Eindhoven University of Technology


The Eindhoven University of Technology, abbr. TU/e, is a technical university in the Netherlands, operating in English.
The University has been placed in the top 200 universities in the world by five major ranking tables. The 2019 QS World University Rankings place Eindhoven 99th in the world, 34th in Europe, and 3rd in the Netherlands - TU/e has moved up 59 places in this world ranking since 2012.
TU/e is the Dutch member of the , a strategic partnership of universities of science & technology in Europe: Technical University of Denmark, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, École Polytechnique, The Technion, Eindhoven University of Technology, and Technical University of Munich.

History

The Eindhoven University of Technology was founded as the Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven on 23 June 1956 by the Dutch government. It was the second institute of its kind in the Netherlands, preceded only by the Delft University of Technology.
Undergraduate education was given in four- or five-year programs until 2002, styled along the lines of the German system of education; graduates of these programs were granted an engineering title and allowed to prefix their name with the title ir.. Starting in 2002, following the entry into force of the Bologna Accords, the university switched to the bachelor/master structure. The undergraduate programs are now split into two parts, a three-year bachelor program and a two-year master program.

Strategic Vision 2020

On 3 January 2011, the university's strategic vision document for the period up to 2020, the "Strategic Plan 2020", was presented. Despite the economic crisis and the budget cutbacks announced by the Dutch government for the period up to 2014, the university set itself an ambitious strategic vision for the period up to 2020. This vision included establishing a University College to foster both depth, breadth, and societal relevance in engineering education; establishing a combined Graduate School to manage the graduate programs; an increase of the student body by 50 percent; a 50 percent increase in the number of annual PhDs awarded; an increase of knowledge "valorisation" to a campus-wide score of 4.2; increasing the international position of the university to within the top-100 universities; and increasing the embedding of the university within the city and the Brainport region by transforming the campus into a high-grade science park with laboratories, housing facilities for 700 students and researchers and supporting facilities. The science park was one of the more costly elements of the plan.

Organization

The Eindhoven University of Technology is a public university of the Netherlands. As such its general structure and management is determined by the Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek. Between that law and the statutes of the university itself, the management of the university is organized according to the following chart:

Executive college

The day-to-day running of the university is in the hands of the Executive College. The College provides oversight for the [|departments], the [|service organizations] and the Innovation Lab, plus the local activities of the Stan Ackermans Institute. The College consists of three people, plus a secretary:
;The president: The president is the chair of the College and the main face of the university to the outside world. Over the last few years the post has been held by people from outside the university, chosen from high levels of industry, in order to strengthen the ties between the university and industrial partners. The current president is Robert-Jan Smits, the former Director-General of Research and Innovation at the European Commission.
;The rector magnificus: The rector magnificus is the one member of the College whose membership is mandated by law. The law allows the university to appoint a rector in any way, but the university statutes determine that the rector magnificus must be an active professor at the university ; in practice the rector is always a former department dean. The rector is the voice of the academic staff in the College and guards the academic interests of the university in the College. The current rector magnificus is Frank Baaijens.
;The vice president: The third member is a "tie-breaker" member of the College. The post is open to anybody. The current vice president is Nicole Ummelen.
;The secretary: The secretary is not a member of the College but a university functionary who does secretarial work for the College, keeping the minutes and the records and taking care of communication between the College and the university. The College secretary is usually the secretary for the entire university. The current secretary is Susanne van Weelden.

Oversight of the executive college

There are two bodies that provide oversight over the Executive College:
Most of the work at the university is done in the departments and the service organizations.
Both for the departments and the service organizations, the staff are involved with the running of the body. For that reason both types of bodies have advisory councils which have advisory and co-decision authorities.

TU/e Holding B.V.

Over the past two decades, the TU/e has increasingly developed commercial interests and off-campus ties. These include commercial agreements and contracts directly between the university and external companies, but also interests in [|spinoff companies]. In order to manage these kinds of contractual obligations the university started the TU/e Holding B.V. in 1997. The Holding is a limited company, dedicated to the commercial exploitation of scientific knowledge.

Education

Departments

The scientific departments are the primary vehicles for teaching and research in the university. They employ the majority of the academic staff, are responsible for teaching and sponsor the research schools and institutions.
The departments also offer Ph.D programs whereby a qualified master may earn a Ph.D. Unlike in anglo-saxon countries these are not educational programs, however; rather, a person working towards obtaining the Ph.D is a research employee of the university.
The TU/e has nine departments:
The university offers honors programs aimed at both bachelor and master students. At the bachelor level it consists of intensive study within eight possible areas or tracks. At the master level it consists of personal leadership and professional development components, over and above the normal masters study.

Postgraduate doctorate of engineering (PDEng)

In 1986, the university started a number of programs for a postgraduate doctorate of engineering together with two other Dutch technological universities. These programs are managed by the Stan Ackermans Institute on behalf of the 4TU Federation. Each program is two years in length. Ten programs are available at the TU/e.
Nationally, more than 3,500 students have earned the postgraduate PDEng degree through this program. On February 13, Ravi Thakkar was awarded diploma at TU/e

Other educational programs

The university hosts a number of other educational programs that are in some way related to the main educational programs. These include the teacher's program and an MBA program.
The TU/e participates in a large number of research institutes which balance in different ways between pure science and applied science research. Some of these institutes are bound strictly to the university, others combine research across different universities.

Top in research partnerships with industry

The TU/e is among the world’s ten best-performing research universities in terms of research cooperation with industry in 2011. Ten to 20 percent of the scientific publications of these ten universities in the period 2006–2008 were the result of partnerships with researchers in industry. As well as TU/e and Delft University of Technology, the top 10 also includes two universities in Japan, two in Sweden, and one each in Denmark, Finland, Norway and the USA.

Off-campus activities

The TU/e plays a central role in the academic, economic and social life of Eindhoven and the surrounding region. In addition the university maintains relations with institutions far beyond that region as well and participates in national and international events.

Economic and research motor

The TU/e is enormously important to the economy of the Eindhoven region, as well as the wider areas of BrabantStad and the Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven. It provides highly skilled labor for the local knowledge economy and is a knowledge and research partner for technology companies in the area.
The historic basis for the university's role as an economy and research motor was the interaction with Philips. The university was founded primarily to address the need of Philips for local personnel with academic levels of education in electronics, physics, chemistry and later computer science. Later that interest spread to DAF and Royal Dutch Shell. There was also a synergy with these companies in that senior personnel were hired from them to form the academic staff of the university.
Changing economic times and business strategies changed the relationship during the 1980s and 1990s. As Philips started moving away from the region, its importance to the region and the university decreased. A struggle for economic survival forced the university to seek closer ties with the city and region of Eindhoven in the 1989–1995 period, resulting in the creation of the Brainport initiative to draw high tech business and industry to the region. The university started expending more effort in knowledge valorisation, in incubating technology startups, in providing direct knowledge support for local technology companies. Also the academic interests of the research shifted with the times, with more effort going into energy efficiency research, green technologies, and other areas of interest driven by social relevance.
The TU/e is host of a number of highly successful research schools, including the ESI and the DPI. These research institutes are a source of high-tech knowledge for high-tech companies in the area, such as ASML, NXP and FEI. The university also plays a large role as knowledge and personnel supplier to other companies in the High Tech Campus Eindhoven and helps incubate startups through the Eindhoven Twinning Center. It is also a knowledge supporter of the automotive industry in the Helmond region.
In the extended region, the TU/e is part of the backbone of the Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle. This economic cooperation agreement between three cities in three countries has created one of the most innovative regions in the European Union ; the agreement is based on the cooperative triangle that connects the three technical universities in those cities.

Eindhoven Energy Institute

As of the summer of 2010, the TU/e is host to the Eindhoven Energy Institute. The EEI is a virtual research institute, which manages and coordinates the activities of a large number of groups and subinstitutes in the general area of sustainable and alternative energy technologies.
The scientific director of the institute is prof.dr.ir. David Smeulders. He is pro forma head of the research department, which is split into four key areas: Built Environment, Future Fuels, Energy Conversion and Fusion and Plasma. The EEI also incorporates the Graduate School on Sustainable Energy, which the TU/e had already established together with the TU Munich and DTU Lyngby. Secretarial services will be provided by the Center Technology for Sustainable Development which also already existed at the TU/e.
Energy research at the TU/e is among the best in academic Europe. This fact, as well as the unique attention to energy in the built-up environment, drew the attention of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. The EEI is now a full co-location of EIT's KIC on Sustainable Energy.

International cooperation and appeal

The TU/e maintains active academic cooperation with sister institutions in many different countries, for example:
The TU/e also provides education to an increasing number of foreign students and graduates. According to the 2009 annual report in the academic year 2008–2009 there were 490 exchange students, 103 foreign nationals registered in a bachelor program, 430 in a master program, 158 in a professional doctorate program. In 2009 the university employed 37 foreign professors and 16 foreign associate professors. Overall, 29.5% of the university staff was non-Dutch.
In 2011/2012, the TU/e has Erasmus bilateral agreements with many universities in 30 countries across Europe in a diverse range of subjects for student exchange.

Technological sports

In addition to the "regular" types of sports practiced among the student body and by the staff, the TU/e collaborates with the student body in a number of "technology sporting efforts". These usually take the form of cross-department projects, which makes them multidisciplinary efforts. Some examples include:
;Robot football: In 2010 TechUnited, the university's robot football team, won the European Championship, came second for the third time in a row at the world championship in Singapore and finally won the world championship in 2012. The team is part of the Mid-Size league of RoboCup.
;Auto racing:The TU/e hosts and sponsors a student race team, University Racing Eindhoven. This team competes annually in the Formula Student and other races with self-built racers. Starting in 2010 the team switched from a petrol engine to an electric car; this car came third at Silverstone, second at Hockenheim and won the Formula Student in its first year.

Service organizations

There university is more than just the departments, research bodies and the students. There are several ancillary activities necessary to the running of the university, activities that cross the boundaries and interests of the different departments. These activities are carried out by the universities' service organizations.
The university has the following service organizations:
OrganizationFull namePurpose

DAZ		General Affairs Service
Organizational and secretarial functions for varied activities, the alumni organization and the Student Sport Center

CEC		Communications Expertise Center
Responsible for all university communications and announcements, including interacting with the press and communications regarding external billing and payments. CEC also handles the printing and distribution of university brochures and guards the uniform application of the university's house style.

DPO		Human Resources Management
All HR-related activities, from vacancies and pension plans to regulations about health and workplace safety, to the bicycle plan.

DFEZ		Financial and Economic Services
University finances.

DH		Housing service
Management of all real estate belonging university

ICT		ICT Service
Management of university computers and student laptops, networks, network security, shared storage facilities, university Sharepoint sites, plus codes of conduct relating to those systems

IEC		Information Expertise Center
The university library.

DIZ		Internal Affairs Service
Internal services, such as the BedrijfsHulpVerlening, Logistics, Purchasing and Contract Management.

STU		Student Service Center
Student services.

GTD		Common Technical Service
Provides technical services to departments.

Distinguished alumni

Eindhoven is currently ranked between 51 and 141 in the world, and a top ten technical university in Europe.
YearTHE Ranking QS Ranking
200570–
200667 –
2007130 –
2008128 –
2009120 –
2010114 126
2010-11115 146
2012-13114 158
2013-14106 157
2014-15144 overall, Engineering and Technology 64147
2015-16176 overall, Engineering and Technology 62, Physical sciences 86117
2016-17177 overall, Engineering and Technology 64, Computer Science 75121
2017-18141 overall, Engineering and Technology 51, Computer Science 64104
2018-19167 overall, Engineering and Technology 69, Computer Science 7499

In a 2003 European Commission report, TU/e was ranked as third among European research universities, based on the impact of its scientific research.
In 2011 Academic Ranking of World Universities rankings, TU/e was placed at the 52-75 bucket internationally in Engineering/Technology and Computer Science category and at 34th place internationally in the Computer Science subject field.