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Abstract
This study critically examines the impact of technical education institutions on the early industrialisation of 19th-century Saxony, highlighting the role of the Technischen Bildungsanstalt zu Dresden in equipping the Saxon region with skilled workers, in line with post-Seven Years’ War recovery efforts: Rétablissement. Since the 18th century, educational entities have been established to cater to the technological needs driven by economic and societal imperatives. The study scrutinises the TBA curricula and explores the evolution of course offerings, in alignment with societal requirements. While TBA alumni significantly contributed to Saxony’s machine and railway sectors, the number of skilled workers produced was not sufficient to fully sustain industrialisation. Although many graduates secured employment within the manufacturing sector and contributed as educators, the emigration of professionals to less competitive markets abroad indicated brain drain. Notably, some graduates sought opportunities outside Saxony in German-speaking and non-German-speaking regions, indicating a trend of highly educated workforce emigration. This study reveals that TBA’s influence on Saxony’s industrial progress was substantial and that it contributed to the global technical labour market, underscoring the broader international relevance of technical education. This study re-evaluates the regional and international significance of technical education, offering new insights from a historical perspective.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 In Prussia, there is a close connection between the engineers’ education and industrialisation. Numerous graduates were employed in the secondary industry (Lundgreen, Citation1975, pp. 77–78). Moreover, the high standard of scientific and technical instruction in these institutions contributed to Germany’s economic power (Pombo & Ramirez, Citation2002, p. 3). Furthermore, ‘education had a significant effect on aggregate industrialisation in the Industrial Revolution in Prussia’ (Becker et al., Citation2009, p. 26). However, in France ‘only a small proportion was active within production and design in the mechanical industry’ (Ahlström, 1978, p. 75).
2 For example, Bradford Parkinson of the GPS invention and Shuji Nakamura of LED, who won both awards, are from engineering universities.
3 As an exception, the Berliner Gewerbe Institut in Prussia stated that most of its graduates went into mechanical engineering or metallurgy-related professions. In general, in Pruisen, ‘there had been a strong and active tradition of giving importance to science, technical skills, and education’ (Focacci & Perez, Citation2022, p. 4).
4 Undeniably, there is a spillover effect.
5 The TBA is in English Technical Educational Institute in Dresden.
6 Today’s Technical University can be traced back to the Technical Technische Bildungsanstalt in 1828, which operated as the Königlich Sächsische Polytechnische Schule from 1851 and the Königlich Sächsisches Polytechnikum from 1871. In 1890, the status was raised to Königlich Sächsischen Technischen Hochschule, which was granted the right to award doctorates in 1900 and became a Technischen Universität in 1961 (Munke, Citation2020, pp. 162–163; Scharlau, Citation2013, pp. 71–72).
7 The reconstruction of Electoral Saxony after the end of the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) is known as Rétablissement. For more information on the Rétablissement, see Schlechte (Citation1958) and Schirmer (Citation2000) for excellent studies.
8 In previous studies, the focus was often on faculty who taught at the TBA and the collections assembled at the school. On Hanns Bruno Geinitz, who took geology and mineralogy, his teaching accomplishments at the TBA were presented (Ullrich et al., Citation2014). For geodesy lectures, collections and faculty for classes and exhibits in TBA were discussed (Mauersberger, Citation2010). Some studies have examined the composition of the mechanical engineering collections assembled by the TBA between 1851 and 1872 (Mattern, Citation2022). Certainly, collections and faculty are important educational elements, but from the perspective of contributing to the industrialisation of educational institutions, the analysis of the career paths and that of graduates should be a top priority.
9 The Seven Years’ War revolved around Prussia and Austria, with Saxony participating alongside its ally, Austria. Owing to its location between Prussia and Austria, Saxony became one of the main battlegrounds of the Seven Years’ War, and many battles were fought on Saxon land. The war was extremely costly, and the population was reduced (Buck, Citation1996, p. 37).
10 It is in English General Academy of Arts for Painting, Sculpture, Copperplate Engraving and Architecture.
11 It is in English Freiberg Mining Academy.
12 It is in English Royal Saxon Forestry Academy.
13 Although not a widely known school as was the case during the 18th century, the Gewerbzeichenschule, established in Chemnitz, provided young men who wished to enter a profession with training in drawing, modelling, and drafting, which is necessary for their vocation. The training occurred after the end of the apprenticeship, from 7:30 to 9:30 in the evening (HSSKS, 922). Another school, the Spitzenklöppelschule, was founded in Neustädtel in Schneeberg in 1814, although information regarding its initial education is scant. As of 1900, there were 29 such schools in Saxony, and the technique of bobbin lace knitting production had likely been introduced.
14 HSSKS, p. 915.
15 Ibid., p. 906.
16 ‘Prize competition encouraged the public to find solutions for industrial, academic, or social issues, and the amount of prize money to be paid to the innovator was announced in advance’ (Horii, Citation2023, p. 89).
17 It is not clear what education was provided at this institution.
18 PA1788, p. 15.
19 For the development of Saxon machine building industry, see Forberger (Citation1958, pp. 153–206), Kiesewetter (Citation2004a, pp. 195–211, 2004b, pp. 389–422).
20 Ökonomische Gesellschaft im Königreiche Sachsen was a scholarly society dedicated to social problems of economics and agriculture.
21 Ibid., p. 27.
22 The details are too complicated to be presented here. The purpose of this study is not to clarify the developmental history of the school, but to examine its contribution to industrialisation.
23 TBA25 was published in conjunction with the school’s 25th anniversary celebrations to provide a detailed view of the initial expectations of the school and the changes and history of the organisation. TBA25 includes the following information: (1) compilation of education plans; (2) overview of the composition of the teaching staff and the changes within it; (3) list of topics covered in the Easter programmes; (4) the library and its use; (5) compilation of the awards granted; (6) overview of tuition fees paid and waived; (7) overview of financial support approved for pupils; (8) compilation of the expenses incurred for TBA; (9) frequency overview; (10) list of alumni; (11) statute of the travel grant fund. This historical material is indispensable in examining the reality of the first 25 years of TBA.
24 This differs from the number of hours required to graduate.
25 This represents the four-year period from the first year of the TBA’s establishment until the first students graduated.
26 TBA25, pp. 20–21.
27 As technology became increasingly scientific in the 19th century, TBA’s educational materials took on a more abstract character and began to serve as a visualisation for theoretical issues (Mauersberger, Citation2010, p. 22).
28 In fact, the curriculum of the 1862/63 advanced course was divided into four parts: (A) For future factory owners, factory directors, or engineers in mechanical engineering or a branch of mechanical engineering; (B) For future engineers in road, railroad, bridge, or hydraulic engineering and surveying engineers; (C) For future factory managers or factory directors in a branch of chemical engineering and the department; and (D) For those who wish to devote themselves to teaching in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences, and technology (JB1863). Courses specialising in railway and infrastructure development were being created. This was an effort to respond to changes in society.
29 Additionally, excursions to other parts of the country and abroad were considered an important educational tool. Exceptional students were given bonuses, awards, and medals in recognition of their achievements.
30 In the richest case, the alumni data included the following information: year of graduation (year of leaving school), name, place of residence prior to enrolment, occupation/company name after graduation, place of employment as of 1853, diplomas, and death status. However, not all information was necessarily included; in the fewest cases, only name and pre-admission residence were listed. Here, we must be cautious about this study’s method of tabulating the place of employment. Some cases were included in the list of names where the region of employment was not clearly indicated. For cases in which no region was listed, the following tabulations were made: (1) those who died at least as of 1853 were treated as working in the region in which they finally died; (2) for railway workers, school teachers, and military personnel with which Saxony was associated, we classified them as ‘Other Area of Sachsen’, as they were considered to be working in Sachsen; (3) if the employment area could not be inferred from their occupation or other information, we treated them as unknown.
31 There was one enrolment from each region.
32 In , in terms of the contribution of the secondary industry to Saxony, we limited our analysis to the following occupations: factory owners; factory managers; engineers; craftsmen; surveyors; architects; chemists; other manufacturing sectors. Teaching staff and students were analysed in terms of their contribution to knowledge transmission in the secondary industry.
33 Those employed in Ceylon had their residence in East India prior to enrolment.
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Seiji Horii
Seiji Horii is a lecturer at Chuo Gakuin University in the faculty of commerce, Japan. He had five years of teaching experience. He got a PhD in economics at Kobe University, Japan and see his researchmap(https://researchmap.jp/s_horii). His main research interests include economic history, German economic history, industrial promotion policy, technology development, and technology education.