Technische Universität Dresden

TU Dresden (for German: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony and one of the 10 largest universities in Germany with 32,389 students as of 2018.

The name Technische Universität Dresden has only been used since 1961; the history of the university, however, goes back nearly 200 years to 1828. This makes it one of the oldest colleges of technology in Germany, and one of the country’s oldest universities, which in German today refers to institutes of higher education that cover the entire curriculum. The university is a member of TU9, a consortium of the nine leading German Institutes of Technology. The university is one of eleven German universities which succeeded in the Excellence Initiative in 2012, thus getting the title of a "University of Excellence". The TU Dresden succeeded in all three rounds of the German Universities Excellence Initiative (Future Concept, Graduate Schools, Clusters of Excellence).

Contents

  • History
  • Campus
  • Organization
  • Sciences
  • Engineering
  • Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Medicine
  • Research Centers
  • Research
  • Biotechnology and medical technology
  • Magnetism and material sciences
  • Micro and nanotechnology
  • Transport
  • Business and Economics
  • Other research areas
  • Reputation
  • International cooperations
  • Student life
  • General
  • International students
  • Leisure activities
  • Performing arts ensembles
  • Funding
  • Points of interest
  • Notable people
  • Honorary doctors
  • Honorary senators
  • Faculty
  • Alumni
  • References
  • External links
  • History[edit]

In 1828, with emerging industrialization, the Saxon Technical School was founded to educate skilled workers in technological subjects such as mechanics, mechanical engineering and ship construction. In 1871, the year the German Empire was founded, the institute was renamed the Royal Saxon Polytechnic Institute (Königlich-Sächsisches Polytechnikum). At that time, subjects not connected with technology, such as history and languages, were introduced. By the end of the 19th century the institute had developed into a university covering all disciplines. In 1961 it was given its present name, Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden).

TH Dresden 1905

Upon German reunification in 1990, the university had already integrated the College of Forestry (Forstliche Hochschule), formerly the Royal Saxony Academy of Forestry, in the nearby small town of Tharandt. This was followed by the integration of the Dresden College of Engineering (Ingenieurshochschule Dresden), the Friedrich List College of Transport (Hochschule für Verkehrswesen) the faculty of transport science, and the "Carl-Gustav Carus" Medical Academy (Medizinische Akademie or MedAk for short), the medical faculty. Some faculties were newly founded: the faculties of Information Technology (1991), Law (1991), Education (1993) and Economics (1993).

In 2009 TU Dresden, all Dresden institutes of the Fraunhofer Society, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community and the Max Planck Society and Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, soon incorporated into the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, published a joint letter of intent with the name DRESDEN-Konzept – Dresden Research and Education Synergies for the Development of Excellence and Novelty, which points out worldwide elite aspirations, which was recognized as the first time that all four big post-gradual elite institutions declared campus co-operation with a university.

Campus

SLUB — Saxon State Library - Regional and University Library Dresden

TU Dresden is a campus university in most aspects. Some of its buildings are more than a hundred years old (such as the buildings around Muenchner Platz square). The architecture of these buildings is mostly influenced by the art nouveau style or the Bauhaus school (e.g. the chemistry building Fritz-Foerster-Bau). In recent years these historic buildings have been complemented by modern buildings (e.g. the library, the main auditorium, the biochemistry department or the life sciences building).

The main campus, as well as the medical faculty and that of computer science, are all within the boundaries of the city of Dresden. The main campus is located south of the city center, mostly in the area bordered by Nöthnitzer Straße, Fritz-Förster-Platz and Münchner Platz; the medical faculty can be found in the Johannstadt district. The faculty of forestry, formerly the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry, resides in a forest area in the nearby town of Tharandt.

Organization[edit]

TU Dresden has 14 faculties. Almost all faculties are located on the main campus south of the city center, except for the Faculty of Medicine that has its own campus near the Elbe river East of the city center and the Department of Forestry in Tharandt.

Sciences

With 4,390 students the Faculty of Mathematics and the Natural Sciences is the second-largest faculty at the university. It is composed of five departments: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology. The departments are all located on the main campus. In 2006, a new research building for the biology department opened. In October 2006 the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft decided to fund a new graduate school, the Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering and a so-called cluster of excellence From Cells to Tissues to Therapies.

Engineering

Building of the Faculty of Computer Science.

The Faculty of Architecture comprises six departments. Currently, there are 1,410 students enrolled.

The Faculty of Civil Engineering is structured into eleven departments. It is the oldest and smallest of the faculties. There are currently 800 students enrolled.

The Faculty of Computer Science comprises six departments: Applied Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Software- and Multimedia-Technology, Systems Architecture, Computer Engineering and Theoretical Computer Science. The faculty has 2,703 students.

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology is organized into 13 departments. There are 2,288 students enrolled. The faculty is the heart of the so-called Silicon Saxony in Dresden.

The Faculty of Environmental Sciences has 2,914 students. The faculty is located on the main campus, except for the Forestry department which is located in Tharandt. The Forestry department is the oldest of its kind in Germany. Its history goes back to the foundation of the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry (Königlich-Sächsische Forstakademie) in 1816.

The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering comprises 19 departments and has 5,731 students. It is the largest faculty at TUD.

The Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences "Friedrich List" is the only of its kind in Germany covering transport and traffic from economy and system theory science to electrical, civil and mechanical engineering. There are 1,536 students enrolled.