The Technical University of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ranked among Europe's leading engineering institutions. It is located in the town Kongens Lyngby, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of central Copenhagen, Denmark.
DTU was founded in 1829 as the "College of Advanced Technology" (Danish: Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt). The Physicist Hans Christian Ørsted, at that time a professor at the University of Copenhagen, was one of the driving forces behind this initiative. He was inspired by the École Polytechnique in Paris, France which Ørsted had visited as a young scientist. The new institution was inaugurated on 5 November 1829 with Ørsted becoming its Principal, a position he held until his death in 1851.[4]
The College of Advanced Technology's premises in Sølvgade, completed 1889
The first home of the new college consisted of two buildings located in Studiestræde and St- Pederstræde in the center of Copenhagen. Although these buildings were expanded several times, they eventually became inadequate for the requirements of the college. In 1890 a new building complex was completed and inaugurated located in Sølvgade. The new buildings were designed by the architect Johan Daniel Herholdt.[4]
In 1903, the College of Advanced Technology commenced the education of electrical engineers in addition to that of the construction engineers, the production engineers, and the mechanical engineers who already at that time were being educated at the college.
In the 1920s, space again became insufficient and in 1929 the foundation stone was laid for a new school at Østervold. Completion of this building was delayed by World War II and it was not completed before 1954.[4]
From 1933, the institution was officially known as Danmarks tekniske Højskole (DtH), which commonly was translated into English, as the 'Technical University of Denmark'. On 1 April 1994, in connection with the joining of Danmarks Ingeniørakademi (DIA) and DTH, the Danish name was changed to Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, this done to include the word 'University' thus giving rise to the initials DTU by which the university is commonly known today. The formal name, Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, however, still includes the original name.
Main building in Lyngby.
R/V Dana is DTU's research vessel, visiting Ystad 18 November 2016.
In 1960 a decision was made to move the College of Advanced Technology to new and larger facilities in Lyngby north of Copenhagen. They were inaugurated on 17 May 1974.[4]
On 23 and 24 November 1967, the University Computing Center hosted the NATO Science Committee's Study Group first meeting discussing the newly coined term "Software Engineering".[5]
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.
Organization and administrationEdit
The university is governed by a board consisting of 10 members: Six members are recruited from outside the university and they form the majority of the board. One member is appointed by the scientific staff and one member is appointed by the administrative staff. Two members are appointed by the university students.
The President of DTU is appointed by the university board. The President in turn appoints the Deans, and the Deans appoint the Heads of the departments.
In 2014, DTU was granted institutional accreditation by the Danish Accreditation Institution (a member of ENQA). The institutional accreditation ensures that the quality assurance system of the institution is well-described, well-argued, and well-functioning in practice.
Since DTU has no faculty senate, and since the faculty is not involved in the appointment of the President, Deans, or Department heads, the university has no faculty governance.[6]
DepartmentsEdit
DTU Aqua, National Institute for Aquatic Resources
DTU Transport, Department of Transport: The department provides Transportation and Logistics master's degree programs in engineering and technology. A PhD Programme is also offered.[7]
Center for Biological Sequence Analysis – chair Søren Brunak
Center for Information and Communication Technologies
Center for Microbial Biotechnology
Center for Phase Equilibria and Separation Processes
Center for Technology, Economics and Management
Center for Traffic and Transport
Centre for Applied Hearing Research
Centre for Electric Power and Energy
Combustion and Harmful Emission Control
The Danish Polymer Centre
IMM Statistical Consulting Center
International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy
Centre for Advanced Food Studies
DTU Nanotech
DTU Fluid
DTU Food
EnergiDTU
CampusEdit
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 one through four in correspondence with the conventional numbering of quadrants in the Cartesian coordinate system with north upwards.
ControversyEdit
DTU was the subject of controversy in 2009 because the (then) institute director of the Department of Chemistry, O.W. Sørensen,[8] was a high-ranking member of Scientology.[9] In relation to this, the university was accused of violating the principles of free speech by threatening to fire employees, among them Rolf W. Berg, who voiced their criticism of the institute director.[10][11][12][13][14][15] On 7 April 2010, the successor of Sørensen was announced, at a department meeting, as Erling Stenby,[16] who officially took over as Director on 1 May 2010.
The university maintains an updated site with the university's standing in several relevant academic and research rankings. 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.[20]
In "The World's Most Innovative Universities" 2015 ranking by Thomson Reuters, DTU is ranked:[21]
No. 1 in the Nordic countries
No. 43 in the World
In the "engineering" category in the QS subject rankings, DTU is ranked:
No. 2 in the Nordic countries
No. 36 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:[22]
^"Ole W. Sørensen". Kemi.dtu.dk. 4 September 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
^Lise Richter (13 October 2011). "DTU-leder bruger Scientology-metoder". Dagbladet Information. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
^"Forsker står til fyring for kritiske udtalelser". 10 May 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
^Kristian Villesen (13 October 2011). "Jeg kan ikke forestille mig, at vi knægter ytringsfriheden". Dagbladet Information. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
^Lise Richter (13 October 2011). "Forsker står til fyring for kritiske udtalelser". Dagbladet Information. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
^"Lig på bordet". Dagbladet Information. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
^Lise Richter (22 February 2009). "Trivselsundersøgelse holdes hemmelig". Dagbladet Information. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
^Lise Richter (22 February 2009). "DTU-leder kører de ansatte i sænk". Dagbladet Information. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
^"Erling Halfdan Stenby". Kt.dtu.dk. 18 July 2006. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
^"ARWU World University Rankings 2018 - Academic Ranking of World Universities 2018 - Top 500 universities - Shanghai Ranking - 2018". www.shanghairanking.com.
^"QS World University Rankings 2022". 9 June 2021.
^Sara Rosendal. "DTU tager tigerspring på listen over verdens bedste universiteter" (in Danish). ing.dk. Archived from the original on 9 November 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.