Technical University of Central Hesse

Technical University of Central Hesse
founding	1st August 1971
Sponsorship	state
place	Giessen (seat), Friedberg , Wetzlar
state	Hesse
country	Germany
president	Matthias Willems
Students	18,684 (WiSe 2019/20) 11,277 on the Giessen campus 5,832 on the Friedberg campus 1.575 on the Wetzlar campus
Employee	approx. 1,143 (as of 2016)
including professors	240 (2016)
Annual budget	approx. € 80 million (2016 / excluding HSP 2020 funds)
Website	www.thm.de

The Technical University of Central Hesse (THM, until 2010: University of Applied Sciences Gießen-Friedberg ) is a University of Applied Sciences (HAW) with locations in Friedberg , Gießen and Wetzlar as well as branches in Bad Hersfeld , Bad Wildungen , Bad Vilbel , Biedenkopf , Limburg an der Lahn and Frankenberg (Eder) . It was founded in 1971 as a university of applied sciences , making it one of the younger Hessian universities. With 18,677 students (2018) it is the largest of the five state universities of applied sciences in Hesse . The TH Mittelhessen is after the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, the second largest university of applied sciences in the Federal Republic of Germany. In addition to its name, the university bears the international name University of Applied Sciences .

history

Giessen location

The Technical University of Central Hesse has its Giessen beginnings in on 14 January 1838 by the State Trade Association Darmstadt founded in Giessen "school for technical drawing." The trigger for the establishment of this school were widespread complaints that craftsmen could not read and understand the architect's blueprints. Almost four weeks earlier, in December 1837, a trade school had also been founded in Darmstadt , the forerunner of today's TU Darmstadt (formerly TH Darmstadt). This means that the TH Mittelhessen is only one month younger than the TU Darmstadt and thus the second oldest technical college in Hessen.

House A20, Audimax and "Café CampusTor" of the THM at the Giessen location

In addition, a "trade school" was founded in Gießen in 1838. In 1840 the Gießen Trade Association was founded . Its members included professors Justus von Liebig and Hugo von Ritgen . The trade school was expanded in 1842 to become a "computing school for craftsmen". In 1846 it was merged with the school for technical drawing to form the “craft school”. The trade association became a school sponsor.

Hugo von Ritgen , professor of architecture and engineering at the University of Gießen and its later rector, took over the chairmanship of both the trade association and the crafts school in 1878. Subjects in 1890 were: constructive drawing, building construction theory, building materials theory, architectural style, strength theory, cost calculation, machine drawing, free hand drawing and modeling, descriptive geometry, physics, mechanics, arithmetic and German.

In 1903 the school offered courses leading to the master craftsman examination. The state final examination was introduced in 1909. The curriculum was expanded to include arts and crafts drawing and trigonometry. In 1913 the school was renamed "Grand Ducal Trade School - Building School" and in 1919 a four-semester mechanical engineering department was added.

In 1921 the name was changed to “Staatliche Gewerbeschule Gießen” with the following departments: construction school, mechanical engineering school, arts and crafts department, commercial advanced training school, carpenter's school, locomotive driver's school, railway master craftsman's school and railway school. Another renaming takes place in 1925. The "State Commercial and Mechanical Engineering School of the City of Gießen" was expanded to include electrical engineering. In 1928 the school moved to the "Alte Klinik" in Liebigstrasse.

On April 12, 1935, the Reich Chamber of Culture decided to expel Jewish members. Apparently the - at that time still - industrial and mechanical engineering school in Giessen reacted by excluding teachers from teaching.

In 1938 the school became a three-semester technical school for construction, mechanical engineering, painters and carpenters. There were preparatory courses for master electricians and master shoemakers.

The school building on Liebigstrasse was totally destroyed on December 6, 1944 in a massive bomb attack that affected the entire city.

On June 6, 1946, permission was given to continue the school and at the same time it was renamed “Polytechnikum Gießen”. Lectures began on July 25, 1946 in the "New Castle" on Brandplatz (Landgraf-Philipp-Platz) with 216 students, divided into 2 mechanical engineering, 2 structural engineering and 1 electrical engineering semesters, each lasting five semesters. In 1947 over 400 students came to the lectures.

In 1954 the name was changed to "Städtische Ingenieurschule Gießen (Polytechnikum)". On May 5, 1958, the state took over the sponsorship and at the same time renamed the "State Engineering School for Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Structural Engineering, Giessen". The standard period of study was increased to six semesters. The lectures were held in the “Old Castle” (eight classrooms) and in barracks (four in the courtyard of the “Old Castle” and eight behind the armory, two of which were for pre-semesters I and II). The laboratory and workshops were located on Wiesenstrasse. On March 7, 1963, the school moved from the barracks at the Zeughaus and from the “New Castle” on Landgraf-Philipp-Platz to a new building on Wiesenstrasse. In the final year of the engineering school in Giessen (1971), 59 lecturers taught 950 enrolled students.

Logo of the former FH Giessen-Friedberg

With effect from August 1, 1971, the "University of Applied Sciences Gießen" was founded, which consisted of the State Engineering Schools in Gießen and Friedberg and the Pedagogical Institute in Fulda . On August 1, 1974, the Fulda division was spun off, creating today's Fulda University of Applied Sciences (then still a technical college). On August 1, 1978, the name was changed to “Gießen-Friedberg University of Applied Sciences” in order to make the Friedberg location clear in the name.

Friedberg campus

On October 29, 1901, the Friedberg Trade Academy , founded by Robert Schmidt (* 1850; † 1928), was ceremoniously opened as a private institution. As a higher polytechnic educational institution, the trade academy was intended to train engineers in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, construction and chemistry and metallurgy.

In 1908 Schmidt sold the trade academy to the city of Friedberg , which took over the sponsorship despite major concerns in the citizenry. As a result of this sale, the name was also changed to "Städtische Polytechnische Lehranstalt". Initially, the influx of students remained low, so that the city of Friedberg would not have been responsible for building its own buildings for the polytechnic .

Due to insufficient student numbers, the Polytechnic had to be closed during the First World War in the summer semester of 1917. It reopened in 1919. In 1922, the first student kitchen was set up by the student body in Friedberg. Towards the end of 1924, the school received a state examination commissioner. In 1925 an aviation group was founded, from which the later aeronautical department developed.

After the end of the hyperinflationary phase and the overcoming of the associated difficulties, the number of students rose. In 1925 more than 600 students were enrolled. This made the question of space critical. The city decided on a generously planned new building on a conveniently located, large property near the Friedberg train station. In the spring of 1927 a machine laboratory was moved into on the north side and in the autumn of 1928 an electrical laboratory on the south side of the site. A third, smaller building was erected between these two laboratories to house a machine tool laboratory and a foundry. The planned elongated lecture hall building parallel to today's Friedberger Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße could not be realized due to the deteriorating economic situation and the resulting decline in student numbers. The 592 students enrolled in the winter semester of 1927/28 were taught by eleven full and six extraordinary lecturers.

In May 1933 the inglorious renaming of the Friedberger Polytechnic took place in "Adolf-Hitler-Polytechnikum". In 1935, general conscription was reintroduced, so that the rooms of the mountain barracks had to be returned to the Wehrmacht. Therefore, the Friedberg city council decided to have the planned lecture hall built. This new building was inaugurated in the summer of 1937 and connected the two existing laboratory buildings in the north and south. The lecture hall building was urgently needed because after the Polytechnic in Oldenburg was closed in the winter semester of 1935/36, 60 students and the future rector, senior building officer Gurk, moved from Oldenburg to Friedberg.

At the beginning of 1940 the name was changed to "Adolf Hitler Engineering School". The construction and architecture departments were moved to Mainz and the aeronautical engineering department was relocated to Constance. In 1941, retrospectively to the summer semester of 1939, the Polytechnic was recognized and accepted into the Reich list of higher technical schools. As a result, graduates who were striving for a position in the upper public service fulfilled a required recruitment criterion. Study operations continued during the Second World War . After the end of the war, the Polytechnic was closed in 1945 by order of the American military administration.

After a makeshift repair of the building damage caused during the war, the city administration decided to reopen the Polytechnic in May 1946 with the mechanical engineering and electrical engineering departments as an engineering school and civil engineering as a construction school. The surveying technology department also started operations for a short time, but moved to Frankfurt three semesters later.

Main building of the THM, Campus Friedberg

Due to the excessive financial burden for the city of Friedberg, the state of Hesse took over the sponsorship of the university on April 1, 1958. The municipal polytechnic was then transferred to the “Friedberg State Engineering School”.

In 1971 the "Staatliche Ingenieurschule Friedberg" became part of the "Fachhochschule Gießen", which was then renamed in 1978 to "Fachhochschule Gießen-Friedberg". A new library was opened in the winter semester of 1988/89. The completion of three extensions to the lecture hall building in 2001 led to a brief relaxation of the lack of space that occurred as a result of the increasing number of students. In 2009 a new, large university building, which had been erected on the former Rüster site, was inaugurated. Furthermore, extensive renovation measures were carried out in the university library.

The logistics course, introduced in 1998/99, was the first of its kind in Germany. A bachelor's degree in logistics management and a master's degree in supply chain management are now offered at the Friedberg site .

Wetzlar location

Building A1 on the Wetzlar campus

Branch office Biedenkopf

→ Main article: StudiumPlus

The Wetzlar location was established in April 2001 for the StudiumPlus courses at the Scientific Center for Dual University Studies (ZDH). Since then, a building complex on the site of the former Spilburg barracks has served as the campus in Wetzlar .

The dual course of study is carried out in cooperation with the chambers of industry and commerce and companies in the region and links theory and practice. Since 2001, the range of courses has been gradually expanded to include international university degrees ( Bachelor , Master ). Since October 2010, there have been branches of StudiumPlus in Bad Hersfeld, Bad Wildungen, Frankenberg and in Biedenkopf (since 2012), Bad Vilbel (since 2015) and Limburg an der Lahn (since 2017). The branch offices came into being after the shareholders decided to close the North Hesse University of Cooperative Education .

Organization: The dual study programs are sponsored by the Scientific Center for Dual University Studies at THM, based in Wetzlar. It is responsible for setting up, implementing and developing the StudiumPlus offers. The ZDH is headed by Harald Danne as Managing Director. Task of the association CompetenceCenter Duale Hochschulstudien - StudiumPlus e. V. , also based in Wetzlar, promotes practical, scientific training with the aim of obtaining a university degree. The CCD is a cooperation partner of the THM; it brings together over 800 partner companies and institutions of the THM. The CCD is headed by CEO Norbert Müller. The StudiumPlus board of trustees, with equal representation, is the interface between THM and the company and has the task of advising the ZDH on its development and promoting the use of scientific knowledge and knowledge gained from operational practice. In 2011, StudiumPlus founded a specialist board of trustees for "Alumni" made up of alumni, as well as a regional board of trustees for the North Hessian branch offices. Since 2015, the ZDH has also been responsible for the THM's continuing education programs.

A new endowed professorship for optical technologies has been successfully launched. Ralf Niggemann, spokesman for the Board of Trustees, Andreas Tielmann, General Manager of the IHK Lahn-Dill, and THM Vice-President Klaus Behler comment on common convictions and goals.

General

On April 21, 2010, the Senate meeting decided with a clear majority to change the name of the university from “Fachhochschule Gießen-Friedberg” to “Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen”. On the one hand, the new name should reflect the regional expansion to Wetzlar, on the other hand it should also reflect the equality with the university courses through the reorganization of the study program into Bachelor and Master courses. Research in engineering, traditionally a focus of the university, should also be taken into account with the new name.

The college today

Facade of the Technical University of Central Hesse on the Giessen campus (2003)

In the 1986/87 winter semester, the computer science course was included in the program for the first time. At the same time, the “Mathematics, natural sciences and data processing” department was divided into the “Mathematics, natural sciences and computer science” departments (Giessen) and “Mathematics, natural sciences and data processing” (Friedberg).

With the ZeVA-accredited master’s course “International Marketing”, the Technical University of Central Hesse offers one of the first postgraduate courses in marketing in Germany in English.

The TH Mittelhessen is also increasingly involved in the field of part-time, academic training. To intensify its work, the university founded the University Center for Further Education - HZW in 2007 and set up a further education center in the Altenberg Monastery in Solms-Oberbiel, which was relocated to the Giessen campus in 2011.

The Technical University of Central Hesse is a member of the Hesse Universities of Applied Sciences .

A study by the education provider WBS in 2019 showed that the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen had the lowest proportion of women among the professorships of all 44 universities examined with a share of only 10.8%.

Departments in Giessen

• 01 Construction B
• 02 Electrical engineering and information technology EI
• 03 Mechanical engineering and power engineering ME
• 04 Life Science Engineering LSE
• 05 Health OVERALL
• 06 Mathematics, natural sciences and computer science MNI
• 07 Business - THM Business School W

Faculties in Friedberg

• 11 Information technology - electrical engineering - mechatronics IEM
• 12 Mechanical engineering, mechatronics, material technology M
• 13 Mathematics, natural sciences and data processing MND
• 14 Industrial Engineering WI

Departments in Giessen and Friedberg

• 21 Management and communication MuK

StudiumPlus - Wiss. Center for Dual University Studies ZDH in Wetzlar

• Civil engineering
• Business administration
• Engineering mechanical engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Engineering microsystem technology / software technology
• industrial engineering
• Organizational management in medicine
• Process management
• Systems engineering
• Technical Sales

The coding in the logo

Logo of department 11 (IEM, Friedberg location)

The new logo of the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen can contain a code based on binary codes.

The coding is realized by the eleven squares on the left side of the logo. Green squares are "activated" and gray squares are "deactivated". If all eleven squares of the logo are green (as can be seen in the infobox in this article), it is the logo for the entire university.

The left column stands for the locations:

• the lower square stands for the Giessen location
• the middle square stands for the Friedberg location
• the upper square stands for the Wetzlar location

In the second and third columns, the two-digit department number is displayed in binary code.

It always stands

• the bottom square for the 1 (2 ⁰ ),
• the second square from the bottom for 2 (2 ¹ ),
• the third square from the bottom for 4 (2 ² ) and
• the top square for 8 (2 ³ ).

literature

• Silke Bock: The Bologna Process: Experiences at the universities using the example of the Technical University of Central Hesse. In: Europe facing new challenges, edited by Friedrich-Karl Feyerabend and Robert Malzacher, Gießen, December 2012, ISBN 3-932917-73-1 .
• Hajo Köppen: The Bologna Process - Effects on Universities using the example of the Giessen-Friedberg University of Applied Sciences. In: Europe, current aspects and developments, edited by Friedrich-Karl Feyerabend and Robert Malzacher, Gießen, December 2006, ISBN 3-932917-72-3 .
• Hajo Köppen: Genesis and Perspective of the Universities of Applied Sciences. In: Hochschulstadt Friedberg - Introducing the FH, edited by Friedrich-Karl Feyerabend and Klaus Schmidt, Friedberg, August 2003, ISBN 3-00-012575-2 .
• Hajo Köppen: Building up and developing in the face of shortages - 25 years of technical college. In: History and Today, commemorative publication for the 25th anniversary of the Gießen-Friedberg University of Applied Sciences, published by the Rector of the University of Applied Sciences, Gießen, September 1996.
• Heinz Minke: The craftsmen could not read the construction plans , the air raid caused the temporary shutdown and Gießen vocational schools are teaching in ruins. In: "Heimat im Bild", history supplement of the Gießener Anzeiger, January 1998 and May 2001.
• Horst Tillmanns: Festschrift for the 75th anniversary of the Polytechnikum Friedberg / Hessen . Friedberg, 1976.
• Stefan Zima: Chronicle of the "Poly" in words and pictures . In: The Friedberg Engineer Student. No. 1/1981 (pp. 19-31). Friedberg, 1981.
• Thomas Petrasch, Klaus-Dieter Rack: From the commercial academy to the technical university - Friedberg university history (1901–2011). In: Wetterauer Geschichtsblätter, Volume 62. Verlag der Buchhandlung Bindernagel, Friedberg (Hessen) 2013, ISSN  0508-6213 .

Web links

Commons : Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Studium Plus : Dual university studies at the Technical University of Central Hesse
• Literature about Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen in the Hessian Bibliography
• Link catalog on the topic of Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chronicle of the University ( Memento from April 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ List of Presidents ( Memento from April 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ https://www.thm.de/site/images/planung/Statistik/THM_StudStat_Studiengaenge_1FS_Ges_WS2014-WS2019_vorlufig_30092019.pdf
4. ^ [1] Statement - original document from 1936
5. ↑ StudiumPlus opens branch office in Biedenkopf ( Memento from December 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ Locations and branch offices ( Memento from March 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
7. ^ "Bad Hersfeld is the youngest university location in Hesse" on the website of the economic development agency for the district of Hersfeld-Rotenburg
8. ↑ Scientific Center for Dual University Studies (ZDH) ( Memento from May 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ https://www.sonntag-morgenmagazin.eu/smlokales/Lokales-Rekordzahlen-und-Foerderung-fuer-StudiumPlus;art2773,498451
10. ↑ CompetenceCenter Dual University Studies StudiumPlus (CCD) ( Memento from November 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
11. ↑ StudiumPlus Board of Trustees ( Memento from December 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ http://www.wetzlar-network.de/Magazin/Education/Nachhaltige-Initialzuendung-a420.html
13. ^ Archived copy ( Memento of December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) New name decided
14. ↑ thm.de: HZW in new rooms ( Memento from October 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ https://www.wbs-gruppe.de/index.php?id=116
16. ↑ Article in the Wetterauer Zeitung from December 30, 2010

Coordinates: 50 ° 35 ′ 12.8 "  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 59.2"  E