furthermore make Industrial Engineering as taught in Darmstadt an attractive course of study. The creation of new degree courses leading to bachelor's and master's degrees is also based on these academic standards and follows the European standardization of academic education.
Research
The principle of the indivisibility of teaching and research is common to all German universities. Mention must be made, however, that research at the
TU Darmstadt has had a long and particularly successful tradition to date. Thus research is being carried out at more than two hundred institutes as well as at the
Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen - DZWR , where the focus is on interdisciplinary work, and at the
Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Technikforschung - ZIT . Moreover, at the TU Darmstadt there are several
Sonderforschungsbereiche - SFB as well as several
Graduiertenkollegs , all of whom profit from financial support and expert advice provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG .
The
scientific infrastructure provided by the University has attracted a considerable number of national and international research institutions to the
Wissenschaftsstadt Darmstadt , who on their part collaborate with the
TU Darmstadt on many projects. Among them are, for example, the , the
Technologiezentrum Darmstadt - TZD of the
Deutsche Telekom , the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung - GSI at Wixhausen, the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT, the
European Space Operations Centre - ESOC, the , and the and the . The collaboration with the University ranges from joint research projects to bearing joint responsibility for decisions taken at managerial level of the scientific institutions.
Internationality
With more than 14%, the percentage of foreign students at the TU Darmstadt is clearly higher than the average of German universities of 8%, though at times, especially early in its history, almost a quarter of its students were foreigners, especially from
Eastern Europe.
Scientific co-operation on a contractual base is maintained with more than 65 partner universities all over the world.
The university is member of different European networks. The European Credit transfer system ECTS has been introduced for almost all courses of study.
The student group IDEA provides an interesting programme for all international Students of the University. At the beginning of each term there is an integration week organised.
Knowledge Transfer
In order to put innovative ideas and research results more quickly into effect the
Innovationsgesellschaft Darmstadt mbH was founded. The founder-members involved in drawing up the project of a , which was completed in spring 1999, consist of the
TU Darmstadt, the , the , the , the and the , the , and the . The Center's infrastructure enables young entrepreneurs to rent business premises and to benefit from a consultancy service not only in matters of introducing new technologies but also in matters of accountancy and law at prices that are within their means.
In the meantime a number of young scientists, former students and researchers at the TU Darmstadt who have made up their mind to become independent businessmen, use the TIZ in Darmstadt as their base. Offering this form of knowledge and technology transfer, the University contributes to the economic development of Southern Hesse.
International Partner Universities
Africa
Australia/Pacifica
- Australia
- University of New South Wales, Sydney
- Curtin University of Technology, Perth
- New Zealand
- University of Canterbury, Christchurch
Asia
- China
- Tongji-Universität, Shanghai
- India
- Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
- Japan
- Nihon - University College of Science and Technology, Tokio
- Tohoku University, Sendai
- Korea
- EWHA Womans University, Seoul
- Mongolia
- Mongolian University of Technology and Science, Ulaanbatar
- Russian Federation
- Yakutsk State University
- University for International Law and Economics, Moscow
- Universtity of Economics and Finances, St. Petersburg
- Sri Lanka
- University of Colombo, Colombo
- Vietnam
- University of Transport and Communication, Hanoi
South East Asia
- Indonesia
- Institute of Technology Trisakti, Jakarta
- Institute of Technology Bandung, Bandung
- Malaysia
- Singapore
...
...
,
Thammasat University, Bangkok
North America
- USA
- Virginia Tech, Blacksburg
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester
- State University of New York, Buffalo
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- Tulane University, New Orleans
- Canada
- University of British Columbia, Vancouver
- University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
- University of Ottawa, Ottawa
Central America
- Mexico
- Universidad Antónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey
South America
- Argentina
- Universidad Catolica Argentina, Buenos Aires
- Brazil
- Universidade Estadual Campinas, São Paulo
- Pontifica Universidade Catolica, Rio de Janeiro
- Universidade Federal do Parana, Curitiba
- Universidade de São Paulo
- Universidade Methodista de Piracicaba, Piracicaba
- Colombia
- Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá
Middle East
- Iran
- Sharif University of Technology, Tehran
- Israel
- Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva
- Turkey
- Middle East Technical University, Ankara
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