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Technical University of Denmark

Coordinates: 55°47′8.87″N 12°31′17.52″E / 55.7857972°N 12.5215333°E / 55.7857972; 12.5215333
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Technical University of Denmark
Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt Danmarks Tekniske Universitet
Logo of the Technical University of Denmark
Former names
Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt (1829-1933)
Danmarks Tekniske Højskole (1933-1994)
MottoDet bli'r til noget
Motto in English
It amounts to something
TypePublic university
Established1829
ChairmanSten Scheibye
PresidentLars Pallesen
ProvostAnders Bjarklev
DeanMartin P. Bendsøe & Martin Vigild
DirectorClaus Nielsen
Students7,000[1]
700[1]
Location
Lyngby, Copenhagen
,
Denmark
ColorsRed and gray    
NicknameDTU
AffiliationsEUA, CDIO, TIME
Websitehttp://www.dtu.dk/

The Technical University of Denmark (Template:Lang-da), often simply referred to as DTU, is a university just north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and is today ranked among Europe's leading engineering institutions, and the best engineering university in Scandinavia.[2]

The student union at DTU is the 161-year old Polyteknisk Forening.

History

DTU was founded in 1829 as the 'College of Advanced Technology' (Danish: Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt) with the renowned physicist Hans Christian Ørsted, then a professor at the University of Copenhagen, as one of the driving forces. The inspiration was the École Polytechnique in Paris which Ørsted had visited as a young scientist. The new institution was inaugurated on 5 November 1829 with Ørsted as its principal, a position he held until his death in 1851.[3]

The new college's first home was two buildings in Studiestræde and St- Oederstræde in central Copenhagen but although expanded several times they remained inadequate and in 1890 a new building complex was inaugurated in Sølvgade in 1890. The new buildings were designed by the architect Johan Daniel Herholdt.[3]

The College of Advanced Technology's premises in Sølvgade, completed 1889

In 1903 the College of Advanced Technology commenced the education of electronics engineers in addition to the building engineers, production engineers and machine engineers already educated at the college.

In the 1920's space had once again become insufficient and in 1929 the foundation stone was laid for a new school at Østervold. Completion of the building was delayed by World War II and it was not completed until 1954.[3]

From 1933 the institution was officially known as Danmarks tekniske Højskole (DtH), which usually was translated as the 'Technical University of Denmark'. Finally on 1 April 1994, in connection with the joining of Danmarks Ingeniørakademi (DIA) and DTH, the Danish name was changed to Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, in order to include the word 'University', thus giving rise to the acronym DTU by which the university is commonly known today.

In 1960 a decision was taken to move the College of Advanced Technology to new and larger facilities in Lyngby north of Copenhagen. They were inaugurated on 17 May 1974.[3]

On 1 January 2007 the university was merged with the following Danish research centers: Forskningscenter Risø, Danmarks Fødevareforskning, Danmarks Fiskeriundersøgelser (from 1 January 2008: National Institute for Aquatic Resources; DTU Aqua), Danmarks Rumcenter, and Danmarks Transport-Forskning. In November 2007 the Times Higher Education Supplement put the university as number 130 in their ranking of the universities of the world and number 122 in 2010.[4]

Organization and administration

The university is governed by a board consisting of 10 members: 6 members recruited outside the university form the majority of the board, 1 member is appointed by the scientific staff, 1 member is appointed by the administrative staff, and 2 members are appointed by the university students.

The President of DTU is appointed by the university board. The president in turn appoints deans, and deans appoint heads of departments.

Since DTU has no faculty senate, and since the faculty is not involved in the appointment of president, deans, or department heads, the university has no faculty governance.[5]

Departments

Research centers

Campus

The university is located on a plain known as Lundtoftesletten in the northeastern end of the city of Lyngby. The area was previously home to the airfield Lundtofte Flyveplads.

The campus is roughly divided in half by the road Anker Engelunds Vej going in the east-west direction, and, perpendicular to that, by two lengthy, collinear roads located on either side of a parking lot. The campus is thus divided into four parts, referred to as quadrants, numbered 1 through 4 in correspondence with the conventional numbering of quadrants in the Cartesian coordinate system with north upwards.

Controversy

DTU was the subject of controversy in 2009 because the former institute director of the Department of Chemistry[6] was a high-ranking member of Scientology.[7] In relation to this, the university was accused of violating the principles of free speech by threatening to fire employees who voice their criticism of the institute director.[8][9][10][11][12] On 7 April 2010, his successor was announced, at a department meeting, as Erling Stenby[13], who officially took over as Director on 1 May 2010.

Rankings

  • In the "engineering" category in the QS subject rankings for 2010 DTU is ranked:
    • No. 69 in the World.
  • On the Leiden Ranking's 2008 "crown indicator" list of Europe's 100 largest universities in terms of the number of Web of Science publications in the period 2000-2007 DTU is ranked:[14]
    • No. 1 in the Nordic region
    • No. 5 in Europe
  • In the 2010 QS World University Rankings[15] DTU is ranked:
    • No. 8 in the Nordic region
    • No. 141 in the World

Management and freedom of speech controversy

The head of department at DTU Chemistry, Ole W. Sørensen, has been the centre of several controversial events: An associate professor who had negotiated a bonus with the university, was threatened that the course she was teaching would be cancelled if she accepted the bonus. After she accepted the bonus, Ole W. Sørensen cancelled the course. A journalist covering the case reported that employees preferred to speak anonymously and without use of the university email system, but that only one employee, Rolf W. Berg, went on record by name, blaming the problems on the absence of a faculty role in the governance of DTU. [16]

Shortly thereafter, the university management threatened Rolf W. Berg with dismissal for publicly criticizing the university.[17]

Notable alumni and professors

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Om DTU
  2. ^ "Top 20 institutions in engineering based on impact". Times Higher Education Supplement. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  3. ^ a b c d "Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt". Gyldendal. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  4. ^ Sara Rosendal. "DTU tager tigerspring på listen over verdens bedste universiteter" (in Danish). ing.dk. Retrieved 2007-11-15.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  5. ^ "Board of Governors". Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  6. ^ http://www.kemi.dtu.dk/English/Service/Phonebook.aspx?lg=showcommon&id=37010&type=person
  7. ^ http://www.information.dk/184273
  8. ^ http://www.information.dk/190815
  9. ^ http://www.information.dk/190705
  10. ^ http://www.information.dk/183747
  11. ^ http://www.information.dk/183387
  12. ^ http://www.information.dk/183379
  13. ^ http://www.kt.dtu.dk/Om_instituttet/Medarbejdere.aspx?lg=showcommon&id=2354&type=person
  14. ^ http://www.cwts.nl/ranking/top100_green_lst.html
  15. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2010 Results".
  16. ^ "DTU-leder kører de ansatte i sænk". February 22 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "Forsker står til fyring for kritiske udtalelser". May 10 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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