History of Hochschule München

In the early days, a great deal of improvisation took place at the State School of Architecture – teachers and pupils produced the teaching materials themselves: a teaching sheet on façade construction from 1825, produced using the lithographic printing process.

In 1868, a technical university was established by royal decree; this is today’s TU. Polytechnic education was thus accorded the status of higher education.

A group photograph of the graduates of the School of Building Trades in 1895. Students came to Munich not only from Bavaria, but from all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

A classroom at the building trades school at the turn of the century

The main entrance to the Building Trade School at 23 Gabelsbergerstraße: in 1907, it had regained its independence following the closure of the Industrial School.

The establishment of social work as a profession for women and the founding of ‘social schools for women’ was a project undertaken by sections of the bourgeois women’s movement around 1900. In Munich, the Association for Women’s Interests was an early advocate of this cause.

Pictured: Women’s Suffrage Congress in Munich, 1912

On 1 October 1924, teaching began at the newly founded ‘Higher Technical College of the City of Munich’ – initially still in the premises of the Trade School on Pranckhstraße.

The first director of the “Higher Technical College of the City of Munich” was the engineer and mountaineer Hans Pfann – he held the post from 1924 to 1935. In 1928, he led an expedition to the Andes organised by the German and Austrian Alpine Clubs.

On 20 May, lessons at the “Higher Technical College of the City of Munich” began in a new building at 34 Lothstraße.

In the mid-1920s, Renner designed one of the most significant typefaces of his time: ‘Futura’. It embodies the modern requirements of a functional typeface. In the decades that followed, it gained widespread international popularity.

Pupils in the typesetting room of the Municipal Master School for German Book Printers, circa 1929. They are being supervised by teacher Josef Käufer (right). According to his son Erwin Käufer, the room appears fuller than usual because pupils from other classes were also included in the photograph.

The coat of arms of Munich (shown here: parts of the Ratsservice, 1930) is based on a design by Eduard Ege from 1927. Ege had been working at the Meisterschule since that year. Following some revisions, his design was used for the seals of the municipal authorities in 1932.

Even before the National Socialists came to power, the pro-Nazi student newspaper *Deutsche Revolution* had been attacking Schweighart’s leadership of the State School of Architecture.

The Nazi seizure of power had an impact on the Meisterschule. Headmaster Renner was dismissed from municipal service, and other teachers were forced out of the school. Typography and the printing industry underwent significant changes after 1933. In contrast to Roman typefaces, Gothic typefaces were stylised as particularly ‘German’ and ‘national’ and co-opted by Nazi cultural propaganda. Fraktur also dominated the Meister School’s curriculum and shaped the school’s printed materials and students’ work in the years that followed.

Pictured: An advertisement for the new Gothic typeface ‘National’ in the journal of the German Book Printers’ Association, which ran the school in partnership with the City of Munich, December 1933.

In 1936, the Youth Leaders’ Seminar was established at Hochschule München, marking another precursor to social work. This was a one-year further training course for experienced nursery school teachers preparing them for leadership roles. It was set up at the long-established Munich Municipal Nursery School Teachers’ Seminar.

Pictured: A teaching exercise in the training nursery, circa 1940.

From 1933 onwards, the curriculum at the Social School for Women was reoriented in line with the inhuman aims of National Socialism. Racial hygiene and Nazi educational ideals were introduced. The National Socialist Martha Rehm became the new headmistress.

Pictured: Propaganda photograph from the book *Aus einem deutschen Kindergarten* (From a German Nursery School), published in 1940 by the Munich Municipal Nursery School Seminar.

Following the death of the previous director, Maria Urban, in 1944, the running of the nursery school teachers and youth leaders seminar was taken over by the educationalist Elisabeth Zorell. Both were critical of the Nazis, but outwardly went along with them.

Pictured: Zorell with participants in the youth leaders’ training course, 1944/45.

The ruins of the State School of Architecture in the immediate post-war period – following a bombing raid in July 1944 and the subsequent two-day fire, the building was a total write-off.

Between 1946 and 1954, Max Stiehle, a victim of Nazi persecution, was the school’s headmaster. He successfully campaigned for the State School of Architecture to become independent from the Oskar von Miller Polytechnic.

In addition to courses in typography, typesetting and printing techniques, as well as business administration and management, the Municipal Master School for Germany’s Book Printers placed particular emphasis on practical training: students received instruction directly at a printing press.

In the 1950s, the profession of photography became hugely popular. To mark the photography school’s 50th anniversary, an exhibition featuring the school’s work was organised.

The conductor and composer Joseph Suder (1892–1980) founded the choir and symphony orchestra of the Oskar von Miller Polytechnic. Both ensembles remain cultural institutions of the university to this day and are an integral part of the curriculum.

Despite the fact that there was a strong drive towards academicisation at the school, it maintained close ties with the printing trade. The picture shows pupils at the Municipal Master School for Germany’s Book Printers around 1954 during the ‘Gautschen’ ceremony: in this traditional ceremony marking the graduation of printer’s apprentices as journeymen, they are thrown into a tub of water. Although a craft tradition is at the heart of this, the Master School is also an institution of higher education.

In 1956, the education authorities approved the establishment of a private technical college under the direction of H.-D. Bohne. From 1958, it became a Higher Technical College (abbreviated to HTL). In 1967, following its takeover by a school-sponsoring association, it was renamed the ‘Bohne School of Engineering’.

In 1960, the former Social School for Women became the Higher Technical College for Youth and Social Work.

Pictured: New building on Bogenhauser Kirchplatz, 1959/60. All the municipal social schools were brought together here, including the ‘Technical College for Youth Leaders’, which was later also recognised as a Higher Technical College.

Reverend Günter Hegele was the first student chaplain to look after the forerunners of the university of applied sciences, taking up the post of Chaplain IV at Munich’s Christuskirche on 1 October 1960. The Evangelical Student Community (ESG) has been active ever since. In 1996, it was renamed the ‘Evangelical University Community at the Munich University of Applied Sciences’.

The laying of the foundation stone for the extension to the “Oskar-von-Miller-Polytechnikum” on Dachauer Straße in September was attended by, among others, Lord Mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel (left).

In 1956, the Municipal Master School for Germany’s Book Printers was upgraded to an academy. Here is the building on Pranckhstraße, which, following lengthy negotiations, finally received a new extension in 1955 and an adjoining connecting building in 1958.

In the 1960s, the proportion of female students at the Higher School of Economics ranged between 6 and 8 per cent. The photograph shows students from a year group at the Higher School of Economics in front of a mountain hut in Frasdorf.

During one of their protests against the reform of engineering schools, students from the Polytechnic carried Miller’s bust with them.

On 10 June 1968, students at the State School of Architecture began a boycott of lectures and examinations. This continued until November of the following year.

The founding president of Munich University of Applied Sciences (FH) is Dr Karl Hammer, who was previously director of the Oskar von Miller Polytechnic.

For the first time, practical semesters are being introduced in companies outside the university. In the higher education sector, practical semesters are currently only available at universities of applied sciences.

Uwe Brockhausen has been appointed Registrar of the university of applied sciences in Munich.

The numerus clausus is being introduced for the subject areas of Social Work and Business Administration, as well as for the Cartography programme within the Department of Surveying.

Following the amendment to the Bavarian Higher Education Act, universities of applied sciences are permitted to carry out ‘application-oriented development work’.

A post dedicated to supporting international students is being created within the Student Advice Centre.

Universities of applied sciences will be granted the right to award diplomas to their graduates and to award diplomas retrospectively to all alumni of the predecessor institutions.

Munich University of Applied Sciences has strong regional roots: 88 per cent of its students come from Bavaria, with 31 per cent from the Greater Munich area, 34 per cent from the rest of Upper Bavaria and 23 per cent from the rest of Bavaria. Eight per cent come from other federal states within Germany and 4 per cent from abroad.

Establishment of the “International Office”. President Keßler (right) and Director Laget formalise the partnership between Munich University of Applied Sciences and the École Supérieure de Commerce de Pau in France.

Following many years of consultancy work, a ‘Technology Transfer Office’ is being established at Munich University of Applied Sciences.

The first Women’s Representative at the Munich University of Applied Sciences has been elected: Prof. Dr Ursula Schrag has stated that her aim is “to improve access opportunities for qualified women in teaching and to encourage young women to take up higher education, particularly in technical subjects.”

Universities in Bavaria are establishing partnerships with universities in Saxony. Hochschule München has signed a partnership agreement with Mittweida University of Applied Sciences, which is continuing as a pilot project for universities of applied sciences in the eastern part of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Pictured: the new building at 34 Lothstraße.

Merger of the two departments of the Social Work subject area in Aubing and Bogenhausen at the Pasing campus.

The Catholic and Protestant University Community at the Pasing Campus was established in 1992 for the departments of the university of applied sciences and was based at Paosostr. 10 (the PAOSO). Once the tenants had moved out, the three flats in the villa were let to students at the Pasing Campus.

Toni Maier (1992–2011) was the Catholic chaplain, whilst Joachim Zuber was the Protestant student chaplain based at Loristr. 1. Between 1992 and 1997, he also helped to lead the EHG on the Pasing campus and remains involved with the EHG on the city centre campus to this day.

From 1997 to 2021, Jutta Lang served as the Protestant student chaplain in Pasing.

Hans Klug succeeded Toni Maier and has been the Catholic university chaplain in Pasing since 2011.

(View of the building from 2014)

The Friends and Supporters Association of Munich University of Applied Sciences is being established with the aim of supporting application-oriented education and research and enhancing the performance of Munich University of Applied Sciences.

With a ceremony attended by numerous representatives from the worlds of politics, business and academia, Munich University of Applied Sciences is celebrating its 25th anniversary at Lothstraße 34.

Pictured here is the ‘Gesten’ exhibition at the FHM Cultural Forum on Karlstraße.

http://www.fh-muenchen.de: Munich University of Applied Sciences and its subject areas present themselves online.

Tourism students on a field trip in Namibia

Munich University of Applied Sciences has adopted a mission statement.

The first master's degree programme in Electrical Engineering, leading to a Master of Science qualification, has been approved.

With well over 50,000 alumni to date, Munich University of Applied Sciences has been making a significant contribution to progress in Bavaria, a leading centre for high-tech innovation, for 30 years. Under the patronage of Minister of State Erwin Huber, the Information Technology Initiative Group is founded.

Falk F. Strascheg is establishing the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) at Munich University of Applied Sciences. With an endowment of 7.5 million euros, it is the largest endowment ever established at a Bavarian university of applied sciences.

Munich University of Applied Sciences has unveiled a new corporate identity. With its dialogue- and news-oriented portal, the university’s new website is setting a new standard in the higher education sector.

Globalisation is gaining momentum: through UAS7, Munich University of Applied Sciences is opening a liaison office in New York in collaboration with six other German universities of applied sciences.

Pictured here is the UAS7 office in German House, New York.

Hochschule München now also allows applicants with relevant professional experience but without a school-leaving certificate to enrol on a subject-specific degree programme.

Students are electing the first Student Parliament. The reorganisation of student representation will help to address students’ concerns more effectively.

Hochschule München has achieved success in the EXIST competition, a funding programme run by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. As one of three German universities, it is entitled to use the title ‘EXIST Start-up University’.

On 9 November 2011, the first 46 high-achieving and committed students will celebrate their acceptance onto the Deutschlandstipendium (Germany scholarship) at HM together with their sponsors.

Networking and research: Hochschule München is successfully participating in the Excellence Initiative at the Technical University of Munich. In addition, the two universities are launching their first joint research training group on ‘Building Services Engineering & Energy Efficiency’.

The ZUG project – Equipped for the Future – is receiving €7 million in funding from the BMBF.

With almost 900 students on dual study programmes, Hochschule München is the leader in dual study programmes among universities of applied sciences in Bavaria.

Students from all 14 departments are presenting solutions to the technical, economic and social challenges of the future at a ‘Future Fair’. In a ‘World Café’, they are gathering ideas for the university’s future direction.

Hochschule München ranks highly in the rankings published by *Wirtschaftswoche*, the international *U-Multirank* and the *University Employability Ranking* by *Emerging*.

Prof. Dr Martin Leitner has been elected as the new President of Hochschule München.

18,400 students: Hochschule München has more students than ever before.

Hochschule München is establishing three cross-faculty research institutes: IMB, ISES and CENERGIE.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most teaching at Hochschule München is taking place online.

The new MUC.DAI interdisciplinary school – the Munich Centre for Digital Sciences and Artificial Intelligence – is developing interdisciplinary degree programmes that combine specialist knowledge with the challenges of the digital world.

The first volume of the history of Hochschule München has been published. It traces the development of the seven institutions that preceded Hochschule München, right up to its foundation in 1971. It makes it clear that Hochschule München is an institution with a rich history spanning over 200 years.

The introduction of the right to award doctorates in 2023 marks a historic milestone: Hochschule München is establishing seven doctoral centres in a Bavaria-wide partnership with Nuremberg and Regensburg, three of which will be hosted by Hochschule München – a partnership model that is unique in Germany.

The interdisciplinary research institute, the Institute for Mobility and Life in Motion (IMM), is being established. It brings together ten chairs from the fields of mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, aeronautical engineering, electrical engineering and design, and develops interdisciplinary, sustainable mobility solutions.

The TIZIO Technology and Transfer Centre is specifically designed to strengthen technology transfers and regional cooperation. From December 2025, researchers from HM will work alongside companies and regional stakeholders in four high-tech laboratories to develop application-oriented innovations.