Pioneer Hochschule Niederrhein: 50 years connected to the region

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Krefeld. The Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2021. It looks back on half a century in which it has become the central up-and-coming forge on the Lower Rhine. The Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences was founded on August 1, 1971, with 3,660 students in eight departments at the time. Today, over 14,200 students study in ten departments at the Krefeld and Mönchengladbach locations. You can choose from a wide range of courses with a total of 90 Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

“For 50 years and even beyond, we have been opening up perspectives for young people in the region,” says University President Dr. Thomas Grünewald. “We combine the interests of companies in the region with our teaching and research offerings. The cooperation with local companies is, so to speak, part of the DNA of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences. “

In the anniversary year, however, reference is not only made to the founding year 1971. Because the tradition of application-oriented teaching and research in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach goes back well into the 19th century. In 1855, the Crefeld Higher Web School, the first predecessor institution of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, was founded. The initiative at that time came from the Crefeld Chamber of Commerce, which called for a training facility for the next generation of the city’s growing silk companies.

The next higher technical college followed in 1883, the dyeing and finishing school on Adlerstrasse in Krefeld, the predecessor of today’s chemistry department. It was founded as a result of rapid technological progress in the natural sciences. Chemists in England had succeeded in developing synthetic dyes for the first time decades earlier. In the last quarter of the 19th century, the dye boom reached German industry, which was now trying to apply the new dyes to textiles. The new school on Adlerstrasse was their test laboratory. The companies sent their colors there to have the application tested by young scientists.

Not only in Krefeld, but also in Mönchengladbach, schools emerged that were to be merged into the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in 1971. In 1901 the “Prussian Higher Technical School for Textile Industry in Munich-Gladbach” was founded. The building on Webschulstrasse, which still houses the textile and clothing technology department, which with over 2000 students is one of the largest in Europe, was completed a few years later. In 1910 the Public Testing Institute for Textiles followed, in 1912 the Goods Testing Office for the clothing industry. Today, the public testing center for textiles has the status of a state-appointed testing center that tests and certifies industrial products

The arts and crafts school was founded in Krefeld in 1904 and laid the foundation for today’s design department. The State Engineering School followed in 1958, from which the departments of mechanical engineering and process engineering as well as electrical engineering and computer science emerged. In 1962, with the establishment of the State Higher Business School in Mönchengladbach, the foundation stone was laid for what is now the largest department of economics. In 1996, the Krefeld department of industrial engineering emerged from this.

The University of Applied Sciences Establishment Act of March 1970, which came into force on June 8, 1971, laid the foundation for the establishment, which took place on August 1, 1971 in silence. Only the departments of social affairs and ecotrophology were real start-ups, all other departments built on previous institutions. 39 years after the college was founded, in 2010, the tenth department was added with the health care department.

“We feel obliged to the region,” says Thomas Grünewald today. He has been in charge of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences since March 2020 and is the sixth President or Rector in the 50-year history of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences. Because the university has opened up new perspectives over the years, the message in the anniversary year is: pioneer. 50 years of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences.

As a trailblazer, the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences wants to be visible in many places this year. It will be present on buses and trains, billboards, newspapers and magazines and numerous other media not only in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach but also in the Neuss and Viersen districts.

Events are initially only planned digitally. The official ceremony is scheduled for the beginning of September. You can find up-to-date information on campaigns related to the anniversary on the website www.hs-niederrhein.de/50Jahre

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