Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2011

This was posted in Universities in Germany

The Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) is a German academic research and education institution with university status resulting from a merger of the university (Universität Karlsruhe (TH)) and the research center (Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe) of the city of Karlsruhe. The university, also known as Fridericiana, was founded in 1825. In 2009, it merged with the former national nuclear research center founded in 1956 as the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK). One of nine German Excellence Universities, the KIT is one of the leading universities in science and engineering in Europe, ranking 6th overall in terms of citation impact.

The Karlsruher Institut für Technologie was founded as Polytechnische Schule, a polytechnical school, on 7 October 1825. It was modeled upon the École polytechnique in Paris. In 1865, Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden (German: Friedrich) raised the school to the status of a Hochschule, an institution of higher education. Since 1902 the university has also been known as the Fridericiana in his honour.

Library
The Karlsruher Institut für Technologie Library is the main library of KIT. Its two branches on Campus South and Campus North provide literature for research and study for about 25,000 students and 8000 scientists with a widespread, interdisciplinary book stock of over 2 million volumes, reports and 28,000 periodicals in print and electronic form. The emphasis of the collection lies on natural and engineering sciences.