Carl Georg Weitzel, who was an engineer from Mannheim, founded the „Technikum Mittweida“ in the old city theatre on 7 May 1867. He was supported by local enterprises and the municipality. This privately run training centre for mechanical engineers had soon attracted numerous students because the “Technikum Mittweida” had already been one of the biggest educational institution in Germany at the turn of the century. At that time, the Free State of Saxony was one of the leading states in mechanical engineering. In 1870, it owned the densest railway network of all German states. Moreover, Chemnitz was the centre of the German mechanical engineering in 1871.

Since the day of its foundation, the university has gone through a lot of changes, and even came close to an end during the National Socialists era. Thankfully, the university found a way to stay on course.

Nowadays, it is a space of teaching and research, as a high-reputation university should be. Modern teaching and research facilities are available to all students at the college of Mittweida and in associated research centres. The centres for laser application, sensor technology, conveyor and structural-design technology, media development and media management are well-known by now. The doctorates connected to cooperative doctorate procedures also stand for the efficiency of the college in Mittweida. It is one of the big endeavours of the university administration in the nineties that the cooperative doctorate procedure was enabled in the higher education act of the state of Saxony. Special attention is valid for the practise-oriented research and for the re-construction of the college as a place for academic teaching.