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Governance
The TUM Department of Mechanical Engineering pursues
the principles of strategic governance. As one of the
very first universities in Germany, TUM began in 2011 to
evaluate its units on the departmental and administra-
tive levels – the first department subject to peer review
was the Department of Mechanical Engineering. As a
consequence, the department decided (i) to strengthen
its scientific focus as the basis for sustaining its leading
technological competence, (ii) to further enhance its inter-
national standing, and (iii) to revise its faculty appointment
procedures employing the full TUM career spectrum. Last
but not least, the graduate and undergraduate education
program is being modernized and restructured in order to
prepare students for future engineering challenges
Strengthening of Engineering Science
The department has decided to focus on three key meas-
ures to strengthen its scientific focus:
Significance of High-quality Publications
Peer-reviewed publications are key indicators of scien-
tific accomplishment and visibility. While international
university rankings are commonly based on publication
databases such as Scopus or ISI Web of Science, among
German universities, criteria for relevance of scientific
publications often are less strict. The department relies
on the external metrics from Scopus and ISI for qualifica-
tion of a relevant scientific publication in order to follow
international practice. Publications listed in at least one of
these indices are rewarded with a budget bonus, which
currently accounts for about 30% of the tangible means of
the department. Doctoral researchers are offered courses
on scientific paper writing, conducting literature surveys
and bibliometry.
Comparing figures from before the evaluation (2006-2008)
and after implementation of the measures (2013-2016),
the number of high-quality publications almost doubled
from 300 to 500 per year – citation of TUM Mechanical
Engineering publications more than tripled from 2000 to
6000 per year.