Dortmund University of Technology

Investigating nature, educating people, accepting technical challenges, and co-designing the resulting cultural and social changes - these are the key tasks of Technische Universität Dortmund. Right from the start, Technische Universität Dortmund has been dedicated to interdisciplinary cooperation between natural/technical sciences and social/cultural sciences and their specialities in the areas of research and teaching. The potentials of these specific fields are used continually in order to mutually increase competence in orientation, cultural competence, power of innovation, critical faculties and technological knowledge, therefore ensuring an even higher quality of study. Technische Universität Dortmund focuses not only on the strengths of its individual disciplines but also on the interdisciplinary network between its disciplines. This implies more profile-building features with regard to the teaching on offer and interdisciplinary research. The interdisciplinary cooperation between the university's three areas - engineering and computer science, natural sciences, and social and cultural sciences - opens up innovative synergy potential in research and cutting-edge education. Technische Universität Dortmund regards the preservation and improvement of its research achievements the essential basis for its overall development. Basic research and applied research are in balanced proportion to each other.

Dortmund is located at the centre of Germany's largest federal state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). It lies at the eastern end of the Rhein-Ruhr region, one of the largest conurbations in Europe but is surrounded by rural green belt areas to the north, east and south of the city. The former "steel city" has developed into a modern and cosmopolitan metropolis and has acquired a well-deserved reputation across Europe as a location for innovative technological development. Dortmund boasts a booming software industry and is in the immediate vicinity of major centres of the chemical and biochemical industries which offer extensive opportunities for both internships and part-time work. The university is adjacent to a large technology park hosting both start-ups and established companies in the IT, automation, microsystems engineering, logistics, and biotechnology sectors. Although it is the largest city in the industrial Ruhr region, Dortmund is also endowed with extensive parks and woodlands, providing a pleasant and affordable environment with a wide range of cultural, sporting, and other recreational possibilities. The "Signal-Iduna-Park", home to six-time German football champion Borussia Dortmund, is one of the most modern stadiums of the Bundesliga (German premier league) with a capacity of 80,000. It was voted best stadium in the world by the British "Times" in August 2009. Attending a home match on a Saturday afternoon and seeing the "yellow wall" of Borussia fans on the southern terraces doing a Mexican wave is bound to bring out the football fan in everybody. The region has an excellent public transport network. Your student transport ticket is valid throughout the entire state of NRW, enabling you to travel at will to such cities as Aachen, Cologne, Münster or Düsseldorf. Dortmund station offers fast and frequent intercity rail connections to all major German cities, and the local airport serves a variety of European destinations.

Detailed information newsletters will be sent out before the start of the semester. Senior students provide help and an orientation programme is held before the semester starts (first or second week of October).