Technical University of Berlin

Technical University of Berlin
Technische Universität Berlin
Motto Wir haben die Ideen für die Zukunft (German)
Motto in English
 We have ideas for the future[1]
Type Public
Established 1946
1770/1799/1879
Endowment State:€295.7M (2014)[2]
External: €174M (2013)[2]
President Christian Thomsen (since 2014)
Administrative staff

8,070 (2012)[2]

    Students 32,752 (WS 2014/15)[2]
    Location Berlin, Germany
    52°30′43″N 13°19′35″E / 52.51194°N 13.32639°E / 52.51194; 13.32639Coordinates: 52°30′43″N 13°19′35″E / 52.51194°N 13.32639°E / 52.51194; 13.32639
    Campus Urban
    Nobel Laureates 10[3][4][5]
    Nickname TU Berlin, TUB
    Affiliations TIME, TU9 EUA, CESAER, DFG, SEFI, PEGASUS
    Website www.tu-berlin.de

    The Technische Universität Berlin, known as TU Berlin for short and unofficially as the Technical University of Berlin or Berlin Institute of Technology, is a research university located in Berlin, Germany and one of the largest and most prestigious research and education institutions in Germany. The university was founded in 1879. It has the highest proportion of foreign students out of universities in Germany, with 20.9% in the summer semester of 2007, roughly 5,598 students. The university alumni and professor list include National Academies elections,[6] two National Medal of Science laureates[7][8] and ten Nobel Prize winners.[3][5][9]

    The TU Berlin is a member of TU9, an incorporated society of the largest and most notable German institutes of technology and of the Top Industrial Managers for Europe[10] network, which allows for student exchanges between leading European engineering schools. It also belongs to the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research.[11] As of 2015, TU Berlin is ranked 178th worldwide and 44th in the world in the field of Engineering & Technology according to QS World University Rankings. [12] [13] The university is known for its high ranked engineering programmes, especially in mechanical engineering and engineering management.[14]

    History

    Northern front of the main building in 1895, considerably damaged in World War II and replaced by a modern front in the 1960s

    On 1 April 1879, the Königlich Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg ("TH Charlottenburg") was formed in the governmental merger of the Berlin Building Academy (Bauakademie) and the Royal Trade Academy (Königliche Gewerbeakademie), two independent Prussian founding colleges established in 1799 and 1821 respectively. The TH Charlottenburg (Royal Technical Higher School of Charlottenburg) was named after the borough of its location in Charlottenburg just outside Berlin. In 1899, the TH Charlottenburg became the first polytechnic in Germany awarding doctorates, as a standard degree for the graduates, in addition to diplomas, thanks to professor Alois Riedler and Adolf Slaby, chairman of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) and the Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies (VDE).

    In 1916 the long-standing Bergakademie Berlin, the Prussian mining academy created by the geologist Carl Abraham Gerhard in 1770 at the behest of King Frederick the Great, was assimilated into the TH Charlottenburg. Beforehand, the mining college had been, however, for several decades under the auspices of the Frederick William University (now Humboldt University of Berlin), before it was spun out again in 1860. After Charlottenburg's absorption into Greater Berlin in 1920 and Germany being turned into Weimar Republic, the TH Charlottenburg was renamed "Technische Hochschule of Berlin" ("TH Berlin"). In 1927, the Department of Geodesy of the Agricultural College of Berlin was incorporated into the TH Berlin. During the 1930s, the redevelopment and expansion of the campus along the "East-West axis" were part of the Nazi plans of a Welthauptstadt Germania, including a new faculty of defense technology under General Karl Becker, built as a part of the greater academic town (Hochschulstadt) in the adjacent west-wise Grunewald forest. The shell construction remained unfinished after the outbreak of World War II and after Becker's suicide in 1940, it is today covered by the large-scale Teufelsberg dumping.

    TU Berlin Architecture Building in May 1968, with banners in protest against the adoption of the German Emergency Acts

    The north section of the main building of the university was destroyed during a bombing raid in November 1943.[15] Due to the street fighting at the end of the Second World War, the operations at the TH Berlin were suspended as of April, 20th 1945. Planning for the re-opening of the school began on June, 2nd 1945, once the acting rectorship led by Gustav Ludwig Hertz and Max Volmer was appointed. As both Hertz and Volmer remained in exile in the Soviet Union for some time to come, the college was not re-inaugurated until April, 9th 1946, now bearing the name of "Technische Universität Berlin". In general, the name is not translated into other languages. The English term Berlin Institute of Technology is a semi-official translation, which was established as a compromise in 2007. Nevertheless, the intuitive translation Technical University of Berlin remains the most common (although not official) name for the university in English, with the possible exception of the native German description (and of course the short form of TU Berlin).

    Campus

    Main building of TU Berlin from above (south side)
    Entrance of the main library of Berlin Technical University and of the Berlin University of the Arts
    Telefunken-Hochhaus, the tallest building on campus, with a bird's-eye-view cafeteria on floor 20.

    The TU Berlin covers ca. 600,000 m², distributed over various locations in Berlin. The main campus is located in the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. The seven schools of the university have some 28,200 students enrolled in more than 50 subjects (January, 2009).[16]

    El Gouna campus: Technische Universität Berlin has established a satellite campus in Egypt to act as a scientific and academic field office. The nonprofit public-private partnership (PPP) aims to offer services provided by Technische Universität Berlin at the campus in El Gouna on the Red Sea.[17]

    Organization

    Since 4 April 2005, the TU Berlin has consisted of the following schools:

    Faculty and staff

    Eight-thousand four hundred fifty five people work at the university: 331 professors, 2,666 postgraduate researchers, and 2,145 personnel work in administration, the workshops, the library and the central facilities. In addition there are 2,719 student assistants and 130 trainees (March 2010).[18]

    International student mobility is applicable through ERASMUS programme or through Top Industrial Managers for Europe (TIME) network.

    Library

    The new common main library of Technische Universität Berlin and of the Berlin University of the Arts was opened in 2004[19] and holds about 2.9 million volumes (2007).[20] The library building was sponsored partially (estimated 10% of the building costs) by Volkswagen and is named officially "University Library of the TU Berlin and UdK (in the Volkswagen building)".[21] A source of confusion to many, the letters above the main entrance only state "Volkswagen Bibliothek" (German for "Volkswagen Library") – without any mentioning of the universities. Some of the former 17 libraries of Technische Universität Berlin and of the nearby University of the Arts were merged into the new library, but several departments still retain libraries of their own. In particular, the school of 'Economics and Management' maintains a library with 340,000 volumes in the university's main building (Die Bibliothek – Wirtschaft & Management/″The Library″ – Economics and Management) and the 'Department of Mathematics' maintains a library with 60,000 volumes in the Mathematics building (Mathematische Fachbibliothek/"Mathematics Library").

    Notable alumni and professors

    (Including those of the Academies mentioned under History)

    Rankings

    As of 2015, TU Berlin is ranked 178th worldwide and 47th in the world in the field of Engineering & Technology according to QS World University Rankings. [12] In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015, TU Berlin ranks 226-250 overall, as one of the top 100 universities worldwide in Chemistry.

    The TU Berlin on of Germany's highest ranked universities in statistics and operations research and in Mathematics according to QS World University Rankings.

    See also

    Other Universities in Berlin:

    Notes and references

    1. ↑ "TU Berlin: About the TU Berlin". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    2. 1 2 3 4 "TU Berlin: Zahlen & Fakten". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    3. 1 2 "Gustav Hertz - Biographical". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    4. ↑ "George de Hevesy - Biographical". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    5. 1 2 "Fritz Haber - Biographical". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    6. ↑ "National Academy of Sciences". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    7. ↑ "Eugene Wigner - Biographical". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    8. ↑ Wernher von Braun
    9. ↑ "Carl Bosch - Biographical". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    10. ↑ T.I.M.E. – Top Industrial Managers for Europe
    11. ↑ Brainlane - SiteLab CMS v2. "Germany". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    12. 1 2 "QS World University Ranking". Top Universities.
    13. ↑ http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/faculty-rankings/engineering-and-technology/2015#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=
    14. ↑ "CHE Ranking: CHE Hochschulranking, Vielfältige Exzellenz, Bachelor-/Master-Praxis-Check". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    15. ↑ https://www.tu-berlin.de/fileadmin/a70100710/Dokumentationen/Geschichte/UB_TU_125Jahre_20091013_booklet_s30-38.pdf
    16. ↑ "TU Berlin: Facts & Figures". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    17. ↑ "TUB Campus El Gouna: Home". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    18. ↑ "TU Berlin: Facts & Figures". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
    19. ↑ Universitätsbibliothek TU Berlin: About Us
    20. ↑ Universitätsbibliothek TU Berlin: About Us
    21. ↑ Universitätsbibliothek der Technischen Universität Berlin. "Universitätsbibliothek TU Berlin: Startseite". Universitätsbibliothek TU Berlin. Retrieved 29 June 2015.

    External links

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