Technische Universität Dortmund | |
Official logo of TU Dortmund University
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Former names
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Universität Dortmund |
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Type | Public |
Established | 16 December 1968 |
Budget | € 307 million |
Rector | Ursula Gather |
Academic staff
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2,535 |
Administrative staff
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1,324 |
Students | 34,235 |
Location | Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
Campus | Urban/Suburban |
Affiliations | UA Ruhr - University Alliance Ruhr [1] |
Website | www.tu-dortmund.de |
TU Dortmund University (German: Technische Universität Dortmund) is a university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 30,000 students, and over 3,000 staff. It is situated in the Ruhr area, the fourth largest urban area in Europe.
The university is highly ranked in terms of its research performance in the areas of physics, electrical engineering, chemistry and economics.
The University of 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, pedagogy/teacher training in a wide spectrum of subjects, special education, and journalism. 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.
Following the Zeitgeist of the late 1960s in Germany, the university was built auf der grünen Wiese (on the meadows) about 2 miles (3.2 km) outside of downtown Dortmund. It consists of two campuses, North and South, which since 1984 have been linked by an automated hanging monorail system, the H-Bahn, that crosses the quaint nature reserve between the campuses at a height of about 50 feet (15 m). One of the most prominent buildings in the university is the Mathetower (Mathematics Tower), which houses the faculty of Mathematics.