Inventing the Future
The roots of the German technical university system can be traced back to the 18th century. Its historical development up to the present can be interpreted as a process of modernization within a complex network of interests and necessities. Now, as then, the main actors in this process were the three important areas of modern society: politics, economics and science.
The history of the German technical university system can be divided into five major periods: the first embraces the search for an education system for technical experts during the 18th century. The second period charts the birth of early German institutions for higher technical education and their development into technical universities. This period lasted from the early 19th century and ended with World War I. The third period, from the end of World War I to the 1960s, was a period of dramatic economic brake-downs, of devastation during World War II, and of the rebirth and reconstruction of the “good old” German technical university system from before national socialism. The forth period began with the “student revolutions” of 1968/69. It was a period of rapid growth for the technical universities – of reformation and experiments as well as crisis thanks to a rapidly changing social, economic and technological environment. The reunification of the East and West German states in 1989/90 led to the fifth period in the development of German technical universities.
This is characterized by the response to the teaching and research standards of American and British university systems. At the very end of this story the demands of globalization seem to change what for at least two hundred years seemed to be unchangeable: the specific German technical university system.
Profile of Speaker – Prof. Dr. Helmuth Albrecht
Prof. Dr. Helmuth Albrecht, born April 8th, 1955 in Celle, Germany, has been Full Professor of History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology and Director of the Institute for History of Science and Technology at the TU Freiberg since 1997. He specializes in the history of technological universities, the history of industrialization and modern technology and geology.
Since completing his Ph.D. (magna cum laude) in History (Dr. phil.) at the TU Braunschweig, Faculty of Philosophy, Prof. Albrecht has held numerous positions in universities and institutions in Germany and abroad and is the recipient of several awards, including the 1992 Science-Award of the State-Museum for Technology and Labour in Mannheim (ABB-Award).
He has been published widely, with six monographs to his name, as well as 22 articles in scientific journals and yearbooks and contributing over 40 chapters to edited volumes. He is also the editor of several publications focusing on science, technology and society and the editor of two series of book on history and the history of industrialization