The TUD Dresden University of Technology (TUD) is hosting the General Assembly of the Heritage Network in the week from 12 to 15 May 2025 under the leadership of the School of Engineering Sciences. The Indo-European association is an alliance of around 30 leading universities from India and Europe. The network meeting brings together representatives of engineering sciences from education and research. In addition to the election of the new board and new memberships, the program includes conferences on the key topic of global education.

© Mascha Schelten

TUD has been the only German university represented in the Heritage Network, which is also located at the interface of internationalization and sustainability, since 2019. Prof. Ercan Altinsoy, Chair of Acoustics and Haptics and Internationalization Officer of the School of Engineering Sciences, currently holds a key position as a member of the Steering and Executive Committee (2021-2025). For his many years of commitment to the committee, he has now been awarded an honorary position in the network as Honorary SEC. With the appointment of Maike Heitkamp-Mai, Sustainability Management Officer in TUD's Directorate University Culture, to the committee, the university will once again have a leading position in the network for four years - and can thus continue to strengthen the link between sustainability, university culture and internationalization.

© Crispin-Iven Mokry

In addition to the Heritage meeting, TUD is hosting a PhD workshop on "Environmental Sustainability in Mechanical Engineering - Life Cycle Assessment", organized by Dr. Robert Kuper and his team from the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology. An excursion to Saxon Switzerland will also provide an opportunity for informal discussions.

TUD intensifies its cooperation in India

As host of the Heritage Assembly 2025, TUD is building on existing collaborations with excellent bilateral cooperation and deepening its ties with India. TU Dresden has maintained close ties with partner institutions in India for many years. TUD has been cooperating at university level with the Indian IIT Madras in Chennai since 2009. Recently, both institutions signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to establish a joint transCampus. Under the leadership of the TUD, the Free State of Saxony has also been operating a scientific coordination office in Chennai, India, since fall 2024 - another milestone in Indo-German cooperation.

A key component of the campus in Chennai is the IITM Research Park, with which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed in 2024. With the innovative "Startup Exchange Initiative" of the TUD|Excellence Center for Innovation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship (TUD|excite) and the IITM Research Park, both partners are intensifying technology transfer through exchanges between German and Indian startup companies.

As part of the cooperation with IIT Madras, the Global Water and Climate Adaptation Centre, ABCD-Centre for short, was set up with other partners from RWTH Aachen University, the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand and the Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources at the United Nations University (UNU-FLORES). It is part of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at TU Dresden. In 2024, the first Indo-German joint master's program "Water Security and Global Change" was founded under this collaboration.

Contact:

School of Engineering Sciences:
Maike Heitkamp-Mai
E-mail:

International Office:
Dr. Avinash Chekuru
Advisor Impact Partnerships, International Office
E-mail: