200 years of student life

Jytte Hilden — former DTU student, Minister of Culture, and more — shares memories of being one of the few women in engineering education.

Hard work, parties, mathematics, and student associations have always been part of student life at DTU, while other things have changed significantly over the course of its nearly 200‑year history. For example, DTU has not always been a university for everyone; at one time, it was mainly for the sons of the Danish bourgeoisie — gradually, other genders and nationalities began joining the polytechnic community.

In the film above, you can hear former Minister of Culture and DTU student, Jytte Hilden, talk about leading the way in a time of change.

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Explore more complex connections between knowledge and technology and politics, culture, and the environment through DTU’s history

The exhibition “Complex Connections” on DTU’s campus in Lyngby presents objects from 200 years of student life: 1) Postcard featuring the Polytechnic College at Sølvtorvet (1909). 2) Song for the new graduates (1924). 3) Diploma signed by H. C. Ørsted (1834). 4) A young engineering student from the 19th century. 5) Beer cans (1985). 6) Freshman handbook for new students (1987). 7) Party for the students. 8) Blueprint of a margarine factory – an exam project from 1948. 9) Various drawing tools used at different periods. 10) Student exercises from the Laboratory of Biochemistry (1960). 11) DTU’s old logo (1929). 12) The first timetable (1829). 13) Exercises in the laboratory at Sølvtorvet in Copenhagen (1908). 14) Parking lots on the new campus in Lyngby in the 1970s. 15) Calculator (1980s). 16) Clippings from the student newspaper Sletten from the inauguration year of the Lyngby campus (1974). 17) Statutes of the Polytechnic Association (ca. 1900). 18) The magazine Research & Innovation (1991). 19) Clipping from a student newspaper. 20) Copy of the student newspaper Sletten (1992).

DTU through time

Since 1829, DTU has evolved from a small, modest polytechnic college into an international elite university with addresses across the kingdom. Throughout its history, four key locations have reflected the development and interaction between DTU and the surrounding society

Studiestræde 1829

When DTU was founded, originally as the College of Advanced Technology, the teaching took place in very small rooms in Studiestræde, in central Copenhagen. Denmark’s economy was on its knees at the time and industrial growth was weak, so the new college was only sparsely furnished and had a very limited budget.

The college began with 22 young male students, ahead of whom lay two years of studies of “polytechnics” – a concept that was still quite unclear. The lack of general technological knowledge and teaching materials made the start difficult. The chemical engineers, however, had the benefit of a strong professional tradition, while the mechanical engineers had to start from scratch. The first graduates mainly went into public employment or became teachers.

Sølvtorvet 1890

Towards the end of the 19th century industrialisation finally took hold in Denmark, and the university acquired a new address at Sølvtorvet in Copenhagen. The impressive neoclassical domicile was visible proof of the consolidation of the polytechnic concept and its growing importance in society, and students began to flock to it. The structural engineering programme was the largest, followed by mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering. Women students eventually made their entrance at the university, though for many years only in the chemical engineering programme.

Østervoldgade 1954

The university eventually outgrew its beautiful building, and construction began on a new building in functionalist style on Østervoldgade in Copenhagen. Its completion was delayed by many years by World War II, material shortages and the country’s impoverishment, but after the war the building became a symbol of the major changes in society, characterised for example by a productivity increase in industry and a new level of prosperity in Denmark. The Technical College of Denmark, DTH as it was now called, was to provide research and engineers for the new society of technological growth and consumerism.

Lundtofte og Lyngby 1974

The building on Østervoldgade eventually also became too small, so in 1959 construction began on the largest educational building in Denmark to date, in Lundtofte. The electrical engineers were the first to move in, in 1962, while mechanical engineering was the last, in 1970. Now engineers not only had to live up to the demands of the business community – the teaching and the research also had to meet scientific standards. It was a period characterised by a certain pessimism in society, as well as by economic stagnation and unemployment. DTH was hit by falling levels of student enrolment and economic decline. Paradoxically, the physical framework was now finally in place, but demand began to dwindle. Over time, however, DTU’s new international profile, world-class research and stable application figures turned it into the elite university we know today.