Аахен Техникалық Университеті

Public university in Aachen, Germany

is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study programs, it is the largest technical university in Germany. RWTH Aachen in 2019 emerged from the final of the third federal and state excellence strategy. The university will be funded as a university of excellence for the next seven years. RWTH Aachen was already part of the federal and state excellence initiative in 2007 and 2012. Since 2007, RWTH Aachen has been continuously funded by the DFG and the German Council of Science and Humanities as one of eleven (previously nine) German Universities of Excellence for its future concept RWTH 2020: Meeting Global Challenges and the follow up concept The Integrated Interdisciplinary University of Science and Technology: Knowledge, Impact, Networks, also receiving grants for associated graduate schools and clusters of excellence. The university regularly accounts for the highest amount of third party funds among all German universities, placing first per faculty member and second overall in the most recent survey from 2018. RWTH Aachen is a founding member of the CESAER association of universities of science and technology in Europe, and IDEA League, a strategic alliance of five leading universities of technology in Europe, as well as its German counterpart TU9. It is also a member of DFG and the Top Industrial Managers for Europe network.

RWTH Aachen University's campus is located in the north western part of the city Aachen. There are two core areas – midtown and Melaten district. The Main Building, SuperC student's center and the Kármán Hall are 500 m away from the city centre with the Aachen Cathedral, the Audimax (biggest lecture hall) and the main refectory are 200 m farther. Other points of interest include the university's botanical garden (Botanischer Garten Aachen). A new building, the so called Central Auditorium for Research and Learning (CARL) was opened in 2017. It offers space for 4000 students and replaces Audimax as the largest lecture hall building. The name of the new central auditorium, which is going to contain different lecture halls, is a reference to Charlemagne, who reigned his empire from Aachen in the middle ages. The RWTH has external facilities in Jülich and Essen and owns, together with the University of Stuttgart, a house in Kleinwalsertal in the Austrian Alps. The university is currently expanding in the city center and Melaten district. The SuperC, the new central service building for students, was opened in 2008. The groundbreaking for the new Campus Melaten was in 2009.

Double degrees and student mobility are promoted with other technology universities through the TIME (Top Industrial Managers for Europe) network. Furthermore, the RWTH is member of the IDEA League, which is a strategic partnership among four of Europe's leading research universities, including TU Delft, Chalmers University of Technology, and ETH Zürich, and was the first German university starting an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in 2008. Compared to other German universities the RWTH Aachen received the highest amount of funds granted by third party donors in the last years. More than 7,000 international students are currently enrolled within the undergraduate, graduate or PhD programme. Compared to other German universities the portion of international students at the RWTH Aachen is higher than average.

RWTH Aachen was ranked #106 globally (#5 nationally) in the QS World University Rankings 2024, In the 2023 THE Subject Ranking, RWTH Aachen ranks second in Germany in engineering and computer science. In the 2022 ARWU Subject Ranking, RWTH Aachen ranks first in Germany in chemical engineering. In 2012, Handelsblatt ranked The RWTH School of Business and Economics amongst top 10 within Germany. In the 2015 ranking published by DAAD together with Centre for Higher Education Development and Die Zeit, RWTH Aachen also stands on top among other German universities in the aforementioned fields of engineering and computer science.

RWTH Aachen took 3rd place in 2018 based on the number of top managers in the German economy measured by the number of DAX board of management members. In 2019, RWTH Aachen took 2nd place. The top 3 universities in 2019 with the most top managers were the LMU Munich, the RWTH Aachen and the Technische Universität Darmstadt. From 2001 to 2013, national rankings regularly identified RWTH Aachen as one of the best universities in Germany in the fields of engineering (especially mechanical engineering, electrical engineering), as well as amongst the top three in computer science, physics, chemistry, and medicine.

Almost all basic lectures are held in German, but an increasing number of master programs require proficiency in English for admission.

The Aachen Institute for advanced study in Computational Engineering Science (AICES) is a graduate school established in 2006 under the German Universities Excellence Initiative at the RWTH Aachen University. Research at AICES is broadly in the area of Computational engineering, solving inverse problems that find applications in mathematics, computer science and engineering, mechanical engineering and natural sciences. AICES is a collaborative effort of 47 principal investigators from 8 academic divisions of RWTH Aachen University, as well as Max Planck Institute for Iron Research and Forschungszentrum Jülich.

RWTH Aachen University has educated several notable individuals, including some Nobel laureates in physics and chemistry. The scientists and alumni of the RWTH Aachen played a major role in chemistry, medicine, electrical, and mechanical engineering. For example, Nobel laureate Peter Debye received a degree in electrical engineering from RWTH Aachen and is known for the Debye model and Debye relaxation. Another example, Helmut Zahn and his team of the Institute for Textile Chemistry were the first who synthesised insulin in 1963 and they were nominated for Nobel Prize. Another example is B. J. Habibie, the third president of Indonesia that contributed in many aviation advancements. Franz Josef Och was the chief architect of Google Translate. Werner Tietz is one of the leading engineers of the Volkswagen Group and vice president of SEAT.