One of Germany’s oldest technical universities, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), will be celebrating a major anniversary in 2025 as 200 years have passed since the Polytechnische Schule Karlsruhe was founded. In the spirit of the jubilee year's theme, “Shaping the Future. Research | Teaching | Transfer,” KIT will be hosting a wide variety of events throughout the year. Lectures, readings and discussion panels; exhibitions, lab tours and hands-on exhibits and experiments; concerts, light shows and parties; a major open house event and the third KIT Science Week will present KIT to its visitors as an open, diverse and exciting place. KIT presented the highlights of its jubilee year today (Thursday, November 14, 2024) at a press conference.
Photos are available for download here
“As a successful institution with a long and remarkable history of ingenuity and pioneering achievements, KIT has stood for excellence in teaching and research since its founding,” said KIT’s President, Professor Jan S. Hesthaven, at the press conference. “KIT and its predecessor institutions have been pioneers over the past 200 years, and in the future KIT will continue its pioneering work in energy, artificial intelligence, mobility, health and sustainability – fields where it has unique strengths.”
“The anniversary year is an opportunity for KIT to further raise awareness of its diverse research, teaching and transfer activities, and also its specific contributions benefiting society,” said Professor Thomas Hirth, KIT’s Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs. “KIT is firmly rooted in its community, and we need to maintain a dialogue to ensure that science can be a success.”
Throughout 2025, KIT will be hosting a wide range of exhibitions, festivities, talks, tours and multimedia events. The anniversary year will bring KIT’s history to life while providing many chances to get a glimpse of the future being shaped by its scientists and students.
Anniversary Year Highlights
January 6, 2025: New Year’s concert featuring the KIT Philharmonic Orchestra to kick off the anniversary year with music by Dvořák, Rachmaninoff and Schubert and a symbolic jubilee flag-raising in front of the Audimax.
April 11 to October 19, 2025: “200 Years of KIT – 100 Objects. Parts of the Whole. Selected Objects from the History of KIT.” Both on-site at the Center for Art and Media and online, this jubilee exhibition features historic scientific equipment, models used for teaching, works of art, everyday items, objects with special stories, and rarities like KIT’s hydrogen-powered 1980s VW bus.
May 17, 2025: Open Day and Campus Day on Campus South and opening day of EFFEKTE, Karlsruhe’s science festival. Open Day is a perfect opportunity to get acquainted with KIT, its work and its mission. All of Campus South will be open to the public, with attractions including lab tours, lectures, and a variety of stage acts, games, and interactive science activities – for young and old, for nerds and newbies. At Campus Day, prospective students can learn about KIT’s wide range of study programs. During the day, the EFFEKTE science festival will open in Karlsruhe’s Schlossgarten park with an exciting program extending through the following week.
July 4, 2025: The night sky over Karlsruhe will light up to conclude Dîner au KIT, a special event for KIT employees and students to dine and celebrate together at a table stretching several hundred meters across the entire Campus South.
July 11 to October 19, 2025: Art | Summer | Technology. With the city of Karlsruhe, the Center for Art and Media, and numerous galleries, institutions, and art and project spaces, KIT will present its visitors with an exciting program featuring exhibits, workshops, lectures and discussion panels.
From August 15, 2025: SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE light festival. In 2025 its theme will be KIT’s 200th anniversary theme.
October 14 to October 19, 2025: KIT Science Week with “City of the Future” theme. With over 60 events, KIT’s third Science Week invites the public to take part in over 60 events including workshops, discussions, movie nights, readings, open labs and experiments for all age groups and for both specialists and laypersons.
November 8, 2025: THE BALL. Celebrating KIT. With the city of Karlsruhe and other partners, KIT will be hosting a high-class ball in the Schwarzwaldhalle and the Gartenhalle at Messe Karlsruhe, the city’s convention center. There will be several dance floors, and show acts from the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and the “Let’s Dance” community are also planned. Lounges will be available for companies wanting to network with students and present their job opportunities.
200 Years: a Unique Position in the German Research Landscape
KIT, which was formed from the University of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Research Center in 2009, has always played a pioneering role in Germany’s scientific landscape. As “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association,” it combines university research and teaching with the opportunities and capabilities of a large-scale national research facility in a unique fashion.
Two centuries after the founding of the Polytechnische Schule Karlsruhe (later the University of Karlsruhe) and 69 years after the founding of Kernreaktor Bau- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH (Nuclear Reactor Construction and Operation Company, later the Karlsruhe Research Center), KIT now invites its community to take part in the public celebrations of its jubilee.
Throughout the year, details will be available here
Detailed caption: KIT presented the program for its jubilee year at a press conference today with some of the young scientists who are helping it shape the future. From left: Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs Professor Thomas Hirth, Tenure-track Professor Moritz Dörstelmann, KIT President Professor Jan S. Hesthaven, physics student Michelle Gensmann, junior research group leader Dr. Jingyuan Xu.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.
PK KIT Jubilaeum