page_title: Delft University of Technology
section_title: Student life
hierarchical_section_title: Delft University of Technology / Student life
caption_attribution_description: De Koornbeurs (voormalig de Vleeshal) te Delft stamt uit nl:1650
context_page_description: Delft University of Technology also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technological university. It is located in Delft, Netherlands. It is consistently ranked as the best university in the Netherlands. As of 2020, it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among the top 15 engineering and technology universities in the world.
  With eight faculties and numerous research institutes, it has more than 19,000 students, and employs more than 2,900 scientists and 2,100 support and management staff.
  The university was established on 8 January 1842 by William II of the Netherlands as a Royal Academy, with the primary purpose of training civil servants for work in the Dutch East Indies. The school expanded its research and education curriculum over time, becoming a polytechnic school in 1864 and an institute of technology in 1905. It changed its name to Delft University of Technology in 1986.
  Dutch Nobel laureates Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, and Simon van der Meer have been associated with TU Delft. TU Delft is a member of several university federations, including the IDEA League, CESAER, UNITECH International, and 4TU.
context_section_description: Student life at TU Delft is organized around numerous student societies and corporations. They can be generally categorized into professional societies, social societies and sport societies. More than half of TU Delft students belong to an officially recognized society.
  There are two student parties at TU Delft: ORAS (Organisatie Rationele Studenten) and AAG (Afdelings Actie Groepen). AAG started as an action group of students in the 1960s, willing to have more impact on the quality of education at then Polytechnic Institute Delft. ORAS became active in the early 1970s as a counterbalance to AAG. Currently those two parties are competing each year for seats in TU Delft's Students Council (Studenten Raad). Further, all student organizations of TU Delft are associated with The Council of Student Societies Delft VeRa (De VerenigingsRaad) and The Society for Study and Student Matters Delft VSSD (Vereniging voor Studie- en Studentenbelangen Delft).
  Apart from bachelor and master student organizations, PhD students of TU Delft have their own organization called Promood (PhD Students Discussion Group Delft) (Promovendi Overleg Delft), which represents TU Delft PhD students at the university. It is also a member of Dutch PhD Students Network (Promovendi Netwerk Nederland).
  Each faculty of TU Delft has its own set of professional student organizations. Numerous societies are present at the university, many of them with rich traditions, customs and history. For example, aerospace engineering department hosts Foundation for Students in Airplane Development, Manufacturing and Management (Stichting Studenten Vliegtuigontwikkeling, -bouw en -beheer), while civil engineering department Society for Practical Studies. International professional student organizations are also present at TU Delft, including European Association of Aerospace Students.
  Apart from professional student societies, students organize themselves only for the purpose of enriching their social life. Many of the societies have sectarian roots, like a Catholic Wolbodo Student Society, Katholieke Studentenvereniging Sanctus Virgilius Delft, that during the course of the years lost the religious affiliations and accepts students from any denomination.  Besides societies which have their roots in religion, there are also general (with no religious bonds) societies. One of these is Sint Jansbrug. These societies accept anyone who studies at the TU Delft or any other higher education facility in the Delft area. Also organization that has its roots in Rover Scout movement Delftsche Zwervers (at the same time the oldest student scouting group in the world) is present or local branch of the European AEGEE.
  Student sports are organized around clubs, that focus mostly on single discipline. Those include rowing society Laga and rowing club Proteus-Eretes (both with many Olympic medals won by the members of the club) or American football club Delft Dragons.
caption: Building of the Koornbeurs Society in the old town of Delft.
exif: {}