Universität Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Type	Public
Established	Fridericiana Polytechnic: 1825 TU Karlsruhe: 1865 KIT: October 1, 2009
Budget	€ 860.8 million
Chairperson	Renate Schubert
President	Holger Hanselka
Academic staff	5,859
Administrative staff	3,456
Students	25,196
Undergraduates	14,136
Postgraduates	8,181
Doctoral students	664
Location	Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany 49°00′34″N 8°24′42″E / 49.00944°N 8.41167°E / 49.00944; 8.41167Coordinates: 49°00′34″N 8°24′42″E / 49.00944°N 8.41167°E / 49.00944; 8.41167
Campus	Urban/Suburban
Colors
Affiliations	German Universities Excellence Initiative CLUSTER CESAER ENTREE TU9 EUA EUCOR
Website	kit.edu

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (German: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university and one of the largest research and education institutions in Germany. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Karlsruhe (Universität Karlsruhe), founded in 1825 as public research university and also known as "Fridericiana", merged with the Karlsruhe Research Center Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, which was originally established as a national nuclear research center (Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe, or KfK) in 1956.

KIT is one of the leading universities in the Engineering and Natural Sciences in Europe, ranking sixth overall in citation impact. KIT is a member of the TU9 German Institutes of Technology e.V. As part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative KIT was accredited with the excellence status in 2006. In the 2011 performance ranking of scientific papers, Karlsruhe ranked first in Germany and among the top ten universities in Europe in engineering and natural sciences.

As of 2016, 6 Nobel laureates are affiliated with KIT. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is well known for many inventors and entrepreneurs such as Karl Friedrich Benz or the founders of SAP.

The University of Karlsruhe was founded as Polytechnische Schule, a polytechnical school, on 7 October 1825. It was modelled upon the École polytechnique in Paris. In 1865, Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden raised the school to the status of a Hochschule, an institution of higher education. Since 1902 the university has also been known as the Fridericiana in his honour. In 1885, it was declared a Technische Hochschule, or institute of technology, and in 1967 it became an Universität, a full university, which gave it the right to award regular doctorate degrees. It had hitherto only been allowed to award doctorates in engineering, identified as Dr. Ing, a right bestowed on all technical institutes in 1899.