TU Dresden
TU Dresden (for German: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD), also as the Dresden University of Technology,[a] is a public research university in Dresden, Germany. It is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony and one of the 10 largest universities in Germany with 32,389 students as of 2018.[3]
The name Technische Universität Dresden has only been used since 1961; the history of the university, however, goes back nearly 200 years to 1828. This makes it one of the oldest colleges of technology in Germany, and one of the country's oldest universities, which in German today refers to institutes of higher education that cover the entire curriculum. The university is a member of TU9, a consortium of the nine leading German Institutes of Technology. The university is one of eleven German universities which succeeded in the Excellence Initiative in 2012, thus getting the title of a "University of Excellence". The TU Dresden succeeded in all three rounds of the German Universities Excellence Initiative (Future Concept, Graduate Schools, Clusters of Excellence).
International cooperations[edit]
As one of the first universities in Germany it has opened a branch in Hanoi, Vietnam offering a Master's course in mechatronics. It also maintains close partnerships with leading universities around the world, e.g. Boston University, Georgetown University, Harvard Medical School, Tongji University and POSTECH.
Student life[edit]
General[edit]
Of the roughly 35,000 students, 45% are studying Engineering Sciences, 36.2% Humanities and Social Sciences, 12.5% Natural Sciences and Mathematics and 6.3% Medicine.
About 59% (20,620) of the student body originates from Saxony, 18.9% (6,626) from other Eastern German federal states, 12.3% (4,306) from the Western German federal states and 9.8% (3,442) from other countries.
Of the 20,620 students from Saxony, 12,351 (59.9%) are from Dresden, 2,934 (14.2%) from the Dresden metro area and 5,335 (25.9%) from other parts of Saxony.
The origin of the students is based on the location where the A-level exams have been completed.
International students[edit]
There are 3,442 international students enrolled at the TU Dresden (2005–2006). Most of the foreign students come from Europe (1,527), followed by Asia (1,404) and America (170). Ranked by countries the largest group of students comes from China (710), followed by Poland (294), Vietnam (196), Bulgaria (160) and Russia (154). The university is also quite popular among Central and East European countries such as the neighboring Czech Republic or Ukraine. Also, through the Erasmus programme and partnerships with universities in the USA, there are many English-, French- and Spanish-speaking students. The language spoken during lessons is nearly always German on most faculties. To prepare for admissions to the university, many foreign students attend German language courses at the university-affiliated language school TUDIAS-Sprachschule.
International students interested in TU Dresden should visit the websites of the Akademisches Auslandsamt (International office) for more information. This office is responsible for handling international applications. At the end of 2011, 13.7% of beginning students came from abroad.
A number of activities for international students facilitates their integration and help students to find new friends. Most notably the Erasmus-Initiative TU Dresden offers many group activities throughout the semester which are open to all students (not only to Erasmus participants). A student-run program, the LinkPartnerProgramm matches every interested international student with a German student, to help him or her with questions arising during the first weeks, be it regarding course registration or any other issue students might have.
Leisure activities[edit]
Sports are very popular among the TUD students. There are eight big students' clubs and the summer campus party is considered to be the biggest in Germany. There are cafeterias as at most universities and the largest refectory can compete with some restaurants even as far as menu size.
Performing arts ensembles[edit]
Among the many groups at the TU Dresden are four major ensembles. These four include the theater group Die Bühne which has a small ensemble directed by professionals, and the folk dance group Folkloretanzensemble Thea-Maass which is dedicated to reviving regional styles of dance. The last two groups are the largest by far and these are the university choir and the university orchestra, both having student and non-student members of all ages. In 1997 a part of the university orchestra branched off into a chamber ensemble, becoming the TU-Kammerphilharmonie, and since it consists almost exclusively of students the ensemble rehearses and performs only during the academic year. Each of these major ensembles performs an average of one to four times per semester. These performances often take place in Saxony but also occasionally internationally.
Funding[edit]
The university is currently developing new strategies to make itself more independent from state funding and decision making. With regard to its ability to generate research money from industry partners, the TU Dresden belongs to the most successful in Germany. In 2004 3,564 projects were financed with 104.1 million Euro from outside sources (other than state funds). It has one of the highest shares of income by industry partnerships.[20]
