Royal Institute of Technology KTH

The Ranking of KTH - Royal Institute of Technology

www.kth.se

The Royal Institute of Technology (Swedish: Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, KTH) is a university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH was founded in 1827 as Sweden's first polytechnic and is with TKK in Helsinki, depending on definition, Scandinavia's largest institution of higher education in technology and one of the leading technical universities in Europe.

KTH accounts for one-third of Sweden’s technical research and engineering education capacity at university level. Education and research cover a broad spectrum – from natural sciences to all the branches of engineering as well as architecture, industrial engineering and management, urban planning, work science and environmental engineering. In addition to the research carried out by KTH’s Schools, a large number of both national and local Competence Centres are located at KTH. Various research foundations also finance a number of research programmes.

KTH offers programmes leading to a Master of Architecture, Master of Science in Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, licentiate or doctoral degree. The university also offers a technical preparatory programme for non-scientists and further education.There are a total of just over 12,000 full-year equivalent undergraduate students, more than 1,400 active postgraduate students and 2,800 full time equivalent employees.KTH was founded in 1827 and the main campus has been located in attractive, and now listed, buildings in central Stockholm since 1917.

In addition, KTH and Stockholm University jointly offer study programmes and carry on research in biotechnology and physics at AlbaNova University Center, located at Roslagstull. The School of Information and Communication Technology is located on the Kista campus, north of Stockholm, while the School of Technology and Health is located in Haninge, Flemingsberg and Södertälje, south of Stockholm.In Kista, KTH collaborates with Stockholm University, various research institutes and industry within the framework of the IT University – Sweden’s largest resource in information technology.KTH has extensive international research and educational exchange programmes with universities and colleges, mainly in Europe, the USA and Australia, but also increasingly in Asia. The university participates actively in various EU research programmes and also cooperates with Swedish and international development agencies.

History

The origins of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm – "Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan", KTH – go back to 1827, as the "Teknologiska Institutet" then began to offer education in technological subjects with a strong professional touch. Its education programme was meant to be "popular as well as practical", as the industrialization process of modern society was then getting under way; this called for a school that could meet the ever-increasing demand for engineers. Thus the educational focus of the new institute was set on applied technology, not on its scientific foundations.

Ten years earlier, in 1917, KTH had moved into its own, specially erected buildings in the northern part of central Stockholm. This is still the core of KTH´s main campus, even if our activities today include a number of other campuses all over the Stockholm provincial area. The housing areas of these are now comprising some 250,000 square metres in all.

Consequently a mass of students did compete for placements here at KTH – the place of action, where things occurred! In the early 1950s Sweden´s first nuclear reactor was installed in a cellar in our campus area, while on the other side of the street, higher up, Sweden´s very first TV station went on the air! In short, public confidence in the blessings of technology was of a high order.

Research

In order to reach the forefront in research, and to stay there, two things are required: a concentrated and well-defined effort, and smooth and efficient networks built together with outside partners and other actors. In later years KTH has been making a great effort in the building of strong research environments. This has frequently taken the form of interdisciplinary excellence centres. Some of KTH´s most marked areas of strength in research are the following, which are introduced here:

• Biotechnology
• Industrial and applied mathematics
• Information & Communication Technology
• Pharmaceuticals and chemical engineering
• Materials and nano technology
• New products and production technologies

To ensure that KTH’s research remains competitive internationally and that future research strategies are developed in a global perspective, KTH set itself the challenge of conducting an international review of its entire research base in 2008. In June 2008, some 80 international Experts, from both universities and industry, visited KTH, evaluating almost 50 research areas. KTH also conducted a bibliometirc analysis.

The evaluation showed that:

• KTH has a strong footprint as a technical research university and is able to take research findings forward into society. According to the international Experts, over half KTH’s research units excel in both basic and applied research.
• KTH has considerable research depth. Almost two thirds of KTH’s research groups produce basic research at the international top level. The citation impact of KTH publications is significantly above international reference levels.
• KTH is a successful innovation partner in Swedish society. Per unit of research expenditure, KTH now produces spin-offs at a rate comparable with MIT, Stanford and Cambridge and patenting levels match those seen at other top European universities. Two thirds of KTH’s research groups produce applied research at the international top level.

Schools and Departments

• School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE)
• School of Computer Science and Communication (CSC)
• School of Electrical Engineering (EE)
• School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM)
• School of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
• School of Chemical Science and Engineering (CHE)
• School of Technology and Health (STH)
• School of Engineering Sciences (SCI)
• KTH Företagssamverkan
• Enheten för vetenskaplig information och lärande
• KTHB
• Learning Lab

Royal Institute of Technology KTH was ranked 173 in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking