Its main focus are technological studies, especially mechanical engineering.
It is run by the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. There are no tuition fees. Almost all lectures are given in German language, some graduate programs are offered in English.
Approx. 16% of the students come from other countries, most of them from Turkey, China, Morocco, Greece, Iran, and the Netherlands.
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2 Facts and Figures 3 External links |
In 1870 the "Royal Rhine-Westphalian Polytechnical School of Aachen" was
founded. Its primary purpose was to educate engineers for the mining industry
in the Ruhr area. At its beginning there were 32 teachers and
223 students.
In 1880 it became a "Technical University" and was abbreviated "RWTH". In 1899 it was granted the right to bestow PhD's.
World War I was a serious setback for the university, but
between 1925 and 1932 was a period of prosperity and expansion. Previous
student numbers were reached again and many new facilities were built.
During the Third Reich (1933–1945) the RWTH was – like all
other institutions – assimilated by the Nazis:
The freedom of research and teaching was limited, leading lecturers were forced
to quit and many students had to leave the university. Due to the vicinity of
the borders to the Netherlands and Belgium the university was closed for a year
during World War II.
After the war the RWTH recovered and expanded very quickly. Some new faculties
have come into existence. Today, it's the only "Technische Hochschule" in
Germany. The RWTH Aachen, the [[Technische Universit%E4t M%FCnchen|TU
Munich]], and the TU Berlin are the three
biggest universities for technical studies in Germany.
The RWTH is divided into ten faculties:
History
Facts and Figures
| annual budget | approx EUR 650 million |
| Chairs and institutes | 260 |
| lecturers | 372 |
| staff | 6600 |
| students | 30000 |
| annual graduates | 2000 |
| annual PhDs | 800 |