Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology (Dutch: Technische Universiteit Delft) also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technological university. Located in Delft Netherlands, it is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the Netherlands and as of 2020, it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among the top 15 engineering and technology universities in the world.

With eight faculties and numerous research institutes  it has more than 19,000 students (undergraduate and postgraduate), and employs more than 2,900 scientists and 2,100 support and management staff.

The university was established on 8 January 1842 by William II of the Netherlands as a Royal Academy, with the primary purpose of training civil servants for work in the Dutch East Indies. The school expanded its research and education curriculum over time, becoming a polytechnic school in 1864 and an institute of technology (making it a full-fledged university) in 1905. It changed its name to Delft University of Technology in 1986.

Dutch Nobel laureates Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, and Simon van der Meer have been associated with TU Delft. TU Delft is a member of several university federations, including the IDEA League, CESAER, UNITECH International, and 4TU.

Delft University of Technology was founded on 8 January 1842 by William II of the Netherlands as Royal Academy for the education of civilian engineers, for serving both nation and industry, and of apprentices for trade. One of the purposes of the academy was to educate civil servants for the colonies of the Dutch East India Company. The first director of the academy was Antoine Lipkens, constructor of the first Dutch optical telegraph, called simply as Lipkens. Royal Academy had its first building located at Oude Delft 95 in Delft. On 23 May 1863 an Act was passed imposing regulations on technical education in the Netherlands, bringing it under the rules of secondary education.