Berlin Institute of Technology

Technische Universität Berlin
Motto

Wir haben die Ideen für die Zukunft

(We have the ideas for the future)
Established 1770/1799/1879
1946
Type Public University
Endowment State: EUR 264.8 Mio. (2010)[1]
External: EUR 145 Mio (2010)[1]
President Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joerg Steinbach (since 01.April 2010)
Admin. staff

7,499 (WS 2009/10)[2]
Students 29,234 (WS 2009/10)[3]
Location Berlin, Germany
Campus Urban
Nobel Laureates 10[4][5][6]
Affiliations TIME, TU9, CESAER, DFG, SEFI
Website www.tu-berlin.de/menue/home/parameter/en

The Technische Universität Berlin (TUB or TU Berlin) is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary (a German Institut often refers to a university department only).[7]

The TU Berlin was founded in 1879 and, with nearly 30,000 students, is one of the largest technical universities in Germany. It also 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,[8] 2 National Medal of Science laureates[9][10] and ten Nobel Prize winners.[4][6][11]

The TU Berlin is a member of the Top Industrial Managers for Europe[12] 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 (CESAER).[13] As of 2011, TU Berlin is ranked 46th (2010: 48th) in the world in the field of Engineering & Technology according to QS World University Rankings. [14] However, it never made it to the 400 list of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.[15]

Contents

History

The institution was unified in 1879 under the name Royal Technical College of Charlottenburg (later Berlin) by merging the Building Academy (Bauakademie), established in 1799, and the Vocational Academy, established in 1829. Since 1916 it has been integrated with the former Mining Academy, which was the oldest institution, founded in 1770. The college was closed after World War II on 20 April 1945 and the university re-opened on 9 April 1946 under its current name.

Campus

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

Organization

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

  1. Humanities
  2. Mathematics and Natural Sciences
  3. Process Sciences and Engineering
  4. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
  5. Mechanical Engineering and Transport Systems (including Aerospace engineering, Automotive engineering, naval and ocean engineering, and the planning and operation of transport systems)
  6. Planning – Building – Environment (merge of former schools of "Civil Engineering and Applied Geosciences" and "Architecture – Environment – Society")
  7. Economics and Management

Faculty and staff

7,601 people work at the university: 323 professors, 2,246 postgraduate researchers, and 2,078 personnel work in administration, the workshops, the library and the central facilities. In addition there are 2,301 student assistants and 142 trainees (March 2010).[17]

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

Library

The new common main library of the Technical University of Berlin and of the Berlin University of the Arts was opened in 2004[18] and holds about 2.9 million volumes (2007).[19] 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)".[20] Confusingly, the letters above the main entrance only state "Volkswagen Library" – without any mentioning of the universities. All former 17 libraries of the Technical University of 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 (Wirtschaftswissentschaftliche Dokumentation – WiWiDok).

Notable alumni and professors

(Including those of the Academies mentioned under History)

Rankings

As of 2011, TU Berlin is ranked 46th (2010: 48th) in the world in the field of Engineering & Technology according to QS World University Rankings.[14]

However, it never made it to the 400 list of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings ever.[15]

See also

Other Universities of Berlin:

References

  1. ^ a b TU Berlin: Zahlen & Fakten
  2. ^ TU Berlin: Zahlen & Fakten
  3. ^ TU Berlin: Zahlen & Fakten
  4. ^ a b Gustav Hertz – Biography
  5. ^ George de Hevesy – Biography
  6. ^ a b Fritz Haber – Biography
  7. ^ impressum with naming conventions
  8. ^ National Academy of Sciences: National Academy of Sciences Home
  9. ^ Eugene Wigner – Biography
  10. ^ Wernher von Braun
  11. ^ Carl Bosch – Biography
  12. ^ T.I.M.E. – Top Industrial Managers for Europe
  13. ^ Germany
  14. ^ a b QS World University Rankings 2011 – Engineering & Technology | Top Universities
  15. ^ a b no Google-hits for "Technische Universität Berlin (Technical University Berlin)" on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings web.
  16. ^ TU Berlin: Facts & Figures
  17. ^ TU Berlin: Facts & Figures
  18. ^ Universitätsbibliothek TU Berlin: About Us
  19. ^ Universitätsbibliothek TU Berlin: About Us
  20. ^ Universitätsbibliothek TU Berlin: UB Home

External links
Traditional universities
New universities
Universities of Technology