Reutlingen University

Reutlingen University
Hochschule Reutlingen
Type Public
Established 1855
Rector Hendrik Brumme
Administrative staff
 350 (as of 2014)
Students 5,800 (as of 2014)
Location Reutlingen, Germany
Website www.reutlingen-university.de

Reutlingen University (in German Hochschule Reutlingen; formerly FHTW Reutlingen) is a university of applied sciences in Reutlingen in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg. Enrollment stands at about 5,800 students, a quarter of whom are international and exchange students. Reutlingen University's campus sits on the southwestern edge of Reutlingen, close to recreation and sport areas (including the city soccer stadium). Two bus lines serve the campus, and the town center is a 20-minute walk away. Two neighborhood centers are each a five-minute walk from campus and the dormitories, featuring shopping centers, banks, and doctors.

The university offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the main fields of:

Schools & Degree Programs

The University has 5 schools with Bachelor's and Master's Degree Programs:

Reutlingen University offers Master's Degrees in:

Center for Applied Research

Applied research and development are carried out in several institutes on campus. Research and development projects supported by state and federal ministries, and also by the European Union, are carried out in cooperation with industry - in particular with small- and medium-size enterprises. By this means the institutes make contributions to the innovative ability of German industry and provide topical relevance to students. Research is focused mainly in the following areas:

Institute for Applied Research (IAF)

Institute for Applied Research in Automation (IFA)

ESB-Research Institute

Export Academy Baden-Württemberg

The Export-Akademie offers a large number of programs for international business which do not lead to academic degrees. Most of these courses are taught or supervised by the teaching staff of the ESB Reutlingen. The Export-Akademie consists of the following departments: SEFEX (Seminars for the Exporting Industry), ZIM (a certificate course for export managers), OBS (a retraining program by the Otto Benecke Trust), and IMI (the International Management Institute).

SEFEX (Seminars for the Exporting Industry) offers seminars over one or several days on special aspects of international business. These are specially designed to meet the needs of small- to medium-size enterprises. University teachers with international experience organize the seminars and deal with the fundamental principles. External lecturers from the business world guarantee a practical orientation and up-to-date information.

ZIM offers systematic part-time training for professionals in international trade. The program can be taken in part or as a whole. It works to a large extent with the study materials of the part-time MBA program of the European School of Business. There are no formal prerequisites for participation in this program. On successful completion, participants are awarded a certificate. Under certain circumstances, participants in the program can go on to study at the Distance Learning University of Switzerland, where they can earn an academic degree.

The OBS program is a business retraining program for economists and engineers who have come to Germany from the ex-Soviet Union. These migrants have completed an academic degree and have work experience which is often very different from what is usual in the German market. The aim of the OBS courses is to remove these obstacles and to adapt the participants to professional requirements in Germany. To achieve this, it also includes trainee programs in German companies.

IMI (the International Management Institute) is designed for managers and specialists from Eastern Europe and from emerging and developing countries. It provides these people with further training in international business and assists in setting up international business academies in these countries. IMI takes on contracts from a number of German and international organizations.

International

Reutlingen University has a long tradition as a second home for international students; over a quarter of the students currently registered come from countries outside Germany. The university maintains over 100 partnership and cooperation agreements with universities around the world, overseen by the International Office.

Five universities enjoy major partnerships with Reutlingen University, sending students to and from all departments and in some cases offering special courses on Reutlingen's campus: Swinburne University of Technology (Hawthorn/Melbourne, Australia), Xi'an University of Technology (Xi'an, China), Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Monterrey, Mexico), Kettering University (Flint, Michigan), and Valparaiso University (Valparaiso, Indiana). Valparaiso University also sends a resident professor to teach and facilitate the program.

The International Office (German Akademisches Auslandsamt) is the major link in Reutlingen for domestic and international students, as well as for academic staff, regarding exchange programs and cooperation agreements with foreign universities and institutions. In addition to its core activities, such as creating and maintaining new study-abroad opportunities for students, the International Office coordinates events such as study-related excursions and company visits, field trips, cinema and international evenings, and receptions.

The services offered by the International Office include the following:

Campus Facilities

The Protestant and Catholic Student Ministry (ekhg) offers workshops about how to develop and improve the social skills one needs when studying, in one's career, and in one's private life. They attempt to find and live by modern forms of Christian faith, and offer help and advice on both academic and personal matters. The ekhg supports student groups and initiatives, offers help, advice, and companionship in emergencies and personal crises, and arranges contact with German families for foreign students and faculty members. The ekhg is facilitated by the Protestant and Catholic churches.

The University's Computing Center (German Rechenzentrum) operates a series of central servers and a large number of computer labs via a high-speed gigabit network. Altogether, approximately 1600 networked workstations are available to students on campus, as well as campus-wide wireless access.

The University Library holds around 200,000 books and 350 regular periodicals. In addition, a number of specialized databases, 10,000 e-journals, and 4000 ebooks can be accessed on the campus network. The library also provides space for independent study for about 90 readers. The main holdings of older material are literature on textile-related subjects from the 19th to the first half of the 20th century, books that are held by few other German libraries. The textile collection is kept up to this day, though the emphasis has shifted from textile technology to fashion design and textile marketing. Further important subjects are economics, educational studies, psychology, computer science, natural sciences, and German language and literature.

Building 1 (Betriebshalle) houses a unique and comprehensive array of textile machinery used for teaching purposes. The large laboratories for Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry are also located in this building.

The Mensa (Refectory and Cafeteria) is a central meeting point on campus. In addition to coffee and soft drinks, there is a wide range of small snacks, as well as warm dishes and salads during weekday lunchtime. The same building also houses a bookstore and a branch office of the health insurance company AOK, which provides student insurance.

The Student Office (German Studierendenbüro) is a central office for student services, including help with accommodation, changes of address, international student ID cards, sports on campus, reduced ticket prices for local events and sports, and so on.

History

The history of Reutlingen University goes back to the School of Weaving established in 1855 by the Kingdom of Württemberg, the city of Reutlingen, and the textile industry. The school was renamed in 1891 and became the Technical College for Spinning, Weaving, and Knitting.

In 1908, the Technical college received state recognition and changed its name once more to the State Technical College for the Textile Industry. Two years later, the State Testing and Examination Authority for Textiles was founded in Reutlingen.

In 1967, Mechanical Engineering was added to the State Technical College, and in 1971, the College received official recognition as a Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences). In the Department of Business Studies, the first course in International Business began. A year later, the business course "Fertigungswirtschaft" (Production Management) enrolled its first students.

Work began on the new Hohbuch campus in 1975, and the Fachhochschule moved there in 1977. The old buildings in the center of town were handed over to the police force, and parts of the original equipment from the Weaving School and other documentation were placed in the Industrial Museum. In 1979, the "Europäisches Studienprogramm für Betriebswirtschaft" (ESB), with partner schools in London and Reims, enrolled its first students.

Today's Building 2, home to the School of Applied Chemistry, opened in 1983, and in 1984, the first students entered Automation Technology and Business Information Science classes. The same year, the Export Academy Baden-Württemberg was founded at the Fachhochschule with a postgraduate degree course in International Marketing.

The largest building on campus, Building 1 (Betriebshalle) opened in 1987 by the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg with space for Reutlingen University's technology departments. The degree course in Electronic Engineering began in 1989. The latest degree courses, Mechatronics and Media/Communication Information Technology, opened their doors in 2003. In full accordance with European agreements, all degree courses switched in 2003 to international Bachelor's and Master's qualifications.

Since its latest restructuring in autumn 2001, the University has had 7 schools or departments (Fakultäten), each offering at least one, and in some cases several, degree programs. Reutlingen University has adopted the ‘Bologna Model’ of the EU in its essential features, including the use of the English designations "Bachelor of..." and "Master of..." for the degrees it awards. This means that the traditional German university degree "Diplom..." is being phased out. As of 2003, all new students have been enrolled in Bachelor’s and Master’s programs.

In mid-2008, Reutlingen University merged all three of its business schools (European School of Business, School of International Business, and Production Management) into one school under the European School of Business name.

Bibliography

Coordinates: 48°28′57″N 9°11′14″E / 48.4826°N 9.18715°E / 48.4826; 9.18715

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