Background

Overview of facts and figures

1897

At the opening of the Royal School of Mechanical Engineering Dortmund a technical a institution of higher education is discussed for the first time.

3 April 1900

The Dortmund magistrate suggests that a technical institution of higher education should be founded in Dortmund. The Mining Association, the Association of German Ironworkers, the Upper Mining Office and the Chamber of Commerce subsequently support the project.

21 January 1908

The city applies to the Prussian government for the establishment of a technical institution of higher education. The government refers to the priority of developing and building other institutions of higher education.

1926/1927

Renewed initiative by Dortmund to establish a technical institution of higher education, which is rejected by the government as too costly.

1945/1947 
The city argues for the establishment of a technical institution of higher education, first to the British military government, then to the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia. The plan is subsequently supported again by representatives of business as well as science.

10 February 1958
Foundation of the Association of Friends of a Technical Institution of Higher Education which is later renamed the Association of Friends of TU Dortmund University.

12 June 1962

The state government decides to establish a technical institution of higher education in Dortmund.

30 May 1964

The advising founding committee is constituted.

26 May 1965

The state government decides to establish the new higher education institution as a university.

1 June 1965

Foundation of the University Library.

14 July 1965

Construction work begins on the Structure and Disposition Center (Aufbau- und Verfügungszentrum, AVZ; today: South Campus).

26 May 1966

Minister President Dr. Franz Meyers lays the foundation stone for the University of Dortmund.

16 September 1968

Prof. Dr. Martin Schmeißer is appointed president of the University of Dortmund, having performed the duties of the founding president since 1965. Dr. Heribert Röken becomes the university’s first chancellor.

From the Pedagogical Academy (Pädagogische Akademie) to the Pedagogical Institution of Higher Education Ruhr (Pädagogische Hochschule Ruhr).

1 June 1929

Prussian Minister of Education Dr. Carl Heinrich Becker opens the protestant Pedagogical Academy (evangelische Pädagogische Akademie). It is temporarily housed in the former district administration office at Luisenstrasse 11. The first director of the academy is Prof. Dr. Kurt Körber. 61 students are enrolled.

4 October 1930

The new building of the Pedagogical Academy at Hindenburgdamm (today: Rheinlanddamm) is ceremoniously inaugurated.

April 1933

The Pedagogical Academy is transformed into a teacher training institution of higher education. In the following period, the educational curriculum is changed in the National Socialist sense and the teaching staff is reshuffled.

8 February 1941
The a teacher training institution of higher education is transformed into a teacher training school, which increasingly trains school aides in place of teacher training students who are deployed in wartime service. The teacher training school is evacuated in 1942, first to Altena, then to Höxter.

2 April 1945

Shortly before the end of the war and fascist regime, the university dissolves.

17 December 1946

New start of the Dortmund Pedagogical Academy, temporarily housed in Lünen, with the inaugural lecture of the new president, Dr. Emil Figge.

1 April 1951

The Pedagogical Academy moves into its old building at the Rheinlanddamm in Dortmund.

9 June 1965

The Pedagogical Academy Dortmund becomes part of the Pedagogical Institution of Higher Education Ruhr (Pädagogische Hochschule Ruhr). It is recognized as a scientific institution of higher education with a university character.

1 November 1973

The Dortmund section of the Pedagogical Institution of Higher Education Ruhr moves into its new building on Emil-Figge-Straße 50.

1 October 1976

After the concentration in Dortmund, the Pedagogical Institution of Higher Education is divided into eight divisions.

22 November 1979

Ceremony “ 50 years of teacher training in Dortmund“ (“50 Jahre Lehrerausbildung in Dortmund“).