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Students of the Dresden Music College often display their skills at the Semper Opera
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More Than Just a Technical University
In Dresden, making your mark outside the realms of politics and culture requires some serious effort. But in the last few years, the Dresden University of Technology has managed to do just that. It has transformed itself from a purely technical university into a comprehensive one. And in cooperation with the city's other seven tertiary institutions, it's helping to turn Dresden into a science center.
Actively Improved
Founded in 1828 as the Technical Educational Institution of Dresden or Technische Bildungsanstalt Dresden, the university focused on natural sciences and technical subjects until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Since then, the university's course spectrum has greatly increased, partly through the establishment of new faculties. Apart from humanities and social sciences, medicine is now also an integral part of the curriculum. With over 120 study courses on offer, the university was one of the fullest in Germany during the 2008/2009 winter season. The most sought-after courses were engineering, medicine and international relations.
Despite this large scope, the approach is down-to-earth and practice-oriented. The course content is not handed down from an ivory tower, but is transparent and shared with everyone. The university has a strong focus on an efficient balance between theory and practice. The close cooperation with companies such as AMD and VW has been particularly successful in this regard. For years, these companies have been local partners for the transfer of knowledge between businesses and university faculties.
Convenient for Students
The university's campus is nestled against the old town in the south and in the east. The faculty headquarters are located in historic buildings and in modern glass-and-concrete constructions. Just like in the city, the old and the new come face to face here. But it isn't just this ambience that makes Dresden a good place to study. It's also the value for money. Not only are there no study fees here, but also life in eastern Germany is still cheaper overall than in western Germany. Shared apartments are a popular residence option for students, as well as the 30-something student dormitories in the Neustadt district -- most of them in a renovated state. Anyone who only plans to study here for a short time also has the chance of being accommodated at the university's own international guesthouse. In the 2008/2009 winter semester, there were over 3,000 foreign students enrolled at the university, more than half of them from Europe. A cultural exchange program is available through ERASMUS and the local LinkPartnerProgramm (LPP), creating opportunities for creating contacts between international and German students.
As for other contacts, Dresden boasts the largest number of student clubs within one city -- places such as Baerenzwinger and Borsi 34. There are over a dozen localities in this part of town.
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Hai Anh from Vietnam studies architecture at TU Dresden
"There are a lot of international students here and we are being very well looked after" (German)
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| Further Information
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TU Dresden is a member of TU9, an alliance of the best technical universities in Germany. On its webpages, TU9 provides information on studying engineering and natural sciences.
www.tu9.de/...
Profile of the Dresden-Chemnitz region and its Networks of Competence
www.kompetenznetze.de/...
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