The story of the University of Twente
At the University of Twente, we are pioneers in fusing technology, science and engineering with social sciences to impact the world around us. Our driving force as students, scientists and educators is a deep sense of connection with people who share a curious, entrepreneurial spirit.
The challenges of our time are greater than before: global resilience, the digitalization of society, the improvement and personalization of healthcare, the reshaping of the world with smart materials and intelligent manufacturing. Technology has a leading role to play in providing solutions for complex societal challenges worldwide - and only people can enable it to shine in that role. In our passion for understanding our planet and improving life for everyone on it, we celebrate the bonds between mankind and technology, knowing that neither could exist, let alone flourish, without the other.
All of our research and education is aimed at making a difference in today’s society, while setting up the next generation for the future. In this pursuit, the entrepreneurial mind-set and global awareness of our many talented scientists, educators and students lead us to move beyond differences, disciplines, borders. The cross-disciplinary way of working that characterizes our university opens up unexpected possibilities - especially in combination with creativity and excellence in scientific disciplines. Our distinctive educational model, engineering approach and open culture generate new ideas, new energy, new ways forward.
A living smart campus where change begins
Since the University of Twente’s founding in 1961, we have been deeply connected with the rich industrial heritage of our region and the well- being of its population. We proudly carry that forward, both at home and internationally. Today we are a catalyst to many high-tech communities and sectors with strong partnerships in a wide range of industries and societal domains. We participate in ground-breaking, globe-spanning networks and programmes. We maintain lifelong connections with more than 50,000 alumni worldwide.
The University of Twente is a multicultural community of talented, ambitious people that offers students, scientists and educators from around the world the best possible conditions:
- An innovative and vibrant campus with world-class facilities for crossing boundaries and solving complex problems – including state-of-the-art facilities, such as our world-renowned NanoLab, our newly formed Designlab and a new Technical Medical Centre currently.
- An engineering approach to societal challenges, merging fundamental technological and social science research with systematic solution designing.
- Core technologies, among the world’s best, in fields such as nanotechnology and biomedical engineering, IT, robotics and geo-information science.
- Highly personal education, applying student-driven learning and project-based teamwork to foster synergy, (self-)discovery and out of the box problem-solving.
- An outstanding track record in value creation, starting up and spinning off new businesses (with some 1,000 successful ventures to date) and giving shape to new expressions of social and industrial engagement.
Over time, inspiring, curious people have combined their experience in technology, science and engineering with social sciences to initiate change, progress, renewal.
We call this ‘high tech human touch’. And we believe it is more relevant today than ever before.