RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...

located in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study programs, it is the largest technical university in Germany. In 2018, the university was ranked 31st in the world university rankings in the field of engineering and technology, and 36th world-wide in the category of natural sciences.Daten & Fakten – RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY – Deutsch
Rwth-aachen.de (12 December 2011). Retrieved on 2013-09-18.Official statistics
retrieved 17 April 2012) RWTH Aachen in 2019 emerged successfully from the final of the third federal and state excellence strategy. The university will be funded as a university of excellence for the next seven years. RWTH Aachen was already part of the federal and state excellence initiative in 2007 and 2012. Since 2007, RWTH Aachen has been continuously funded by the DFG and the

German Council of Science and Humanities The ''Wissenschaftsrat'' (''WR''; German Science and Humanities Council) is an advisory body to the German Federal Government and the state (''Länder'') governments. It makes recommendations on the development of science, research, and the univers ...

as one of eleven (previously nine) German Universities of Excellence for its future concept ''RWTH 2020: Meeting Global Challenges'' and the follow-up concept ''The Integrated Interdisciplinary University of Science and Technology: Knowledge, Impact, Networks'', also receiving grants for associated graduate schools and ''clusters of excellence''. The university regularly accounts for the highest amount of third-party funds among all German universities, placing first per faculty member and second overall in the most recent survey from 2018. RWTH Aachen is a founding member of the

CESAER CESAER is a non-profit association of universities of science and technology in Europe. CESAER was founded on 10 May 1990, seated in the Castle of Arenberg in Leuven, Belgium. The association has 58 universities of science and technology in 26 c ...

association of universities of science and technology in Europe, and

IDEA League The IDEA League is an alliance among five leading European universities of technology: * Chalmers University of Technology * Delft University of Technology * ETH Zürich * Polytechnic University of Milan * RWTH Aachen University On O ...

, a strategic alliance of five leading universities of technology in Europe, as well as its German counterpart

TU9 TU9 German Universities of Technology e. V. is the alliance of nine leading Technical Universities in Germany. The current president of TU9 is Wolfram Ressel, rector of the University of Stuttgart. Overview TU9 was established in 2003 as an ...

. It is also a member of DFG and the

Top Industrial Managers for Europe Top International Managers in Engineering (T.I.M.E.), formerly Top Industrial Managers for Europe, is a network of fifty-seven engineering schools, faculties and technical universities. The oldest European network of engineering schools in its f ...

network.

History

On 25 January 1858, prince Frederick William of Prussia (later

German emperor The German Emperor (german: Deutscher Kaiser, ) was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the offi ...

), was given a donation of 5,000 talers from the ''Aachener und Münchener Feuer-Versicherungs-Gesellschaft'', the precursor of the AachenMünchener

insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

, for charity. In March, the prince chose to use the donation to found the first

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

institute of technology An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

somewhere in the

Rhine province The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...

. The seat of the institution remained undecided over years; while the prince initially favored

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

, the cities of

, Bonn,

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

also applied, with Aachen and Cologne being the main competitors. Aachen finally won with a financing concept backed by the insurance company and by local banks.

Groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...

for the new ''Polytechnikum'' took place on 15 May 1865 and lectures started during the Franco-Prussian War on 10 October 1870 with 223 students and 32 teachers. The new institution had as its primary purpose the education of engineers, especially for the mining industry in the

Ruhr area The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

; there were schools of

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

and mechanical engineering as well as an introductory ''general school'' that taught mathematics and

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

and some

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

The unclear position of the new Prussian ''polytechnika'' (which officially were not universities) affected the first years. Polytechnics lacked prestige in society and the number of students decreased. This began to change in 1880 when the early RWTH, amongst others, was reorganized as a ''Royal Technical University'', gained a seat in the

Prussian House of Lords The Prussian House of Lords (german: Preußisches Herrenhaus) in Berlin was the upper house of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the lower house, the House of Repres ...

and finally won the right to bestow

Dr.-Ing. The Doktoringenieur (acronym Dr.-Ing., also ''Doktor der Ingenieurwissenschaften'') is the German engineering doctorate degree, comparable to the Doctor of Engineering, Engineering Doctorate, Doctor of Science (Engineering), Doctor of Science ...

(1899) degrees and

Dipl.-Ing. A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belaru ...

titles (introduced in 1902). In the same year, over 800 male students enrolled. In 1909 the first women were admitted and the artist August von Brandis succeeded Alexander Frenz at the Faculty of Architecture as a "professor of figure and landscape painting", Brandis became dean in 1929.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, however, proved a serious setback for the university. Many students voluntarily joined up and died in the war, and parts of the university were shortly occupied or confiscated. While the (then no more royal) ''TH Aachen'' (Technische Hochschule Aachen) flourished in the 1920s with the introduction of more independent faculties, of several new institutes and of the

general students' committee The General Students' Committee (German: Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss) or AStA, is the acting executive board and the external representing agency of the (constituted) student body at universities A university () is an institution of hi ...

, the first signs of

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

radicalization also became visible within the university.

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's ''

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...

'' of the TH in 1933 met with relatively low resistance from both students and faculty. Beginning in September 1933, Jewish and (alleged)

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

professors (and from 1937 on also students) were systematically

persecuted Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms ...

and excluded from the university. Vacant

Chairs A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

were increasingly given to

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

party-members or sympathizers. The freedom of research and teaching became severely limited, and institutes important for the regime's plans were systematically established, and existing chairs promoted. Briefly closed in 1939, the TH continued courses in 1940, although with a low number of students. On 21 October 1944, when Aachen capitulated, more than 70% of all buildings of the university were destroyed or heavily damaged. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

ended in 1945 the university recovered and expanded quickly. In the 1950s, many professors who had been removed because of their alleged affiliation with the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

were allowed to return and a multitude of new institutes were founded. By the late 1960s, the TH had 10,000 students, making it the foremost of all German technical universities. With the foundation of philosophical and medical faculties in 1965 and 1966, respectively, the university became more "universal". The newly founded faculties in particular began attracting new students, and the number of students almost doubled twice from 1970 (10,000) to 1980 (more than 25,000) and from 1980 to 1990 (more than 37,000). Now, the average number of students is around 42,000, with about one third of all students being women. By relative terms, the most popular study-programs are engineering (57%),

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

(23%), economics and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

(13%) and medicine (7%).

Recent developments

In December 2006, RWTH Aachen and the

Sultanate This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continui ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

signed an agreement to establish a private German University of Technology in

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...

. Professors from Aachen aided in developing the

curricula In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

for the currently five study-programs and scientific staff took over some of the first courses. In 2007, RWTH Aachen was chosen as one of nine German Universities of Excellence for its future concept ''RWTH 2020: Meeting Global Challenges'', earning it the

connotation A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that any given word or phrase carries, in addition to its explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation. A connotation is frequently described as either positive o ...

of being a "University of Excellence". However, although the list of universities honored for their future concepts mostly consists of large and already respected institutions, the

Federal Ministry of Education and Research The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (german: link=no, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, ), abbreviated BMBF, is a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn, with an office in Berlin. The Ministry provi ...

claimed that the initiative aimed at promoting universities with a dedicated future concept so they could continue researching on an international level. Having won funds in all three lines of funding, the process brought RWTH Aachen University an additional total funding of € 180

million One million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the au ...

from 2007–2011. The other two lines of funding were

graduate schools Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

, where the ''Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science'' received funding and so-called "clusters of excellence", where RWTH Aachen managed to win funding for the three clusters: ''Ultra High-Speed Mobile Information and Communication (UMIC)'', ''Integrative Production Technology for High-wage Countries'' and ''Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass (TMFB)''. RWTH was selected to receive funding from the German federal and state governments for the third Universities of Excellence funding line starting 2019. RWTH's proposal was called "The Integrated Interdisciplinary University of Science and Technology – Knowledge. Impact. Networks." and has secured funding for a seven-year period. 2019 Clusters of Excellence * The Fuel Science Center (FSC) Adaptive Conversion Systems for Renewable Energy and Carbon Sources * Internet of Production * ML4Q – Matter and Light for Quantum Computing RWTH was already awarded funding in the first and second Universities of Excellence funding lines, in 2007 and 2012 respectively. Blick über Aachen auf den Katschhof, Sept 2008

Blick über Aachen auf den Katschhof, Sept 2008

Campus

RWTH Aachen University's campus is located in the north-western part of the city Aachen. There are two core areas – midtown and Melaten district. The Main Building, SuperC student's center and the Kármán Hall are 500 m away from the city centre with the

Aachen Cathedral Aachen Cathedral (german: Aachener Dom) is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, Germany and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen. One of the oldest cathedrals in Europe, it was constructed by order of Emperor Charlemagne, who was buri ...

, the Audimax (biggest lecture hall) and the main refectory are 200 m farther. Other points of interest include the university's

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

(

Botanischer Garten Aachen The Botanischer Garten Aachen (1.2 hectares) is a botanical garden maintained by RWTH Aachen. It is variously known as the Botanische Garten der RWTH Aachen, more formally the Botanische Garten der Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aache ...

). A new building, the so-called ''Central Auditorium for Research and Learning'' (CARL) was opened in 2017. It offers space for 4000 students and replaces Audimax as the largest lecture hall building. The name of the new central auditorium, which is going to contain different lecture halls, is a reference to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

, who reigned his empire from Aachen in the middle-ages. The RWTH has external facilities in

Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...

and

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

and owns, together with the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wit ...

, a house in

Kleinwalsertal Kleinwalsertal is a valley in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg and part of the Bregenz district. It includes the municipality of Mittelberg and consists of three villages along the River Breitach. Due to the geographic location in the Allgä ...

in the Austrian

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. The university is currently expanding in the city center and Melaten district. The SuperC, the new central service building for students, was opened in 2008. The groundbreaking for the new ''Campus-Melaten'' was in 2009.

Internationality

Double degrees and student mobility are promoted with other technology universities through the TIME (

) network. Furthermore, the RWTH is member of the

, which is a strategic partnership among four of Europe's leading research universities, including

TU Delft Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology ( sv, Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers) is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level ...

, and

ETH Zürich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

, and was the first German university starting an

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program An Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program provides funding and/or credit to undergraduate students who volunteer for faculty-mentored research projects pertaining to all academic disciplines. Participating universities Universities involved ...

in 2008. Compared to other German universities the RWTH Aachen received the highest amount of funds granted by third-party donors in the last years. More than 7,000 international students are currently enrolled within the undergraduate, graduate or PhD programme. Compared to other German universities the portion of international students at the RWTH Aachen is higher-than-average. The proximity of Aachen to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg combined with the subsequent exposure to a variety of cultural heritages has placed RWTH Aachen University in a unique position with regards to the reflection and promotion of international aspects and intensive interaction with other universities.

Rankings

The RWTH Aachen took 3rd place in 2018 based on the number of top managers in the Germany economy measured by the number of

DAX Dax or DAX may refer to: Business and organizations * DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies ** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX ** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms * Dax ...

board of management A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

members.https://www.odgersberndtson.com/media/6963/7-dax-vorstands-report-2018.pdf In 2019, RWTH Aachen took 2nd place.Klaus Hansen. (2019). 8. DAX-Vorstands-Report The top 3 universities in 2019 with the most top managers were the

LMU Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

, the RWTH Aachen and the

Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...

. According to the ''Stepstone Salary Report for Graduates 2019/2020'', graduates of RWTH Aachen are amongst the highest earners in

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

. From 2001 to 2013, national rankings regularly identified RWTH Aachen as one of the best universities in Germany in the fields of engineering (especially mechanical engineering,

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

), as well as amongst the top three in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, and medicine. The 2019

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

ranked the university 19th in the world in ''engineering – mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing'' (by subject) and 44th in ''engineering and technology''. In 2009, two prominent German newspapers, "

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Du ...

" and "

Wirtschaftswoche ''Wirtschaftswoche'' is a German weekly business news magazine published in Germany. “Wirtschaft” means economy (including business) and “Woche” is week. History and profile For many years, ''Wirtschaftswoche'' was published weekly on ...

", ranked RWTH Aachen the first place in Germany in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science. In 2012, Handelsblatt ranked The RWTH School of Business and Economics amongst top 10 within Germany. In the 2015 ranking published by DAAD together with Centre for Higher Education Development and

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

, RWTH Aachen also stands on top among other German universities in the aforementioned fields of engineering and computer science. Internationally, in the 2020 QS Faculty Rankings RWTH Aachen is placed 20 (Mechanical Engineering), 34 (Electrical Engineering), =40 (Physics & Astronomy), 36 (Chemical Engineering), 21 (Materials Science), =42 (Chemistry), =26 (Mineral and Mining Engineering.Subject Rankings for RWTH Aachen
QS World University Rankings, retrieved on 6 March 2014. The 2019

The Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

Subject Rankings ranked RWTH 27th in ''Engineering and Technology'', 72nd in ''Physical Sciences,'' 47th in ''Computer Science''.

Organisation

Almost all basic lectures are held in German, but an increasing number of master programs require proficiency in English for admission.

Fees

RWTH Aachen is run by the

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

. Since the summer semester of 2004 the state of North Rhine-Westphalia allowed universities to request a maximum of €500 per semester as tuition fees. In the past, tuition fees applied solely for long-term students and second studies. Since the summer semester of 2007, all students enrolled at the RWTH Aachen had to pay these €500, if they were not exempt for one of several reasons put forth by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 24 February 2011 study fees were abolished by the

Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Hafen. The parliament i ...

(Legislation for the Improvement of Equal Opportunities to University Admission) with effect from Winter Term 2011/12. Universities will receive 249 Mio Euro of national funding for measures that improve the quality of teaching (e.g., through additional teachers and tutors) as compensation. Tuition fees per semester are still being charged. RWTH Institut f

Faculties

The RWTH is divided into nine (previously ten) faculties: Faculty nine was pedagogical sciences, but it was abandoned in 1989.

Teacher education Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their ...

, however, continued. KlinikumAachen

Fraunhofer-Institutes

The university cooperates with the Fraunhofer-Institutes situated in the Melaten district of

. The institutes offer workshops, courses and lectures for the students of RWTH Aachen. Aachen Fraunhofer-IME

* Applied Information Technology (FIT) Sankt Augustin and Aachen * Fraunhofer-Institute for Laser Technology ILT * Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Technology IPT * Fraunhofer-Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology

Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)

The ''Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance'' (JARA) was founded by the RWTH Aachen and

Forschungszentrum Jülich Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ here for short) is a national research institution that pursues interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, information, and bioeconomy. It operates research infrastructures with a focus on supercomputers. C ...

in 2007. Five sections are coordinated by the research facilities: * JARA-Brain (Diagnosis and therapy of neurologic sickness) * JARA-Fit (Fundamentals of future information technology) * JARA-HPC (High Performance Computing) * JARA-Energy (Energy research) * JARA-FAME (Forces and matter experiments)

Graduate Schools

Aachen Institute for advanced study in Computational Engineering Science

The Aachen Institute for advanced study in Computational Engineering Science (AICES) is a graduate school established in 2006 under the

German Universities Excellence Initiative The Excellence Initiative of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Foundation (DFG) aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scholars at universities, to deepen cooperatio ...

at the RWTH Aachen University. Research at AICES is broadly in the area of

Computational engineering Computational science and engineering (CSE) is a relatively new discipline that deals with the development and application of computational models and simulations, often coupled with high-performance computing, to solve complex physical problems ...

, solving

inverse problems An inverse problem in science is the process of calculating from a set of observations the causal factors that produced them: for example, calculating an image in X-ray computed tomography, source reconstruction in acoustics, or calculating the ...

that find applications in mathematics,

computer science and engineering Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) is an academic program at many universities which comprises scientific and engineering aspects of computing. CSE is also a term often used in Europe to translate the name of engineering informatics academic ...

, mechanical engineering and

. AICES is a collaborative effort of 47

principal investigators In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...

from 8 academic divisions of RWTH Aachen University, as well as

Max Planck Institute for Iron Research The Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH (MPIE) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldö ...

and

Associations

* RWTH Aachen – North American Alumni Association: Prof. Dr. Burkhard Rauhut, former president of the RWTH, and Prof. Dr. Laszlo Baksay, President of the newly founded "Association of Alumni, Friends and Supporters of RWTH Aachen University in North-America" signed the founding statement for a new branch of the RWTH Alumni Community in Melbourne (Florida) in May 2006. * AStA (Students' Union) * AISA (Assoc. of Indian Students in Aachen) * GATS (Association of Thai Students in Aachen) * Pakistan Student Association. * MexAS – Mexikanische Aachener Studierende ( Mexican Students´ Association) *

Flugwissenschaftliche Vereinigung Aachen Flugwissenschaftliche Vereinigung Aachen ( abbreviation: FVA, en, Flight Research Association Aachen) is a non-profit organization, founded in 1920, which is closely associated to RWTH Aachen University (''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische H ...

(

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: FVA, English: Flight Research Association Aachen). The FVA academic flying group is closely affiliated with RWTH Aachen and overseen by IDAFLIEG (''Interessengemeinschaft deutscher akademischer Fliegergruppen e.V.''). *

Team Sonnenwagen Aachen A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...

Student team founded in late 2015 with the goal to develop and build solar cars for the

World Solar Challenge The World Solar Challenge (WSC), since 2013 named Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, is an international event for solar powered cars driving 3000 kilometres through the Australian outback. With the exception of a four-year gap between ...

in Australia. In 2017, the team participated for the first time in the challenge. *Ecurie Aix – Student team founded in 1999 to compete in the

formula student Formula Student is a student engineering competition held annually in the UK. Student teams from around the world design, build, test, and race a small-scale formula style racing car. The cars are judged on a number of criteria as listed below ...

*SKY Campus Aachen – A student initiative that aims to boost awareness for mental health in the student community, through mindfulness, breathwork and yoga.

Notable faculty and alumni

RWTH Aachen University has educated several notable individuals, including some Nobel laureates in physics and chemistry. The scientists and alumni of the RWTH Aachen played a major role in

, medicine,

, and mechanical engineering. For example, Nobel laureate

Peter Debye Peter Joseph William Debye (; ; March 24, 1884 – November 2, 1966) was a Dutch-American physicist and physical chemist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry. Biography Early life Born Petrus Josephus Wilhelmus Debije in Maastricht, Netherlands, D ...

received a degree in electrical engineering from RWTH Aachen and is known for the

Debye model In thermodynamics and solid-state physics, the Debye model is a method developed by Peter Debye in 1912 for estimating the phonon contribution to the specific heat (Heat capacity) in a solid. It treats the vibrations of the atomic lattice (hea ...

and

Debye relaxation In electromagnetism, a dielectric (or dielectric medium) is an electrical insulator that can be polarised by an applied electric field. When a dielectric material is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the mater ...

. Another example,

Helmut Zahn Helmut Zahn (born June 13, 1916 in Erlangen; died November 14, 2004 in Aachen) was a German chemist who is often credited as the first to synthesize Insulin in 1963. His results synthesizing insulin were achieved almost simultaneously with that of ...

and his team of the Institute for Textile Chemistry were the first who synthesised

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...

in 1963 and they were nominated for Nobel Prize. Another example is B.J. Habibie, the third President of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

that contributed in many aviation advancements.

Franz Josef Och Franz Josef Och (November 2, 1971) is a German computer scientist. He is best known for being the chief architect of Google Translate. He has worked as a Director at Facebook. Prior to this, he was Head of Data Science at ''Grail'', (an Illumina c ...

was the chief architect of

Google Translate Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, and an API t ...

Werner Tietz Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Raid ...

is one of the leading engineers of the Volkswagen Group and Vice President of SEAT.

Trivia

* Together with the lord mayor and the cathedral provost of Aachen, the rector of RWTH Aachen University is one of three automatic members of the board of directors of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen. The prize is awarded annually for exceptional contributions towards European unity and ranks amongst the most prestigious European prizes.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

on the Special Charlemange Award for

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 2004 ''(German; Retrieved 27 September 2009)''

Notes

References

External links

RWTH Aachen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aachen Education in Aachen Technical universities and colleges in Germany Educational institutions established in 1870 Universities and colleges in North Rhine-Westphalia Engineering universities and colleges in Germany 1870 establishments in Prussia