The Clausthal University of Technology (german: Technische Universität Clausthal, also referred to as TU Clausthal or TUC) is an

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 ...

('' Technische Universität'') in

Clausthal-Zellerfeld Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The City is the location of the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

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 ...

. The small

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private unive ...

is regularly ranked among the Top German universities in

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 ...

by CHE University Rankings. More than 30 % of students and 20 % of academic staff come from abroad, making it one of the most international universities in Germany. The university is best known for the prominent corporate leaders among its former students. In 2011, five of the 30 leading companies within the German stock index had

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of TUC on their

management board Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. Two of them as CEO.

History

The academy of the local Hanoverian mining authority was established in 1775 at Clausthal in the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

mountain range with its centuries-long history of

mining in the Upper Harz Mining in the Upper Harz region of central Germany was a major industry for several centuries, especially for the production of silver, lead, copper, and, latterly, zinc as well. Great wealth was accumulated from the mining of silver from the 16t ...

(most notably at the

Rammelsberg The Rammelsberg is a mountain, high, on the northern edge of the Harz range, south of the historic town of Goslar in the North German state of Lower Saxony. The mountain is the location of an important silver, copper, and lead mine, the only min ...

). Initially a school for pitmen and smelter workers, it was raised to the status of a mining college by the Westphalian minister Count

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for es ...

in 1810. In 1864, at the behest of King George V of Hanover, the spin-off of a mining academy (''Bergakademie'') was founded. Both institutions remained under joint administration after the annexation of the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Ha ...

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 ...

in 1866, until in 1906 the academy was separated as an autonomous educational establishment directly subordinate to the Prussian government represented by a

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

. It was one of only two mining academies in Prussia, the other being the mining college in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

established in 1770, a predecessor of the

Berlin Institute of Technology The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

. After World War II, the academy passed under the authority of the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

state of Lower Saxony, it was renamed ''Technische Hochschule'' in 1966 and ''Technische Universität'' in 1968. In 2015, student numbers at Clausthal reached a high of almost 5000 students. However, since then this number has rapidly plummeted to around 3400. Aula academica clausthal

Organization

; The Faculty of Natural and Materials Sciences *Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry *Institute of Materials Science and Engineering *Institute of Metallurgy *Institute of Non-Metallic Materials *Institute of Organic Chemistry *Institute of Physical Chemistry *Institute of Physics and Physical Technologies *Institute of Polymer Materials and Plastics Engineering *Institute of Technical Chemistry *Institute of Theoretical Physics *Laser Application Centre ; The Faculty of Energy and Economic Sciences *Institute of Electrical Power Engineering and Energy Systems *Institute of Energy Process Engineering and Fuel Technology *Institute of Environmental Sciences *Institute of Geology and Paleontology *Institute of Geophysics *Institute of Geotechnical Engineering and Mine Surveying *Institute of German and International Mining and Energy Law *Institute of Management and Economics *Institute of Mineral and Waste Processing, Waste Disposal and Geomechanics *Institute of Mineralogy and Mineral Resources *Institute of Mining *Institute of Subsurface Energy Systems ; The Faculty of Mathematics/Computer Sciences and Engineering *Institute of Applied Mechanics *Institute of Chemical and Electrochemical Process Engineering *Institute of Computer Sciences *Institute of Electrical Information Technology *Institute of Mass Transfer *Institute of Mathematics *Institute of Mechanical Engineering *Institute of Particle Technology *Institute of Plant Engineering and Fatigue Analysis *Institute of Process and Production Control Technology *Institute of Tribology and Energy Conversion Machinery *Institute of Welding and Machining ; The Interdisciplinary Research Facilities *Centre for Information Technology *Centre for Polymers *Centre for Simulation Technology *DFG Research Centre "Fertigen in Feinblech" *European Graduate School "Microstructural Control in Free-Radical Polymerization" *Forum Clausthal *Laser Application Centre

Reputation

Ranking

* DIE ZEIT (CHE Ranking), 2012/2013: Top tier in

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 ...

and

Industrial Engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information a ...

. The CHE-Ranking is the most comprehensive and most detailed university ranking in the German-speaking countries. It is published annually since 2005 by DIE ZEIT. Clausthal is placed regularly among the top universities in the majority of its

and sciences programs. *

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 ...

, 2009: 5th among universities with the most alumni on the management boards of German corporate giants. German

business magazine Business journalism is the part of journalism that tracks, records, analyzes and interprets the business, economic and financial activities and changes that take place in societies. Topics widely cover the entire purview of all commercial activ ...

researched the universities with the most alumni at the top of DAX-corporations. Clausthal was placed 5th, however in relation to the size of the student body, TUC came in first. * Junge Karriere, 2008: 8th in

and 11th in

Junge Karriere, the career magazine of daily newspaper

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf by Handelsblatt Media Group, formerly known as Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. History and profile ''Handelsblatt'' was es ...

conducted a ranking of German universities by interviewing over 51,000 students and graduates as well as over 1000 human resource managers. Handelsblatt is the largest newspaper on business and finance in Germany.

Unique features

TU Clausthal consistently has a very high percentage of international students, ranging from 25 % to 38 % over the last decade. The largest group of foreign nationals comes from the

People's Republic of China (PRC) China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, making up between 12 % and 20 % of total students. TUC has the highest percentage of Chinese students in Germany. The popularity of TUC among Chinese nationals is derived from its reputation as one of the three "ABC-Universities". The abbreviation stands for Aachen, Berlin, and Clausthal and refers to

RWTH Aachen 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 Hoch ...

TU Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It wa ...

and TU Clausthal. In China, these three Universities are regarded as Germany's leading

Universities 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 ...

. Clausthal's reputation in China was further enhanced when former alumnus

Wan Gang Wan Gang (, born August 1952) is a Chinese expert on automobiles, former president of Tongji University (2002–2007) and former Minister of Science and Technology. He is the Chairman of the China Zhi Gong Party, a legally sanctioned minor p ...

became the Chinese Minister for Science and Technology. Since 2007, Wan Gang coordinates the science and technology activities in all of China. As a former mining academy, TU Clausthal is one of three universities in Germany (besides TU Freiberg and

) that offers study programs in the fields of metals, mining, and petroleum engineering. In this regard, TUC was referred to as the "most renowned university for metallurgy" by

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'', ...

. In relative terms, TU Clausthal is among the universities with the most alumni on the management boards of German blue chip corporations. Most recently, this included companies like

RWE RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. The company is Europe's most climate threatening Company, the world's number two in offsh ...

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg a ...

K+S KS and variants may refer to: Businesses and organizations * , a German postwar commando frogman force * , a Norwegian type of company * Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities * PenAir, Peninsula Airways, Anchorage, Alaska, US (IA ...

HeidelbergCement HeidelbergCement is a German multinational building materials company headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. It is a DAX corporation and is one of the largest building materials companies in the world. On 1 July 2016, HeidelbergCement AG complet ...

Aurubis Aurubis AG (formerly Norddeutsche Affinerie AG) is listed on the stock exchange and is the largest copper producer in Europe (the second largest in the world) and the largest copper recycler worldwide. Its headquarters is in Hamburg, German ...

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC (ENRC) was a public, Kazakhstan/Central African-focused, multinational leading diversified natural resources company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It had activities in integrated mining, proc ...

and Jungheinrich.

Student Life

Big Band

The "

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

an der TU Clausthal e.V." was set up in the 2017/18 winter semester as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. The band was registered as a students' association at TU Clausthal. The 25

musicians A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who w ...

are dedicated to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, swing, funk and

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...

. Rehearsals of the „groovING TUC Big Band“ named band are held every Friday during the whole year interrupted only by short summer and winter breaks. The band has own equipment like

stage piano A stage piano is an electronic musical instrument designed for use in live performances on stage or in a studio, as well as for music recording in jazz and popular music. While stage pianos share some of the same features as digital pianos des ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, baritone saxophone,

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

, alto saxophone, bass trombone,

tenor trombone A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, flugelhorn,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

with

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost t ...

electric guitars An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

with amplifiers, electronic drum set, acoustic drum set, sound reinforcement system, and music stands which can be used by foreign students, students without own

musical instruments A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

, and for gigs. The

band leader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues ...

Domenic Eggers, who has a teaching assignment at TU Clausthal, rehearses with the band classical jazz as well as jazzy pop pieces. The program developed in the rehearsals is presented in a

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...

at the end of each semester, to which admission is free and where only

donations A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as b ...

for the band are requested. Currently, about two-thirds of the band members are from the university (including students from abroad) and one-third are from the region. In 2018 the Big Band set up a smaller ensemble, the swingING TUC

Jazz Combo A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a ho ...

, of four to eight members of the Big Band playing in variable instrumentation. The Jazz Combo regularly practices its own literature, mainly blues but also pop songs, right before the Big Band rehearsal. The swingING TUC Jazz Combo had its first gig in October 2018 at a TU Clausthal event. Since that time it had several performances at regional events. A

vocal ensemble A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

to support the band was also formed by the Big Band and has been rehearsing since March 2020 under the direction of jazz vocal teacher Chiara Raimondi until Chiara left the ensemble in summer 2021 for studying in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

.Bigband an der TU Clausthal e.V.
accessed 04. January 2022.

Notable faculty and alumni

* Friedrich Adolph Roemer (1809–1869), geologist * John O. Meusebach (1812–1897), bureaucrat, American farmer and politician *

Wilhelm Haarmann Gustav Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm Haarmann (24 May 1847 – 6 March 1931) was a German chemist and together with Karl Reimer and Ferdinand Tiemann as scientific consultant founded the Haarmann & Reimer chemical plant for the production of vanillin. ...

(1847–1931), chemist * Arnold Sommerfeld (1868–1951), theoretical physicist *

Ernst Brandi Ernst Brandi (13 July 1875 – 22 October 1937) was a German mining engineer, industrial manager and chairman of the ''Ruhrbergbau''. He participated in the Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 between Hitler and 20 to 25 industrialists aimed at ...

(1875–1937), mining-engineer * Sir Robert Nelson Kotze (1895), South African government mining engineer, knighted for services. *

Wilhelm Biltz Wilhelm Biltz (8 March 1877 – 13 November 1943) was a German chemist and scientific editor. In addition to his scholarly work, Biltz is noted for commanding the principal German tank involved in the first ever tank-on-tank battle in histor ...

(1877–1943), chemist *

Paul Ramdohr Paul A. Ramdohr (1 January 1890 in Überlingen – 8 March 1985 in Hohensachsen/ Weinheim), was a German mineralogist, ore deposit-researcher and a pioneer of ore microscopy. Life After attending school at the "Alten Gymnasium" of Darmstadt ...

(1890–1985), mineralogist *

Josef Goubeau Josef Goubeau (31 March 1901 in Augsburg, Germany – 18 October 1990 in Stuttgart) was a German chemist. Life and work Goubeau studied chemistry at the University of Munich starting from 1921 and attained a doctorate there 1926 on the atomic we ...

(1901–1990), chemist * Paul Dahlke (1904–1984), actor * Ekkehard Schulz (born 1941), businessman *

(born 1952), automotive engineer and politician * Rudi Rubiandini (born 1962), former vice minister of energy and resource dept., indonesian petroleum professor, bureaucrat

References

External links

Clausthal University of Technology Website
{{Authority control Clausthal University of Technology Clausthal-Zellerfeld Goslar (district) Buildings and structures in the Harz Educational institutions established in 1775 1775 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire