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Academic engineering training got its start in Germany in the early 19th century, a time when precise scientific observation became the foundation of technological progress. Presaged by the founding of the Parisian École Polytechnique in 1794, this development led to calls in Bavaria for a “college for all technical studies.” A “Royal Polytechnic School” was founded by King Ludwig II in 1868. In 1877 it became a Technische Hochschule, and in 1970 it gained university status, as expressed in the name Technische Universität München (TUM).

 

The TUM has made notable contributions to engineering and science, producing a large number of leading scientists and engineers. The elite scientific research conducted within its walls has always been flanked by partnership with industry, making the university a synonym for technological progress.

 

TUM’s position at the forefront of scientific research in Germany was attested to in 2006 by the fact that it was one of the most successful competitors in the “Excellence Initiative” launched by the German federal and state governments (along with the universities of Karlsruhe and LMU Munich). The TUM was recognized for two “clusters of excellence” and the “TUM International Graduate School of Science and Engineering” (IGSSE), accolades which paved the way for a new strategy for the school: to become known as “TUM.The Entrepreneurial University.”

 

TUM is proud of its close network of partnerships with universities around the world: some 140 partner universities work with TUM to maintain a regular exchange of students and scientists. New partnership contracts with foreign universities and international networks are constantly being pursued in an active effort to keep pace with today’s increased internationalization. The motto “The best connections worldwide” is true of TUM as concerns its neighbors within the European Union as well as its partners throughout the rest of the world. As part of the ERASMUS programs of the EU Commission, the TUM has established exchange agreements with more than 250 European universities.