Institute of technology

Institute of technology (also: university of technology, polytechnic university, technikon, and technical college) is a designation employed for a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system. It may be an institution of higher education and advanced engineering and scientific research or professional vocational education, specializing in science, engineering, and technology or different sorts of technical subjects. It may also refer to a secondary education school focused in vocational training. The term institute of technology is often abbreviated IT and is not to be confused with information technology.

The English term polytechnic appeared in the early 19th century, from the French École Polytechnique, an engineering school founded in 1794 in Paris. The French term comes from the Greek πολύ (polú or polý) meaning "many" and τεχνικός (tekhnikós) meaning "arts".

While the terms "institute of technology" and "polytechnic" are synonymous, the preference concerning which one is the preferred term varies from country to country.

Luleå University of Technology

Luleå University of Technology (Swedish: Luleå tekniska universitet) of Sweden is Scandinavia's northernmost university of technology. It has four campuses, located in Luleå (the main campus), Kiruna (space science), Skellefteå (wood technology and computer game engineering) and Piteå (Department of music and media).

History

The university was founded on 1 June 1971 at Porsön in Luleå as Högskoleenheten i Luleå. The name was later changed to Högskolan i Luleå (Luleå University College). In 1997, it was granted university status by the Swedish government, and is since known as Luleå University of Technology.

In 1977 it was merged with the older Teacher's Training College of Luleå and a year later Piteå School of Music (Musikhögskolan i Piteå) was created.

Master Programmes

LTU offers 17 Master programs that include programs in Civil Engineering, Climate Sensitive Urban Planning and Building, Wood Technology, Spacecraft Design along with other programs.

Students' unions

Luleå

Luleå (Swedish: [ˈlʉːlɛo], Lule Sami Luleju) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has about 47,000 inhabitants and is the seat of Luleå Municipality (with a total population of 75,921).

Luleå has the seventh biggest harbor in Sweden for shipping goods. It has a large steel industry and is a center for extensive research. Luleå University of Technology is Sweden’s first technology university and the northernmost university in Sweden.

History

The town's Royal charter was granted in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The original town was situated where Gammelstad (Old Town) is situated today. The town had to be moved in 1649 to the current site, due to the post-glacial rebound that had made the bay too shallow for ships to enter.

The Gammelstad Church Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 1805 Luleå only had 947 inhabitants, but in 1865 Luleå succeeded Piteå as the county town in Norrbotten county and now had around 1400 residents. In the 1860s the industries also started taking root in the city.

University

A university (Latin: universitas, "a whole") is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which grants academic degrees in various subjects and typically provides undergraduate education and postgraduate education. The word "university" is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars."

History

Definition

The original Latin word "universitas" refers in general to "a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, corporation, etc." At the time of the emergence of urban town life and medieval guilds, specialised "associations of students and teachers with collective legal rights usually guaranteed by charters issued by princes, prelates, or the towns in which they were located" came to be denominated by this general term. Like other guilds, they were self-regulating and determined the qualifications of their members.

In modern usage the word has come to mean "An institution of higher education offering tuition in mainly non-vocational subjects and typically having the power to confer degrees," with the earlier emphasis on its corporate organization considered as applying historically to Medieval universities.

Technology

Technology ("science of craft", from Greek τέχνη, techne, "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and -λογία, -logia) is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, etc. or it can be embedded in machines, computers, devices and factories, which can be operated by individuals without detailed knowledge of the workings of such things.

The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistoric discovery of how to control fire and the later Neolithic Revolution increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans to travel in and control their environment. Developments in historic times, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. The steady progress of military technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power, from clubs to nuclear weapons.