TU Dortmund University (german: Technische Universität Dortmund) is a technical

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in Dortmund,

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's and master's degree programs. It is situated 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 ...

, the fourth largest urban area in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The university is highly ranked in terms of its research performance in the areas of

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 ...

, electrical engineering, chemistry and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

. The university pioneered the Internet in Germany, and contributed to machine learning (in particular, to support-vector machines, and

RapidMiner RapidMiner is a data science platform designed for enterprises that analyses the collective impact of organizations’ employees, expertise and data. Rapid Miner's data science platform is intended to support many analytics users across a broad A ...

History

The University of Dortmund (German: ''Universität Dortmund'') was founded in 1968, during the decline of the coal and steel industry in the Ruhr region. Its establishment was seen as an important move in the economic change (''Strukturwandel'') from heavy industry to technology. The university's main areas of research are the natural sciences,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

/teacher training in a wide spectrum of subjects,

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

, and

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

. The University of Dortmund was originally designed to be a technical university, but in 1980, it merged with the adjacent ''Pädagogische Hochschule Ruhr'' that housed mostly humanities. In 2006, The University of Dortmund hosted the 11th Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (FIRA) RoboWorld Cup. The university's robot soccer team, the ''Dortmund Droids'', became vice world champion in the RoboWorld Cup 2002 and finished third in 2003. On November 1, 2007, The University Dortmund has been renamed as TU Dortmund University. The University is part of the cooperation program "University Alliance Ruhr", together with the

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

and the

University of Duisburg-Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...

. On April 4, 2019, Ursula Gather, Rector of TU Dortmund University abolished the institutes for German Language and Literature as well as English and American Studies.

Campuses

Following the

Zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. ...

of the late 1960s in Germany, the university was built "on the meadows" ''(auf der grünen Wiese)'' about outside of downtown Dortmund. It consists of two campuses, North and South, which, since 1984, have been linked by an automated hanging

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurat ...

system, the

H-Bahn The H-Bahn (abbreviation for , German for 'hanging railway') in Dortmund and Düsseldorf (there known as "Sky train") is a driverless passenger suspension railway system. The system was developed by Siemens, who call the project SIPEM (SIemen ...

, that crosses the nature reserve between the campuses at a height of about . One of the most prominent buildings of the university is the ''Mathetower'' (Mathematics Tower), which houses the Faculty of Mathematics.

Faculties

# Faculty of Mathematics # Faculty of

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 ...

# Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Biology # Faculty of

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 practical disciplines (includi ...

# Faculty of Statistics # Faculty of Biochemical and

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

(BCI) # Faculty of

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

# Faculty of Electrical Engineering and

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

# Faculty of

Spatial Planning Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the th ...

# Faculty of

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

and

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

# Faculty of Business and

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

# Faculty of

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

and

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

# Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences # Faculty of Human Sciences and

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

# Faculty of Cultural Studies # Faculty of

Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

s Sciences # Faculty of Social Sciences

Research

Over 1,000 third-party funded projects, including a range of collaborative projects, such as (transregional) Collaborative Research Centers, Research Units, Research Training Groups, a "Cluster of Excellence" and several Horizon 2020 research consortia. Nearly 300 professors teach and research at TU Dortmund University. The university is particularly known for research in its four profile areas: Materials, Production Technology and Logistics, Chemical Biology, Drug Research and Process Engineering, Modeling, Data Analysis, Modeling and Simulation and Education, Schooling and Inclusion, in which it celebrates research successes beyond disciplinary limits, and at an outstanding international level. Wohnheim der Uni Dortmund Studentendorf

Faculty of Computer Science

TU Dortmund (along with the universities of Paderborn and Karlsruhe) brought the Internet to Germany in the 1980s. The first point of registration for

.de .de is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Federal Republic of Germany. DENIC (the Network Information Centre responsible for .de domains) does not require specific second-level domains, and there are no official ccSLDs under .d ...

-domains was at the Dortmund University Department of Computer Science in 1986. The national

Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned t ...

service was started in 1988. The involvement of Dortmund University employees in internet registry and administration ended in 1993. To this day, the university has registered the domain ''udo.edu'' (udo being short for Universität Dortmund), although the

.edu The domain name .edu is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The domain was implemented in 1985 for the purpose of creating a domain name hierarchy for organizations with a focus on education, even abl ...

-domain is today restricted to United States-affiliated institutions. One of the four German competency centers for machine learning (Competence Center Machine Learning Rhine-Ruhr, ML2R), is located at the TU Dortmund. The machine learning software

began at the TU Dortmund's artificial intelligence unit.

Honorary doctorates

Former

president of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician ( SPD). He was the president of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004 and the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 20 September 1978 to 9 June 1998. In th ...

was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university in 2004.

Carl Djerassi Carl Djerassi (October 29, 1923 – January 30, 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical chemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with Diane Wood Middlebrook. He is best known for his ...

was awarded an honorary doctorare for his science-in-fiction in 2009.

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic ...

, President of the European Council, was awarded an honorary doctorate on 16 December 2018 for his contribution to European politics and the debate on European values.

References

{{Authority control Universities and colleges in North Rhine-Westphalia Technical universities and colleges in Germany Educational institutions established in 1968 1968 establishments in Germany

History

Campuses

Faculties

Research

Faculty of Computer Science

Honorary doctorates

See also

References