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Hochschule Niederrhein

The basis of industrial development in the 19th century was also textile technology on the left bank of the Lower Rhine. This is initially supported by the publisher system, in which textiles produced by weavers in home work are marketed by publishers.

Mechanization and automation bring about a radical change in the middle of the century. Within a few years, the system of home work is replaced by automated looms in large factory halls. These changes - despite the Prussian velvet and silk monopoly for Krefeld - make an extended qualification of the employees in the textile industry urgently necessary, as many Krefeld factory owners send their junior staff to the main competitor in Lyon for apprenticeship.

Out of this local educational emergency, the "Höhere Webschule Crefeld" was founded in 1855 through the initiative of the Krefeld Chamber of Commerce, the first higher educational institution on the Lower Rhine. This is the birth of The Hochschule Niederrhein.

In 1878, it was again Krefeld industry that was concerned about the future viability of the "old" silk industry. It seems necessary to take advantage of the possibilities and opportunities offered by the new emerging dye and chemical industry.

The Chamber of Commerce called for a fundamental reorganization of the "Municipal Weaving School" along the lines of renowned foreign institutions, such as in Lyon.

With great personal and financial commitment from wealthy silk manufacturers, the Krefeld Chamber of Commerce and the Prussian state, the "Royal Weaving, Dyeing and Finishing School" opened in 1883 in a magnificent building - attracting international attention. All branches of textile technology and chemistry were incorporated, including modern dyeing and finishing process(es).

Under the dye chemist Prof. Dr. Heinrich Lange, who took over the management of the school from BASF, the institution developed into an educational establishment of world renown. In its first 25 years, for example, 80 students from all over the world had already earned their doctorates. They had previously studied at other universities under great names in their field, such as Justus von Liebig, and now began a second set of practical studies with a practical emphasis / orientation at the "Königliche Webe-, Färberei- und Appreturschule".

This predecessor institution is allowed to represent the apprenticeship in this field for the German Empire at the World's Fair in St. Louis, USA, in 1904, during the "boom" years of the dye industry.

By 1895, the building was already too small. The buildings on Adlerstrasse, which still exist today, become the new home of the spun-off dyeing and finishing school.

The broad technical, application-oriented and practical orientation favors the development of further specialties in the school. In close interaction with industry, fiber finishing, synthetic fibers, dyes and varnishes, as well as cleaning and hygiene become new fields of applied research and teaching education.

In the second half of the 19th century, the Mönchengladbach-Rheydt industrial area developed into "Rhenish Manchester," one of the most important centers of fiber processing in Germany, as a result of the transformation from flax and linen to cotton.

In response to the needs of industry, the Prussian state founded " higher weaving schools" for the preliminary training of "factory owners and factory directors" in addition to the "weaving schools " that trained master weavers. On the initiative of a special commission set up from the Chamber of Commerce, local authorities from the Mönchengladbach trade district, the district president in Düsseldorf and the Ministry of Trade in Berlin, the"Prussian Higher Technical School for theTextile Industry in Munich-Gladbach" was founded in 1901 for the apprenticeship of managers.

Textile surface art and color theory also played an important role here at another predecessor institution, the "Crefelder Werkkunstschule.

"Design means giving shape to one's surroundings" was the credo of the founding supporters of the "Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule" (School of Crafts and Applied Arts), which was founded on October 1, 1904, and from which the "Crefelder Werkkunstschule" emerged.

It became an important institution for the applied arts. Painting, graphics, stained glass, textile design, ceramics or architecture were important fields of teaching at this institution.

Heinrich Campendonk, Helmut Macke, Henry van der Velde, Jan Thorn Pricker, August Biebricher, Fritz Winter and Peter Lindbergh are just a few examples of famous artists who were associated with the Werkkunstschule as university teachers / lecturers. Some of them have had a lasting influence on art history.

The close cooperation with industry led to the reestablishment and incorporation of the "Höhere Bekleidungsfachschule" in 1932 and finally to the "Textilingenieurschule" in 1936.

Three higher state institutions, the core of the later Hochschule Niederrhein, start into the 20th century. They grew out of the region and radiate far beyond it.

In 1933, the seizure of power by the National Socialists leads to a Gleichschaltung of all state institutions, especially educational institutions. Above all, the liberal arts experience unprecedented gagging and discrediting. The "Kunstgewerbeschule" is renamed the "school for master craftspeople in the German trade." The architecture, sculpture and ceramics departments are closed in 1934. Five of seven "artist teachers" are dismissed; only craft departments remain.

The "Higher Technical School for Textile Surface Art" has the good fortune to be affiliated with the Krefeld Weaving School in 1932. The employees there are able to partly hide their abstract ambitions behind the textile, and partly harness them for this purpose.

The National Socialists recognize textile production - if possible without raw materials from abroad - and the associated research and apprenticeship as a decisive factor for the economy and armaments. Few technical restrictions and corrections are made. In Mönchengladbach, employment of cotton, a raw material considered foreign, is restricted. In Clothing Technology, uniforms play a greater role. In Krefeld, research into chemical fiber production is stepped up. Dismissals are made if a professor has not "at all times wholeheartedly stood up for the national state."

The "National Socialist German Student League" is founded. Its members are obligated to SA service and thus to education in the military sense. Other student associations are banned.

The end result is war, death and chaos: in June 1943, the Höhere Webeschule in Krefeld is the first to be hit. The apprenticeship is continued in the "Färberei und Appreturschule" building on Adlerstraße, which is also badly damaged. One day later, the arts and crafts school on Peterstrasse in Krefeld was hit. The apprenticeship continues in the manor house of Linn Castle.

The building of the Mönchengladbach Textile Engineering School and the facilities are almost completely destroyed in the winter semester 1944/45. The apprenticeship is transferred to Münchberg (Upper Franconia) at the end of 1944.

The tyranny and wartime destroyed much, but not everything. The three schools survived and picked themselves up again. In 1955, the traditional textile engineering school in Krefeld received a modern, award-winning new building with an impressive glass facade on Frankenring. It is an early work by the architects Lohrscheidt and Pfau, who became famous for the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus, among other things.

The Werkkunstschule is rebuilt on Peterstrasse. In Mönchengladbach, the buildings of the Textile Engineering School are erected from the ruins on Webschulstraße.

On April 1, 1958, the"State Engineering School for Mechanical Engineering" is founded. The Krefeld Chamber of Industry and Commerce contributes one million German marks (DM) to the financing through a special contribution scheme. The city of Krefeld donates another million DM, the building site on Reinarzstraße, where today's South Campus is built, as well as the expansion site in the allotment garden area.

All of Krefeld's metal and electrical companies make a contribution, as does the chemical industry and the post office as the operator of the communications networks at the time. The departments of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Communications Engineering and later Process Engineering and Electronics are established. The university departments "Mechanical and Process Engineering" and "Electrical Engineering and Computer Science" develop.

The "Staatliche Höhere Wirtschaftsfachschule" is officially opened on October 2, 1962 in the balcony hall of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Halle in Mönchengladbach. The "Faculty of Business Administration and Economics " is established. The guest list includes the godfathers of this foundation: Minister President Franz Meiers, who comes from Mönchengladbach, Chamber President Prof. Dr.Viktor Achter and City Director Dr. Elbers. It was not until 1970 that the new building on Webschulstraße could be occupied. The "Mönchengladbach campus" slowly takes shape.

On August 1, 1971, the "University of applied sciences Niederrhein" is founded. Six faculties have as their foundations a total of 13 "Staatliche höhere Fachschulen", which contribute a considerable tradition and professional achievement. There are already many technical and spatial links, which are reorganized and intensified. Two faculties were only added when the university of applied sciences was founded, the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and the Faculty of Food, Nutrition and Hospitality Sciences. These subjects were previously taught at technical colleges and are now being adapted to meet the increased demands in society. Food and nutrition have now become important economic sectors in the Lower Rhine region. The "Campus Mönchengladbach" is completed by these two faculties.

Also in 1971, a section of the "State School of Engineering for Textiles in Krefeld" is united with the "State School of Engineering for Textiles in Mönchengladbach". The Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology of the Hochschule Niederrhein is created, with a range of disciplines from fibers to finished products in the field of clothing and materials for technical textiles that is unique in Europe.

The interdisciplinary offer is extended, first by "Industrial Engineering" and finally - then already under the surname Hochschule Niederrhein (since July 9, 2001) - "Health Care". In the winter semester 2010/11, The Hochschule Niederrhein provides an educational and research offering from ten fac ulties.