Technische Hochschule


A Technische Hochschule is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Finland. In the 1970s and the 1980s, the Technische Hochschule emerged into the Technische Universität or Technische Universiteit. Since 2009, several German universities of applied sciences were renamed to Technische Hochschulen.

Terminology

In German-language countries, the term Hochschule is more general than Universität and also encompasses universities which do not have the right to confer doctorates and habilitations, in contrast to Universitäten. Today, Universitäten as well as other Hochschulen call themselves Technische Hochschule for historical reasons. However, a Technische Hochschule with the status of a Universität is regarded as a Technische Universität despite the name.

History

Since the Middle Ages, higher education institutions in Europe were called a university only if a certain classical of subjects encompassing philosophy, medicine, law and theology was taught. When engineering sciences became more important in academica due to the Industrial Revolution, institutions of tertiary education devoted to these were denied the prestigious denomination "university", and had to use the more general term Hochschule instead.
It was a major breakthrough, then, when in the first half of the 20th century, some Technische Hochschulen in Germany and Technische Hogescholen in the Netherlands were given the right to award the doctoral degrees, and again later when they were allowed to call themselves universities. This change of status was accompanied by a broader spectrum of academic disciplines and more fundamental research.
While most former Technische Hochschulen opted to change their name to Technische Universität to reflect their new status, some of them preferred to maintain their traditional and established names, most notably the RWTH Aachen in Germany as well as ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne in Switzerland.
Starting in 2009, several German universities of applied sciences with a technical focus have changed their names to Technische Hochschule.

In Austria

List of Austrian Technische Universitäten by location:
InstitutionEstablishedCityStateStaffStudents
Technische Universität Graz1811GrazStyria2,25612,692
Technische Universität Wien1815ViennaVienna4,07826,218

In Germany

List of German Technische Universitäten by location:
InstitutionEstablishedCityStateStaffStudents
Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen1870AachenNorth Rhine-Westphalia8,04740,025
Technische Universität Berlin1770BerlinBerlin8,30231,427
Technische Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig1745BraunschweigLower Saxony5,55015,500
Technische Universität Chemnitz1836ChemnitzSaxony1,18510,850
Technische Universität Clausthal1775Clausthal-ZellerfeldLower Saxony1,0004,080
Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg2013CottbusBrandenburg1,21810,310
Technische Universität Darmstadt1877DarmstadtHessen4,12224,305
Technische Universität Dortmund1968DortmundNorth Rhine-Westphalia3,86729,672
Technische Universität Dresden1828DresdenSaxony7,09436,534
Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg1765FreibergSaxony1,5405,455
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg1978HamburgHamburg1,1506,678
HafenCity Universität Hamburg2006HamburgHamburg5042,304
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover1831HannoverLower Saxony4,29022,236
Technische Universität Ilmenau1894IlmenauThuringia2,0216,909
Technische Universität Kaiserslautern1970KaiserslauternRhineland-Palatinate1,12414,184
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie1825KarlsruheBaden-Württemberg9,25122,146
Technische Universität München1868MunichBavaria9,70435,000
Universität Stuttgart1829StuttgartBaden-Württemberg4,94627,686

List of Technische Hochschulen by location:
InstitutionEstablishedrenamed Technische HochschuleCityStateStaffStudents
Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Amberg-Weiden19942013Amberg, WeidenBavaria3253,500
Technische Hochschule Aschaffenburg19952019AschaffenburgBavaria?3.374
Technische Hochschule Bingen19712016Bingen am RheinRhineland-Palatinate2122,628
Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola18162016BochumNorth Rhine-Westphalia2522,279
Technische Hochschule Brandenburg19922016Brandenburg an der HavelBrandenburg2402,616
Technische Hochschule Deggendorf19942013DeggendorfBavaria5525,700
Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt19942013IngolstadtBavaria4505,200
Technische Hochschule Köln19712015CologneNorth Rhine-Westphalia1,62024,818
Technische Hochschule Lübeck19692018LübeckSchleswig-Holstein4414,689
Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen19712010Giessen, Friedberg, WetzlarHesse1,00016,044
Technische Hochschule Nürnberg19712013NurembergBavaria1,85512,234
Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe19712019Lemgo, Detmold, HöxterNorth Rhine-Westphalia7156,544
Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg19712013RegensburgBavaria69011,000
Technische Hochschule Rosenheim19712018RosenheimBavaria5005,901
Technische Hochschule Ulm19602019UlmBaden-Württemberg120 professors4,125
Technische Hochschule Wildau19912009WildauBrandenburg3354,152

In Switzerland

List of Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology by location:
InstitutionEstablishedCityStaffStudents
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne1853Lausanne4,0009,000
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich1855Zürich10,24217,781

In Finland

The concept of a TH exists also in Finland as teknillinen korkeakoulu, which is equivalent to a TH. Examples include Teknillinen korkeakoulu in Espoo, Tampereen teknillinen korkeakoulu and Lappeenrannan teknillinen korkeakoulu. Similarly to German speaking countries, most of them later changed their name to teknillinen yliopisto, which is equivalent to a TU. However, Teknillinen korkeakoulu retained its old name until it merged with two other universities to form the current Aalto University.