Delft University of Technology
The Delft University of Technology is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, and natural sciences.
It is considered one of the leading technical universities in Europe and is consistently ranked as one of the best schools for architecture and engineering in the world. According to the QS World University Rankings it ranked 3rd worldwide for architecture and 13th for Engineering & Technology in 2024. It also ranked 3rd best worldwide for mechanical and aerospace engineering, 3rd for civil and structural engineering, 11th for chemical engineering, and 12th for design.
With eight faculties and multiple research institutes, TU Delft educates around 27,000 students, and employs more than 3,500 doctoral candidates and close to 4,500 teaching, research, support and management staff.
The university was established on 8 January 1842 by King William II as a royal academy, with the primary purpose of training civil servants for work in the Dutch East Indies. The school expanded its research and education curriculum over time, becoming a polytechnic school in 1864 and an institute of technology in 1905. It changed its name to Delft University of Technology in 1986.
Dutch Nobel laureates Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, and Simon van der Meer have been associated with TU Delft. TU Delft is a member of several university federations, including the IDEA League, CESAER, UNITECH International, ENHANCE Alliance, LDE, and 4TU.
History
Royal Academy (1842–1864)
Delft University of Technology was founded on 8 January 1842 by William II of the Netherlands as Royal Academy for the education of civilian engineers, for serving both nation and industry, and of apprentices for trade. One of the purposes of the academy was to educate civil servants for the colonies of the Dutch East India Company. The first director of the academy was Antoine Lipkens, constructor of the first Dutch optical telegraph, called simply as Lipkens. Royal Academy had its first building located at Oude Delft 95 in Delft. On 23 May 1863 an Act was passed imposing regulations on technical education in the Netherlands, bringing it under the rules of secondary education.Polytechnic School (1864–1905)
On 20 June 1864, Royal Academy in Delft was disbanded by a Royal Decree, giving a way to a Polytechnic School of Delft. The newly formed school educated engineers of various fields and architects, much needed during the rapid industrialization period in the 19th century.Institute of Technology (1905–1986)
Yet another Act, passed on 22 May 1905, changed the name of the school to Technical College of Delft, emphasizing the academic quality of the education. Polytechnic was granted university rights and was allowed to award academic degrees. The number of students reached 450 around that time. The official opening of the new school was attended by Queen Wilhelmina on 10 July 1905. First dean of the newly established college was ir. J. Kraus, hydraulic engineer. In 1905, the first doctoral degree was awarded. From 1924 until the construction of the new campus in 1966, the ceremonies were held in the Saint Hippolytus Chapel.Corporate rights were granted to the college on 7 June 1956. Most of the university buildings during that time were located within Delft city centre, with some of the buildings set on the side of the river Schie, in the Wippolder district.
Student organizations grew together with the university. The first to be established on 22 March 1848 is the Delftsch Studenten Corps housed in the distinctive Sociëteit Phoenix on the Phoenixstraat. This was followed by the Delftsche Studenten Bond and the KSV Sanctus Virgilius. In 1917, Proof Garden for Technical Plantation was established by Gerrit van Iterson, which today is known as Botanical Garden of TU Delft. In that period, a first female professor, Toos Korvezee, was appointed.
Delft University of Technology (1986–present)
After the end of World War II, TU Delft increased its rapid academic expansion. Studium Generale was established at all universities in the Netherlands, including TU Delft, to promote a free and accessible knowledge related to culture, technology, society and science. Because of the increasing number of students, in 1974 the first Reception Week for First Year Students was established, which has become a TU Delft tradition since then.In September 1986, the Delft Institute of Technology officially changed its name to Delft University of Technology, underlining the quality of the education and research provided by the institution. In the course of further expansion, in 1987 Delft Top Tech institute was established, which provided a professional master education in management for people working in technology-related companies. In September 1997, the 13 faculties of the TU Delft were merged into 9, to improve the management efficiency of the growing university. In the early 1990s, because the vast majority of the students of the university were male, an initiative to increase the number of female students resulted in founding a separate emancipation commission. As a result, Girls Study Technology days were established. In later years the responsibilities of the commission were distributed over multiple institutes.
Since 2006 all buildings of the university are located outside of the historical city center of Delft. The relatively new building of Material Sciences department was sold, later demolished in 2007 to give place for a newly built building of the Haagse Hogeschool. Closer cooperation between TU Delft and Dutch universities of applied sciences resulted in physical transition of some of the institutes from outside to Delft. In September 2009 many institutes of applied sciences from the Hague region as well as Institute of Applied Sciences in Rijswijk, transferred to Delft, close to the location of the university, at the square between Rotterdamseweg and Leeghwaterstraat.
In 2007 the three Dutch technical universities, TU Delft, TU Eindhoven and University of Twente, established a federation, called 3TU.
On 13 May 2008, the building of the Faculty of Architecture was destroyed by fire, presumed caused by a short circuit in a coffee machine due to a ruptured water pipe. The collections that were located on or above the second floor were lost. A furniture collection, the library and prints and maps, which were located on the first floor, the ground floor or in the basement, were saved. The architecture library, containing several thousands of books and maps, as well as many architecture models, including chairs by Gerrit Rietveld and Le Corbusier, were saved. The Faculty of Architecture is currently housed in the university's former main building.
Logo
Through the course of the years the logo of the TU Delft changed a number of times, along with its official name. The current logo is based on the three university colors cyan, black and white. The letter "T" bears a stylized flame on top, referring to the flame that Prometheus brought from Mount Olympus to the people, against the will of Zeus. Because of this, Prometheus is sometimes considered as the first engineer, and is an important symbol for the university. His statue stood in the center of the newly renovated TU Delft campus, Mekelpark, until it was stolen in 2012.Campus
Initially, all of the university buildings were located in the historic city centre of Delft. This changed in the second half of the 20th century with relocations to a separate university neighbourhood. The last university building in the historic centre of Delft was the university library, which was relocated to a new building in 1997. On 12 September 2006, the design of the new university neighbourhood, Mekelpark, was officially approved, giving a green light to the transformation of the area around the Mekelweg into a new campus heart. The new park replaced the main access road and redirected car traffic around the campus, making the newly created park a safer place for bicycles and pedestrians.Mekelpark
A new university neighborhood called Mekelpark was opened on 5 July 2009. Mekelpark replaced old parking structures, bike lanes and filling stations, constructed between faculty buildings of the university in the late 1950s. Its 832-meter-long promenade eased the commute between faculty buildings. Both sides of the promenade are covered by stone benches, 1547 meters long in total. Some of the university buildings around the Mekelpark deserve certain attention.Aula
TU Delft Aula was designed by Van den Broek en Bakema architecture bureau, founded by two TU Delft alumni Jo van den Broek and Jaap Bakema. It was officially opened in January 1966 by Dutch Prime Minister Jo Cals.It is a classical example of a structure built in Brutalist style. TU Delft Aula, which symbolically opens the Mekelpark, houses main university restaurant and store, as well as lecture halls, auditoria, congress center, and administrative offices of the university. All doctoral promotion, honoris causa ceremonies, as well as academic senate meetings take place in the Aula.