Established in 1868 by KingLudwig II of Bavaria, the university now has additional campuses inGarching,Freising,Heilbronn,Straubing, andSingapore, with theGarching campus being its largest. The university is organized into seven schools, and is supported by numerous research centers. It is one of the largest universities in Germany, with 52,580 students and an annual budget of €1,839.2 million including theuniversity hospital.[1]
The new building of thePolytechnische Schule München in 1869
In 1868, KingLudwig II of Bavaria founded thePolytechnische Schule München withKarl Maximilian von Bauernfeind as founding director. The new school had its premises at Arcisstraße, where it is still located today. At that time, around 350 students were supervised by 24 professors and 21 lecturers. The institution was divided into six departments: The "General Department" (mathematics,natural sciences,humanities,law andeconomics), the "Engineering Department" (civil engineering andsurveying), the "Building Construction Department" (architecture), the "Mechanical-Technical Department" (mechanical engineering), the "Chemical-Technical Department" (chemistry), and the "Agricultural Department".
In 1877, thePolytechnische Schule München became theTechnische Hochschule München (TH München), and in 1901 it was granted the right to awarddoctorates. With an average of 2,600 to 2,800 students, the TH München was Germany's largesttechnical university, ahead of theTH Berlin. In 1970 the institution was renamedTechnische Universität München.
The main building of theTechnische Hochschule München in 1909Lecture hall in the formerInstitute of Chemistry in 1909. An early version of theperiodic table can be seen on the wall.
After Hitler took power, the TH was soonaligned and a "Führer rector" was appointed, with the deans directly responsible to him. TheFührerprinzip was also imposed on universities, resulting in a significant restriction of the autonomy of the TH München. In 1933, the newly enactedLaw for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service led to the dismissal of staff deemed "non-Aryan" or married to "non-Aryans," as well as politically "undesirable" professors.Jewish students lost their rights and were banned from enrolling after 1938.
The university was deeply involved in the crimes of the Nazi regime. For instance, Heinz Henseler, a professor in charge of animal breeding at the university, headed a new "Colonial Science Seminar" from 1940. The seminar focused on exploring how to "Germanize" the landscapes of Poland and Russia forfuture colonization and settlement during the war. The entire Faculty of Agriculture was influenced by the ideology ofblood and soil, and agricultural scientists had no qualms about using forced laborers and prisoners of war on university experimental farms. Henseler repeatedly asked his former student and SS chiefHeinrich Himmler for additional land and led several excursions to the SS herb garden on the grounds of theDachau concentration camp with his students.[5]
DuringWorld War II, the TH München conducted extensive research in armaments to support the war effort. Notable professors during this time included aircraft designerWilly Messerschmitt and physicistWalther Meissner. Despite the war, high-level basic research continued to be conducted in some institutes, as some professors, staff members, and students dared to disobey and resist.Nobel laureateHans Fischer protected Jewish students from Nazi persecution. He committed suicide shortly before the end of the war.[6]
Theresearch reactorFRM I, nicknamed theatomic egg, has become a landmark of the city ofGarching, even being featured in its coat of arms.
During the war, 80 percent of the university's facilities in Munich had beendestroyed. Under these difficult conditions, teaching resumed in April 1946.
Between 1868 and 1870 the architectArnold Zenetti oversaw the construction of several hospital buildings which are today attached to the Munich universities or form part of the TUM campus.[7] In 1967, aTUM School of Medicine was founded with campuses in the buildings ofRechts der Isar Hospital. By 1968, the so called TH München comprised six faculties, 8,400 students, and 5,700 staff. In 1972, theZentrale Hochschulsportanlage, a 45-hectare sports center, was built on the grounds of the1972 Summer Olympics.
In 1970, the TH München was renamed to its present nameTechnische Universität München. When the Bavarian Higher Education Act came into force in 1974, the six faculties were replaced by eleven departments. In 1992, the field ofcomputer science was established as an independentDepartment of Informatics, having previously been part of theDepartment of Mathematics since 1967.
The Technical University of Munich is one of the most research-focused universities in Europe. This claim is supported by relevant rankings, such as the funding ranking of theGerman Research Foundation and the research ranking of theCentre for Higher Education.[18]
In addition to the schools and departments, TUM has set up numerousresearch centers with external cooperation partners.[20]
Integrative research centers (IRCs) combine research with teaching.[20] They include theTUM Institute for Advanced Study (TUM-IAS), theMunich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS), the Munich Data Science Institute (MDSI), the Munich School of Engineering (MSE), the Munich School of BioEngineering (MSB), and the Munich School of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MSRM).
Corporate research centers (CRCs) carry out research independently of the schools and departments, cooperating with industry partners for application-driven research.[20] They include the research reactorFRM II, the Center for Functional Protein Assemblies (CPA), the Catalysis Research Center (CRC), the center for translational Cancer Research (TranslaTUM), theWalter Schottky Institute (WSI), the Hans Eisenmann-Zentrum for Agricultural Science, and the Institute for Food & Health (ZIEL).
Through theErasmus+ program and its internationalstudent exchange program TUMexchange, students can complete exchange semesters at partner universities.[22]
In the 2023 edition of the Times Higher Education's Global University Employability Ranking, graduates from TUM were ranked 13th globally and first in Germany.[27] The same year, TUM held the 28th position globally (also first in Germany) in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.[31] In the QS World University Sustainability Ranking 2023, TUM was ranked 109th overall and first in Germany.[32] In the Times Higher Education's Impact Rankings 2024 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), TUM tied for first place worldwide.[33] InReuters' 2019European Most Innovative University ranking, TUM ranked 7th.[34]
In the QS World Rankings, TUM is placed 49th overall[23] and is the highest ranked German university in engineering and technology (19th), natural sciences (23rd), and computer science (31st).[28] In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, TUM ranks 27th in business and economics, 22nd in the physical sciences, 22nd in engineering and technology, and 15th in computer science, and is the highest ranked German university in these areas.[29] TUM is also ranked first in Germany in several subject areas by ARWU, including computer science and engineering, electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, food science, biotechnology, environmental engineering, medical technology, management, and transportation science.[35]
The Student Council is the main body for university-wide student representation. It elects the General Student Committee (AStA), which represents the professional, economic and social interests of the students, by the Bavarian Higher Education Act. Each school or department will also have a separate Departmental Student Council.[citation needed]
Every year, university elections are held to elect student representatives in the Senate, the university's highest academic authority, and in the faculty councils.[43]
The Student Council organizes a number of annual festivals and events.TUNIX andGARNIX are week-long open air festivals held every summer.TUNIX is held at theKönigsplatz near the Munich campus, whileGARNIX is held at the Garching campus.GLÜHNIX is achristmas market held in front of the Department of Mechanical Engineering every December.MaiTUM is a BavarianMaifest, held at the Main Campus in May each year.[37][44]
TheZentrale Hochschulsportanlage (ZHS) is the largest university sports facility in Germany, offering hundreds of different sports programs.[37]
Music ensembles at TUM include the TUM Chamber Orchestra, the TUMJazz Band, the TUMChoir, and theSymphonisches Ensemble München, a full-sizesymphony orchestra.[37]
^Andres Lepik; Katrin Bäumler, eds. (2018).The Architecture Under King Ludwig II: Palaces and Factories. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. pp. 30–31.ISBN9783035616538.
.JPG)
.jpg)
