University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern

The Hochschule Kaiserslautern is a modern university for applied sciences and design. Around 6,300 students from more than 80 countries and some 150 professors study, teach, and research in five faculties at the Kaiserslautern, Pirmasens, and Zweibrücken campuses. In 1996, the Hochschule emerged from a department of the former Hochschule Rheinland-Pfalz, which dates back to the mid-19th century, and utilized its independence to devote itself to the core tasks of undergraduate education, academic development, applied research and development and its resulting technology transfer, and to further improve its competitive standing.

Research and Technology Transfer

The application-oriented research & development is mostly carried out in cooperation with businesses. The Hochschule serves as a partner to the local economy, whereby the support given as part of students’ employment in a company means that there are many people actively involved in the transfer of knowledge and technology. The active involvement in the knowledge transfer network, twin-rlp, also taps into the potential of the six other (Fach-)Hochschulen in the Rhineland-Palatinate region.

With the establishment of the now four applied research focus areas of “Integrated Miniaturized Systems”, “Reliable Software-Intensive Systems”, “Sustainable Products and Services”, and “Highly Efficient Technical Systems”, the university has reinforced its research profile. The core competencies here are Microsystems and Nanotechnology (a modern clean room with several processing lines allows for development of micro- and nano-components), Mechanics of Materials (internal stress analysis), or System Development, where software is developed with close consideration of technical or organizational features. The other core competencies are in Light Construction, Energy, and Mechatronics, where the future challenges in the area of Construction and Design will be in the fields of energy, securing a supply of raw materials, intelligent mobility, and digital networking.

Some institutions have been established that relate to these focus areas and are available to support industry partners in assignments or collaborative projects. The four newest institutions will be mentioned here, information on all others can be found at our homepage under “Research”. At the Bio Medical Engineering competence center, established with financial support from the state, expertise in the new subject area of Applied Life Sciences is shared among the professors involved. Synergies from the fields of Microsystems and Nanotechnology, as well as Medicine and Biology provide completely new diagnostic approaches, treatments, and simulation options. The core competency of the Institute for Sustainable Construction and Design is the integrative, energetic, and technical optimization of architectural planning and execution processes with consideration of the life cycle of buildings. The Institute for Plastics Technology Westpfalz (IKW) is a research and testing institute at the HS campus in Pirmasens that works in the field of reinforced and non-reinforced plastics. It serves as a partner in the execution of public and privately funded projects along the plastic components supply chain. It deals with chemically produced and bio-based (i.e. sustainably sourced) thermoplastics, duroplastics, as well as carbon, glass, and natural fibers. The Institute for Energy-Efficient Systems (IES) is a platform for application-oriented research related to the topic of “energy efficiency”.