Technische Hochschule

University of Karlsruhe, a German technical university, founded in the 19th century, since 2009 it has been named Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Technische Hochschule (known by its initials TH) is what an Institute of Technology (that is, a university focusing on engineering sciences) used to be called in German-speaking countries, as well as in the Netherlands, before most of them changed their name to Technische Universität (German) or Technische Universiteit (Dutch) (known by its initials TU) in the 1970s (in Germany) and in the 1980s (in the Netherlands).

History

In the Middle Ages, an educational institution was called a university only if a certain classical canon of subjects was taught (including philosophy, medicine, law and theology). Though in modern times other subjects including engineering sciences became more important, institutions of tertiary education devoted to these were denied the prestigious denomination "university", and had to use the general word Hochschule (higher school, that is, school for tertiary education) instead.

It was a major breakthrough, then, when in the first half of the 20th century, some Technische Hochschulen in Germany and Technische Hoghescholen (THs) in the Netherlands were given the right to award the doctoral degrees, and again later when they were allowed to call themselves universities in accordance with the usual distinction that defines a university as an institution of tertiary education that can grant doctorates.

Some technical schools, however, preferred to maintain their traditional and established names, most notably the RWTH Aachen and the two in Switzerland (ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne). Universities that changed their names from TH to TU include TU Delft and TU Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

In Austria

List of Austrian Technische Universitäten by location:

Institution	Established	City	State	Staff	Students
Technische Universität Graz	1811	Graz	Styria	2,256	12,692
Technische Universität Wien	1815	Vienna	Vienna	4,078	26,218

In Germany

List of German Technische Universitäten by location:

Institution	Established	City	State	Staff	Students
Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen	1870	Aachen	North Rhine-Westphalia	8,047	40,025
Technische Universität Berlin	1770	Berlin	Berlin	8,302	31,427
Technische Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig	1745	Braunschweig	Lower Saxony	5,550	15,500
Technische Universität Chemnitz	1836	Chemnitz	Saxony	1,185	10,850
Technische Universität Clausthal	1775	Clausthal-Zellerfeld	Lower Saxony	1,000	4,080
Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg	2013	Cottbus	Brandenburg	1,218	10,310
Technische Universität Darmstadt	1877	Darmstadt	Hessen	4,122	24,305
Technische Universität Dortmund	1968	Dortmund	North Rhine-Westphalia	3,867	29,672
Technische Universität Dresden	1828	Dresden	Saxony	7,094	36,534
Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg	1765	Freiberg	Saxony	1,540	5,455
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg	1978	Hamburg	Hamburg	1,150	6,678
HafenCity Universität Hamburg	2006	Hamburg	Hamburg	504	2,304
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover	1831	Hannover	Lower Saxony	4,290	22,236
Technische Universität Ilmenau	1894	Ilmenau	Thuringia	2,021	6,909
Technische Universität Kaiserslautern	1970	Kaiserslautern	Rhineland-Palatinate	1,124	14,184
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie	1825	Karlsruhe	Baden-Württemberg	9,251	22,146
Technische Universität München	1868	Munich	Bavaria	9,704	35,000

In Switzerland

List of Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology by location:

Institution	Established	City	Staff	Students
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	1853	Lausanne	4,000	9,000
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich	1855	Zürich	10,242	17,781

In Finland

The concept of a TH exists also in Finland as teknillinen korkeakoulu, which is equivalent to a TH. Examples include Teknillinen korkeakoulu in Espoo, Tampereen teknillinen korkeakoulu and Lappeenrannan teknillinen korkeakoulu. Similarly to German speaking countries, most of them later changed their name to teknillinen yliopisto, which is equivalent to a TU. However, Teknillinen korkeakoulu retained its old name until it merged with two other universities to form the current Aalto University.

See also

• TU9 German Institutes of Technology e. V.
• List of universities in Germany

References