Hochschule Mittweida


The Hochschule Mittweida is a public university of applied science located in Mittweida, Germany, founded in 1867.

History

The University of Applied Sciences Mittweida is the second-largest public university of applied sciences in Saxony. It has had almost 80,000 alumni from almost 40 countries worldwide. Founded in 1867 as “Technicum”, the university first served the education of machine-building engineers, and it was one of the largest private schools in Germany at the turn of the century. After the takeover by the National Socialists, the “Technicum” lost its status as a private school, and in 1935 became the “Engineering School Mittweida”. In the 1960s, due to the success of the electrotechnical training program, the school became the “Engineering College Mittweida”. In 1980, it received the right to award the academic degree of “doctor engineer”. In 1992, after the reunification, the college received a new start as a university of applied sciences. The number of courses of study and the supply of research facilities increased, and the schools of economic sciences, media, and social work were established. Furthermore, the university obtained the right to award doctorates in cooperation with another university as partner. The university builds strong contacts with the economy, focused in particular on small- and medium-sized enterprises in Saxony. The Bologna process has guided the university's development in recent years and has resulted in the establishment of bachelor and master courses. Today the university offers practice-oriented teaching in modern and disabled-friendly facilities, numerous laboratories, and computer pools. The architecture of the buildings combines new with old. In 1998, to reflect its modern role, the university was renamed as the “University of Applied Sciences Mittweida“.

Courses of studies (June 2009)

Bachelor's degrees
Bachelor courses in cooperation with AMAK AG
Master's Degrees
German Diploma Degree
Further Post-Graduate Studies
In Cooperation with the Centre for Studies and Technology Transfer Weiz and the Ingenium Education in Austria:
management and the Germany-wide unique study course steel and metal construction.
Research and Teaching cohere at the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida. The diverse research activities can be allocated to the following fields of competences:
• Laser technology,
• Information and communication technology,
• High performance mechanical engineering and mechatronics,
• Energy and facility management,
• Economic sciences and social sciences,
• Media and new media within education,
• Environment engineering, medical engineering and biotechnology,
• Discrete mathematics.
The University of Applied Sciences Mittweida occupies leading places in the Germany-wide research ranking of universities of applied sciences. The college contributes in about 80 research projects and maintains diverse national and international relations to science and economy. A variety of collegeassociated and external research facilities are affiliated to the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida. Examples therefore are the Laser Institute Mittelsachsen e.V. and the Sensor
Center Mittelsachsen e.V. The Laser Institute works in the fields of consulting, testing as well as research and development of laser technology, laser components and materials as
well as process technology. The Sensors Center researches in the field of environment-technical and fibre-optic sensor technology and coordinates common projects between the college, enterprises and research facilities.
The number of doctoral degrees within the cooperative promotion process increases steadily. An important contribution to science development is the scientific exchange with colleagues of the same discipline. The University of Applied Sciences Mittweida hosts an annual International Scientific Conference with different research topics. With this conference the university owns nationwide a unique selling point among the university of applied sciences. With the
Medienforum Mittweida and the congress Social Work and Region, additional conferences are hosted and a variety of workshops and panels are organized. Aside from diverse articles
in specialist journals and scientific events, the college's professors publish successful specialist books. By the collaboration on the key projects “Education Portal Saxony” and “Education Marketplace Saxony” for the inauguration of online based education and further education for
“Livelong Learning” the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida helps to form the knowledge transfer of the future. Therefore, e-learning based prototype courses of studies with bachelor and
master's degrees in tandem with work are developed for the Saxon economy.

International activities

Within the first decades of the “Technicum” more than half of the students came from abroad; today there are about twenty percent, which is a really high ratio in German comparison. Numerous foreign relationships to Europe, Asia, Africa and America contribute to the internationalisation of the university. There are about 80 partnerships, which create possibilities for students and teachers:
Cooperation contracts provide a framework for these activities. Inside the European Union the exchange is strongly determined by the EU-support programme “Erasmus” as a part of the programme “lifelong learning”. Programmes of the German Academic Exchange Service are the basis
of international projects, which are realised in the faculties. Multiple double-track contracts make studying in Mittweida attractive for foreign students. The “Cosmopolitanclub” is intensely dedicated since over a decade as an association of German and foreign students at the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida for socio-cultural support of foreign students.
From winter term 2013/14, the Master's programme Applied Mathematics in Digital Media will be held in English.

Sport and status as partner university of the top class sport

The department for university
sport has a steady place at the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida. A variety of sport scopes, either to learn a sport or as prevention for fitness or to participate in competitions,
are offered. In a three-field gym is trained among others. An own boathouse is available for the canoe training. In the one-semester course Communication Training/Sport, personality building contents with combination of teaching and sports activities are conveyed. Besides university internal competitions, Mittweida's students achieve excellent leading positions in Saxony and nationwide
competitions. As the third university nationwide, the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida attained the status of a partner college of top-class sport. For this purpose the University
of Applied Sciences Mittweida collaborates with the General German College Sports Association, the Olympic Base Chemnitz-Dresden and the Sports Association of the State of Saxony.

Living conditions

The student union Freiberg, as a partner of the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida, provides student residencies nearby the college as well as varied catering in the central situated refectory on the campus.

Famous graduates

A web-based alumni portal offers access for interested people to their alma mater. The university invites chosen alumni age-groups every year in May/June. The society for the promotion of the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida maintains contacts to alumni, initiate and supports projects.

The town Mittweida and surroundings - living here as student

The city with its 800-year-old history is located in the foothills of the Ore Mountains, a one-hour drive south-west of Dresden, the capital of the federal state. Mittweida has 16,000 inhabitants and more than 5,000 students.