Situated at the heart of the Netherlands’ high-tech industrial heartland, Eindhoven University of Technology has played a massive role in driving the Dutch knowledge economy over the past six decades.
The university, known as TUE, was originally founded in 1956 to supply electronics giant Philips with the highly-skilled graduates it needed for its famous laboratories, which went on to create the first audio and video cassettes, CD and laserdisc players.
Its considerable links to Philips remain important, but TUE’s links to other businesses in the so-called ‘Brainport’ area – the Dutch equivalent of Silicon Valley – are arguably as important in the 21st century. The area is the corporate home of ASML, NXP, DAF Trucks and DSM, as well as several Dutch R&D institutes, and is the European region with the highest number of patents.
Among the TUE research groups with substantial links to industry based at TUE are its Intelligent Lighting Institute, the Data Science Center Eindhoven, the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and the Materials Technology group.
Its key research areas include automotive systems, broadband telecommunication technologies, information and communication systems, nano-engineering, plasmas and polymers, with its key research areas identified as energy, health and smart mobility.
Its expertise in robotics has been demonstrated by TUE’s continued success in the RoboCup, in which soccer robots built by universities across the world compete for globry. TUE took its third world title in July 2019 having reached its ninth final in a row.
Its students also gained national media attention for creating the world’s first ‘drone’ café in 2016, in which alcoholic drinks were served by flying ‘waiter drones’.
Other areas in which TUE excel include data science, high tech systems and photonic integration.
Located at the heart of Eindhoven, the medium-sized university has around 5,000 undergraduates, 3,200 master’s students and 1,200 doctoral candidates. The university offers courses in English and Dutch, as well as Dutch for beginners for international students.
Sport plays a central role in campus life, with the university’s offering access to 70 different sports via numerous student-run societies, which include those for mountain climbing, taekwondo, wind surfing and snow boarding.
The redeveloped TUE Library, located in the MetaForum building at the centre of the campus, also provides nearly 1,000 study seats, each of which is equipped with wireless internet access.
