TU Dresden is nearly 200-years-old and ranks in the top 5 German universities in regard to publication output, third-party funding and patents. Since 2012 TU Dresden holds the title of one of eleven German excellence universities with its strategy of a “Synergetic University”. Regarding research topics TU Dresden is internationally renowned for innovation in bioengineering and medical technology, microelectronics and nanotechnology, magnetism and material sciences as well as mobility and transportation. Additionally, TU Dresden as a full-curriculum university offers a wide range of study programs in the humanities focussing its research on culture and societal change.
Apart from its excellent research TU Dresden supports its academic staff to excel in teaching. Centres like the Centre for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching (ZiLL) initiate and supervise programs that support innovation in teaching and learning at TU Dresden.
Here teaching methods that enable an active and engaged student-learning are considered the basis of Higher Education following the principle of constructive alignment (John Biggs). Technological innovation regarding digital tools and methods for example is supported by an in-house multimedia fund.
At the Centre for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning (ZiLL) the creation and organisation of innovative interdisciplinary courses and study has been conducted for many years.
Exemplary is the FLiK program (research and learning in an interdisciplinary context) which fosters interdisciplinary and research-oriented learning and teaching. One of the four offered modules is “Biomimetics”, which revolves around the central question of how natural phenomena and their (functional) properties, as well as their underlying principles, can be analysed in order to then apply them to project developments from engineering, mathematical, biological and design perspectives.
Recently the STEAM approach has become more and more central, e.g. by applying design thinking. The chair of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Dresden is not only applying design thinking but also experimenting and researching how design thinking practices can find their way into research, teaching and management at European universities. Additionally, a central part of designing and accompanying research is to deal with multiple stakeholders in innovative processes where the element of creative, artistic, visual work can be essential in order to produce a common understanding of a problem and a possible solution.
As part of the DRESDEN-concept alliance TU Dresden profits from excellent contacts e.g. to museums and higher education institutions in the cultural sector.
