Distance learning at the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering

TUD Dresden University of Technology is one of the oldest technical-academic educational institutions in Germany. Its history dates back to 1828, when it was founded as the Technische Bildungsanstalt Dresden. In 1890 it was elevated to the status of a Royal Saxon University and in 1961 it was granted the status of a technical university. After reunification, TU Dresden was expanded into a full university by establishing new faculties in the humanities, social sciences and medicine.

With around 36,000 enrolled students, TU Dresden is one of the largest universities in Saxony. One of the most traditional faculties at TU Dresden is the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, whose original roots can be found in the Mechanical Department of the Dresden Technical College. Important personalities such as Johann Andreas Schubert (designer of the first German steam locomotive "Saxonia"), Gustav Anton Zeuner (father of technical thermodynamics) and Georg Berndt (founder of industrial length and precision measurement technology in Europe) shaped the history of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering.Today, the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering is one of the largest faculties at TU Dresden and covers the entire spectrum of mechanical engineering, from general mechanical engineering to aircraft technology. Around 2,500 students are currently enrolled at the faculty, of which around 150 are distance learning students alone.

TU Dresden has many years of experience in the field of distance learning, the roots of which go back to the 1950s. Since the winter semester of 1993/94, TU Dresden has been offering the newly developed University Technical Distance Learning Program (known as the Dresden Model), continuing the long-standing tradition and, for the first time in Germany, offering comprehensive distance learning in mechanical engineering at a face-to-face university.

The Dresden Model is particularly attractive as it allows students to combine work and study in an ideal way. The demands of distance learning are just as high as those of face-to-face study, but are manageable with the right motivation.

The Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering offers distance learning in the Mechanical Engineering degree program in a total of 4 fields of study:

• General and Constructive Mechanical Engineering
• Energy technology
• Aerospace engineering
• Production Engineering