Technical University Munich

Technische Universität München (TUM)
Established	1868
Type	Government Funded
President	Wolfgang A. Herrmann
Academic staff	7,637 (2010, 461 Professors; 5,564 Academic)[1]
Students	26,302[1] (2010)
Location	Munich, Germany
Affiliations	German Universities Excellence Initiative
Website	www.tum.de/welcome en

The Technische Universität München (TUM; University of Technology, Munich; Technical University of Munich)^[2] is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan. It is a member of TU9, an incorporated society of the largest and most notable German institutes of technology.

Academic reputation

International rankings

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
In the background, Research Reactors FRM I and FRM II (Nuclear Engineering)

European Commission ranking

The European Commission compiled a list of the 22 universities in the EU with the highest scientific impact. This ranking was compiled as part of the Third European Report on Science & Technology Indicators, prepared by the Directorate General for Science and Research of the European Commission in 2003 (updated 2004). By this ranking, the EU's top two universities are Cambridge and Oxford followed by Eindhoven (Netherlands) at 3rd and Technical University Munich (Germany) at 4th.^[3]

QS World ranking 2011

By QS World Rankings 2011/12, TUM is ranked 54th (overall) and 29th (in Engineering & Technology).^[4]

ARWU ranking 2011

TUM is ranked 47th (overall) in the world, 13th in Chemistry ^[5] and 1st in Germany in 2011 by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.^[6]

Subject rankings

Interior of the Faculty Building for Math and Computer Science

TUM is highly ranked by DAAD on the subject-specific ranking system, in which, universities are shown in alphabetical order in ranking groups (Top Group, Middle Group, Final Group or Not Ranked). The best universities concerning a certain subfield, are found in Top Group; while the worst ones lie in Final Group. Generally, two to four universities are in Top Group.^[7]

Subject

• Architecture (top)
• Biochemistry (no info)
• Biology (middle)
• Business Administration (top)
• Business Computing (not ranked)
• Chemistry (top)
• Civil Engineering (top)
• Computer Science (top)
• Electrical and Information Engineering (top)
• Food Chemistry (no info)
• Geoscience (top)
• Human Medicine (middle)
• Mathematics (top)
• Mechanical Engineering (top)
• Physics (top)
• Process and Chemical Engineering (top)

Major award laureates

Nobel Prize

• 1927 Heinrich Otto Wieland (faculty 1913-21), Chemistry
• 1930 Hans Fischer (faculty 1921-1945), Chemistry
• 1961 Rudolf L. Mößbauer, Physics (“Mößbauer effect”)
• 1964 Konrad Emil Bloch, Medicine or Physiology
• 1973 Ernst Otto Fischer, Chemistry (Sandwich complexes)
• 1985 Klaus von Klitzing, Physics (Quantum-Hall effect)
• 1986 Ernst Ruska, Physics (electron microscope)
• 1988 Johann Deisenhofer, Chemistry
• 1988 Robert Huber, Chemistry
• 1989 Wolfgang Paul, Physics (ion trap)
• 1991 Erwin Neher, Medicine or Physiology
• 2001 Wolfgang Ketterle, Physics
• 2007 Gerhard Ertl, Chemistry

History

Main campus entrance at Gabelsbergerstraße, Munich

Timeline

• 1868 University founded by King Ludwig II.^[8]
• 1877 Awarded the designation Technische Hochschule.
• 1901 Granted the right to award doctorates.
• 1902 Approval of the election of the Principal by the teaching staff.
• 1930 Integration of the College of Agriculture and Brewing in Weihenstephan.
• 1949–1954: Reconstruction of the main building of the Technische Universität by Robert Vorhoelzer after WWII. Construction of a new administrational building and library.
• 1957 Given the status of a ‘public legal body’.
• 1958 Research Reactor Munich (FRM), Garching officially assigned to the TH München.
• 1967 Establishment of a faculty of medicine
• 1970 Renamed to ‘Technische Universität München’.
• 2000 Establishment of Weihenstephan Science Centre for Life & Food Sciences, Land Use and Environment (WZW) belonging to the TUM.
• 2002 The German Institute of Science and Technology founded in Singapore.
• 2004 Official opening of Forschungsreaktor München II, a leading neutron source, on March 2.
• 2005 TUM Institute for Advanced Study founded
• 2006 TUM one of three successful universities in Germany's excellence initiative
• 2009 TUM School of Education established
• 2010 kaveh safavi is best student

From an agricultural state to an industrial state

(1856–1934), the first elected Rector]]

In its capacity as an academic stronghold of technology and science, the Technische Universität München (TUM) has played a vital role in Bavaria's transition from an agricultural state to an industrial state and Hi-Tech centre. Even to the present day, it is still the only state technical university. Numerous excellent TUM professors have secured their place in the history of technology, many important scientists, architects, engineers and entrepreneurs studied there. Such names as Karl Max von Bauernfeind, Rudolf Diesel, Claude Dornier, Walther von Dyck, Hans Fischer (Nobel prize for Chemistry 1930), Ernst Otto Fischer (Nobel prize for Chemistry 1973), August Föppl, Robert Huber (Nobel prize for Chemistry 1988), Carl von Linde, Heinz Maier-Leibniz, Walther Meissner, Rudolf Mössbauer (1961 Nobel prize for Physics), Willy Messerschmitt, Wilhelm Nusselt, Hans Piloty, Friedrich von Thiersch, Franz von Soxhlet are closely connected with the TUM.

The prerequisites for an academic training in engineering were created at the start of the 19th century when the advancement of technology on the basis of exact sciences commenced. There were also calls for a 'university for all technical studies' in Bavaria. The 'polytechnic schools' set up in Augsburg, Munich and Nuremberg, which bridged the gap between middle schools and higher education colleges in their capacity as 'lyceums' (or high schools), were the first approach. For further qualification purposes, a 'technical college' was set up in 1833 as part of the Faculty of State Finance (Staatswirtschaftlichen Fakultät) of the Ludwig Maximilian University, which had been transferred from Landshut to Munich seven years previously. The experiment failed. Instead, an advanced 'engineering course' was established at the Polytechnic School Munich in 1840, which was the forerunner of what was later to become the 'Technische Hochschule München'.

Foundation of "Polytechnische Schule München"

University of Technology Munich building old

In 1868 King Ludwig II founded the newly structured Polytechnische Schule München, which had the status of a university, in Munich. It was allowed to call itself 'Technische Hochschule' as from the academic year 1877/78. The first Principal was the former Head of the Engineering Course, Karl Max von Bauernfeind. In the year of its foundation, the college took up residence in the new building in Arcisstrasse which was designed by Gottfried v. Neureuther. In those days, more than 350 students were taught by 24 professors and 21 lecturers. The college was divided into five sections: I. General Department (Mathematics, Natural Science, Humanities, Law and Economics), II. Engineering Department (Structural Engineering and Surveying), III. Department of Architecture, IV. Mechanical/Technical Department, V. Chemical/Technical Department. Department VI. (Agriculture) was added in 1872.

Two of the university's long-standing requests were met by the State after the turn of the century: it was granted the right to award doctorates in 1901, and in 1902 the election of the Principal by the teaching staff was approved. With an average of about 2,600 to 2,800 students, the TH München ranked ahead of the TH Berlin as the largest German Technical College for a while. The first female undergraduate matriculated in architecture in 1905, after the Bavarian government officially allowed women to study at a technical college in the German Reich. However the proportion of female students remained negligible; women accounted for just 0.6 per cent of the student body in the winter semester of 1913/14.

During the Weimar Republic, the TH München was obliged to make due with low funds and was drawn into radical political struggles in 1918/19 and again between 1928 and 1933. In the winter term of 1930/31 the National Socialist German Student Union (NSDStB) became the strongest group within the AStA general student organisation of the THM for the first time.

Broadening the spectrum of subjects

The TH München was able to broaden its spectrum of subjects by taking over several smaller colleges that were no longer viable. In 1922, the former commercial college 'Handelshochschule München' became the VII Department of Economics. The former College of Agriculture and Brewing in Weihenstephan was integrated in 1930. Its agricultural unit was absorbed into the Department of Agriculture – which was located in Munich until 1947 before transferring toWeihenstephan, while the brewing section became Department VIII 'Brewing Technology' belonging to the TH München yet located in Weihenstephan. The tradition of the Weihenstephan campus dates back to the agricultural school founded in 1804, which was elevated to the status of an academy in 1895 and a university in 1920.

The eight departments of the TH München were reorganised into six faculties in 1934. This was reduced to five (General Sciences, Structural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Agriculture, Brewing) in1940.

During the Third Reich, the 'leadership principle' was imposed on the TH München. Its autonomy suffered considerable restrictions which affected such matters as the appointment procedure (for lecturers), etc. Based on the newly introduced 'Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service', lecturers of non-Aryan descent or those who were married to 'non-Aryans' were removed by the State, likewise politically 'undesirable' professors. The National Socialist German Student Union (NSDStB) and the like-minded German Students' Association (Deutsche Studentenschaft) endeavoured to organise and influence the undergraduates with their radical national socialist doctrine.

Similar organisations were in place on the lecturers' level. Jewish students no longer enjoyed the same rights and were barred from matriculation from 1938 onwards. The TH München was required to contribute towards the Second World War effort with large-scale armament research. However, top-level basic research was still conducted in numerous institutes. The attitude of the university professors was characterised by opportunistic conformance on the one hand, and critical distancing and inner emigration on the other. A number of individual professors, employees, workers and students dared to demonstrate disobedience and obstruction.

It was under the hardest possible conditions that teaching activities recommenced in April 1946. 80% of the buildings on the main campus had been bombed. For many years, undergraduates actively supported the rebuilding of their university by providing hands-on (voluntary) restoration service. The Department of Economics had to be surrendered to the Ludwig Maximilian University in 1946.

"Reseach Reactor Munich" (FRM) third location

With the internationally acclaimed installation of the Research Reactor Munich (FRM) in Garching in 1956/57, the TH München gained third location. The Physics Department building was opened there in 1969, followed by the new building for housing the departments of Chemistry, Biology and Geoscience in 1977.

In December 1957, the university was granted its long-standing request to acquire the status of a 'public legal body'. In the following year, the first constitution drawn up by the university itself came into force. From the 1960s onwards, the university had to cope with an enormous influx of students. When the first economising measures were introduced by the State in the mid-Seventies, the conditions for students began to deteriorate.

A Faculty for Medicine spanning two sites: Munich-Haidhausen (Clinic 'right of the Isar') and Munich-Schwabing (Biederstein, Children's Clinic at Schwabing Hospital) was founded in 1967.

100th anniversary

The university's 100th anniversary fell in the 'hot May' of 1968. Critical tendencies were also in evidence at the TH München, particularly in the Departments of Architecture, Geography, Medicine and Social Sciences. In the 100th year since its foundation, the TH München comprised six faculties, 168 chairs and institutes, about 8,400 undergraduates and somewhere in the region of 5,700 university staff, who were employed in teaching, research, running operations and administration. In 1972, a sports centre with a 'central sports ground' covering an area of 45 hectares, that had previously been used for the Olympic Games was set up in the grounds of the Olympic stadion.

The new designation of 'Technische Universität München' was conferred in August 1970. With the introduction of the Bavarian Higher Education Law in 1974, the six faculties were replaced by eleven smaller departments, which soon resumed the designation of Faculties: 1. Mathematics and Informatics, 2. Physics, 3. Chemistry, Biology and Geoscience, 4. Economics and Social Sciences, 5. Structural Engineering and Surveying, 6. Architecture, 7. Mechanical Engineering, 8. Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, 9. Agriculture and Horticulture, 10. Brewing, Food Technology and Dairy Science, 11. Medicine. In addition, several interdisciplinary central institutes were established, initially for regional planning and environmental research, as well as sports sciences. The 'regulated student organisation' was abolished in Bavaria and replaced by structures of student involvement within the context of the newly introduced group representation concept.

Twelve faculties at three locations

Technische Universität München at Garching, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

In 1992, a twelfth faculty 'Informatics' was created by splitting the former Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics into two. Ten years later a Faculty of Sports Science and a Faculty of Economics were set up. The latter incorporated the former 'Faculty of Economics and Social Science. The Mechanical Engineering Faculty and the Faculties of Mathematics and Informatics moved from the main Munich campus to the spacious, well-equipped new buildings in Garching in 1997 and 2002 respectively.

The Weihenstephan campus was restructured for the start of the winter semester 2000/01 and realigned along scientific lines: the former Faculties of Agriculture and Horticulture, Brewing, Food Technology and Dairy Science, as well as the Forestry Faculty that previously belonged to the Ludwig Maximilian University, were collectively accommodated in the newly established Weihenstephan Science Centre for Life&Food Sciences, Land Use and Environment (WZW).

An "Entrepreneurial university"

Numerous other reform procedures have been realised since 1995 under the auspices of TUM's president, Wolfgang A. Herrmann, such as the introduction of efficient guidance and decision profiles, the resolute expansion of the university's autonomy in keeping with the new philosophy of an 'entrepreneurial university', university-wide core competences in the field of informatics, the establishment of central institutes and research platforms with an interdisciplinary focus, the introduction of numerous, attractive Bachelor/Masters degree courses, strategic internationalisation, enhanced collaboration with industrial and social partners, stepping up professional fundraising, the inauguration of the Carl-von-Linde Academy to house the Humanities, Cultural and Social Studies.

In 2002, the TUM initiated the setting-up of the very first subsidiary of a German university abroad with its 'German Institute of Science and Technology' (GIST) in Singapore.

The commissioning of the new 'Heinz Maier-Leibniz Research Reactor Munich' (FRM-II) in 2004 heralded in a new era of neutron research with lots of promising applications in the fields of science, technology and medicine. The high-flux Neutron Source has served to place the TUM among the world's leaders in terms of scientific and technical research.

In the summer semester 2010, the TUM comprises thirteen faculties with more than 26,000 students (about 20 per cent of whom come from abroad), about 460 professors of both sexes and roughly 8,500 members of staff.

Campuses

main campus (dark brown building area) aerial view in Munich downtown

TUM’s academic faculties are divided amongst three campuses in the greater Munich area. The Main Campus in central Munich houses the faculties of Architecture, Medicine, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Civil Engineering, Surveying, Economics, Social and Sports Sciences. A second large campus is located in Garching, about 10 km north of Munich. Garching is home to the faculties of Physics, Chemistry, Informatics, Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering, as well as the Garching research reactor. Over the years, several research institutes, including the Max-Planck Society, the Bavarian Academy of Science and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich have joined TUM in Garching. The third TUM campus is located 35 km north of Munich in Weihenstephan near Freising, and is home to the faculties of Biology, Agricultural Science and Horticulture, Forestry and Resource Management, Brewing and Food Technology, Nutrition, and Landscape Planning and Landscape Architecture. There are also many institutions throughout Munich and the surrounding area that belong to TUM. These include the hospital “Rechts der Isar”, used for training medical students, and the Central University Athletic Complex.

The TUM, like many German universities, is a “non campus” university. However, with further expansion plans for the Garching site, more and more departments are to be placed into new buildings in Garching. The Garching campus, unlike the downtown area, is set up more like a traditional “quadrangle” style campus with a large grouping of buildings. At the moment, university buildings are spread over four main and several minor locations:

Munich

• Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Munich (Main Campus)
• Faculty of Civil Engineering and Surveying at the Technical University of Munich (Main Campus)
• Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (Main Campus)
• Faculty of Economics at the Technical University of Munich (Main Campus)
• Faculty of Medicine at the Technical University of Munich (Klinikum rechts der Isar)
• School of Sport and Health Science at the Technical University of Munich, Olympic Park (Munich)
• TUM School of Education (since 1 October 2009, Munich)

Garching

• Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich
• Faculty of Computer Science of the Technical University of Munich
• Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich
• Department of Mathematics at the Technical University of Munich
• Physics Department of the Technical University of Munich

Weihenstephan (Freising)

• Weihenstephan Center of Food, Land Use and Environment at the Technical University of Munich

Straubing

• Science Centre Straubing

Singapore

• TUM operates a subsidiary in Singapore. In 2001, TUM founded the German Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) with its partner universities, the National University of Singapore and Nanyang University. Today, the GIST is recognized in Singapore as an independent Asia Pte. Ltd. of TUM. The Institute offers both master's programs and training for managers and undertakes research on a contract basis. The GIST acts as a contact for students and young professionals throughout Southeast Asia. This Asian subsidiary leads the major project Electro Mobility for Megacities (2010) at the CREATE Research Campus of the Singapore National Foundation.

Organization

Werner-von-Siemens Auditorium Maximum at main campus in downtown Munich.

Extended Board of Management

The Extended Board of Management advises the Executive Board of Management and assists in discharging its duties. Alongside the Chief Executives (President, Chancellor, Vice Presidents), it consists of the Department Deans, the Speaker for the Central Scientific Institutions and the Speaker for the Deans of Studies.

Supervisory Board

The TUM Supervisory Board is the TUM's monitoring body and steering committee, comprising the members of the Senate and the External University Council. The External University Council comprises eight high-ranking representatives from the fields of science, culture, industry and politics. Current members include:

• Susanne Klatten, Member of the Supervisory Board, Altana, BMW AG

Students

In 2011 TUM has approx. 26,100^[1] students in undergraduate and graduate programs, of which 4,500 are foreign students.

Faculty

TUM has 461 professors, 5,564 academic and 3,032 non-academic staff.^[1]

TUM is divided into 13 departments:

• Architecture
• Business Administration
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering and Surveying
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Informatics (Computer Science)
• Mathematics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Medicine, including the university hospital “Rechts der Isar”
• Physics
• Sports Science
• Weihenstephan Center for Life and Food Science
• Education

Research

The Technische Universität München is one of the most research-focussed universities in Germany and Europe. This claim is supported by relevant rankings, such as the DFG-Förderranking (DFG Funding Rankings) or the research rankings of the Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE – Center for Higher Education Development). TUM was one of three universities which were successful in obtaining funding in all three funding lines from the Excellence Initiative in 2006. Along with the IGSSE Graduate School and TUM’s participation in five Clusters of Excellence, of which TUM is the spokesperson, the strategic plan "TUM. The Entrepreneurial University” is also being developed. In addition, TUM takes part in 23 Collaborative Research Centres, of which TUM is the spokesperson in nine. In the seventh European Union Research Framework Program, TUM coordinates thus far nine projects and also received six Starting Independent Researcher Grant and five Advanced Investigator Grants.

TUM features a strong, characteristic profile in the fields of Science and Engineering. Alongside the traditional key areas addressed by technical universities, powerful links have been also established with the life sciences, ranging from nutrition and food sciences, biotechnology and bioinformatics to medicine. Much of its innovative research and teaching has emerged from collaborations between the disciplines.

Through close collaboration with business and industry, TUM provided important contributions to Bavaria’s development from an agricultural land to a center of high-level technology. Even today, successful research collaborations with companies – among them Siemens, BMW, and Audi – contribute to expediting the transfer of knowledge and technology into the economy. More than 30 percent of TUM’s third party funding stems from third party sources such as these. Approximately 600 new research collaborations occur annually.

Research centres

• TUM Institute for Advanced Study
• Research Neutron Source "Heinz Maier-Leibnitz" (FRM II)
• Walter Schottky Institute for Semiconductor Research (WSI)
• Leonardo da Vinci-Zentrum für Bionik
• TUM Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (nanoTUM)
• Straubing Center of Science
• Corporate Research Center of Food and Nutrition Science (ZIEL)
• Corporate Research Center of Biomedical Engineering (IMETUM)
• Catalysis Research Center
• Munich Center of Molecular Life Sciences

Partnerships

TUM's first spin-off is the German Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), located in Singapore (together with National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University).

TUM has currently over 130 international partnerships, among them:

• École Centrale Paris, TU Eindhoven, Technical University of Denmark, Technical University of Vienna,
• MIT, Stanford University, University of Illinois, Cornell University, University of Texas at Austin, Georgia Tech
• National University of Singapore, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, University of Tokyo,
• University of Melbourne, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, and many others.

TUM is also a partner of LAOTSE, an international network for student and senior lecturers among leading European and Asian universities, as well as a member of the TIME network (Top Industrial Managers for Europe).

See also

• Education in Germany
• List of universities in Germany
• List of forestry universities and colleges

References

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "TUM Facts 2011 (TUM Figures)". Technische Universität München. http://portal.mytum.de/cop/tum_in_zahlen/tum_in_zahlen. 
2. ^ According to official policy, the name “Technische Universität München” shall not be translated into any other languages in any documents produced by university members. If a translation is given in addition to the name as a reference, it shall be translated as University of Technology, Munich.
3. ^ ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/indicators/docs/3rd_report_snaps10.pdf
4. ^ http://www.topuniversities.com/institution/technische-universitaet-muenchen/wur
5. ^ http://www.shanghairanking.com/SubjectChemistry2011.html
6. ^ http://www.shanghairanking.com/Country2011Main.jsp?param=Germany
7. ^ "Top German Universities Subject Rankings 2007". Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). http://www.daad.de/deutschland/hochschulen/hochschulranking/06543.en.html?module=Hochschule&do=show&id=34. Retrieved 2008-03-01. 
8. ^ http://portal.mytum.de/tum/geschichte/index_html

External links

• Official website
• Youtube Channel of TU München
• TU München in Facebook

Coordinates: 48°08′53″N 11°34′05″E / 48.14806°N 11.56806°E / 48.14806; 11.56806