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TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology

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Established2021
DeanUrs Gasser
Location
Munich
,
Bavaria
,
Germany
AffiliationsTUM
Websitesot.tum.de

The TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology (SOT) is a school of the Technical University of Munich, established in 2021 by the merger of three former departments. As of 2022, it is structured into the Department of Educational Sciences, the Department of Science, Technology and Society, and the Department of Governance.

Department of Educational Sciences

The Department of Educational Sciences conducts teacher training and education research.

Chairs

As of 2020, the department consists of following chairs:[1]

Department of Science, Technology and Society

The Department of Science, Technology and Society was formed from the former Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) that was established in 2012 as of part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative.

Department of Governance

The Department of Governance was formed from the former School of Governance that was established in 2017. It focuses on the interactions among politics, economy, society, and technology.

Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence

The Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence (IEAI) is a lab of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology.

It was established in 2019 to investigate the ethics of artificial intelligence.[2] Christoph Lütge serves as the founding director.

Controversies

Facebook is funding the institute with a total of €7.5 million over five years. This has been met with significant criticism. The contractual agreement between the university and the US company was kept secret, though the "Facebook Unrestricted Gift Letter" became public. For the grant, the company reserves the right to stop paying out further funding at any time after its payment of an initial margin of $1.5 million, without giving reasons. This was interpreted by politicians and the media as a threat to refrain from publishing unfavorable research results. The agreement also explicitly states that the institute must be led by founding director Christoph Lütge. Lütge holds an endowed chair in business ethics at TUM, endowed by former Siemens executive Peter Löscher. Should the university wish to appoint another institute director, it would require the prior written approval of Facebook.[3][4]

Christian Kreiss, a professor at Hochschule Aalen [de], criticized the university for becoming Facebook's extended marketing arm through this funding. Alexander Filipović, a professor of media ethics at the Munich School of Philosophy, said that while he was concerned, he trusted the university.[5]

Chris Köver wrote on Netzpolitik.org that after Sheryl Sandberg announced the partnership, many media outlets "from Tagesschau to Süddeutsche Zeitung" immediately reported on the company's commitment to ethics in AI. Köver wrote: "Facebook has bought a comparatively cheap image campaign in the German media landscape this way for 6.6 million euros."[4]

Rankings

University rankings
By subject – Global & National
QS Education & Training 2022[6] =84 2
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ARWU [citation needed]
QS [citation needed]
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ARWU [citation needed]
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ARWU [citation needed]

In the QS World University Rankings, TUM is ranked 84th in the world and 2nd in Germany in the subject Education & Training.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Profile – TUM School of Education". TUM School of Education. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  2. ^ "New Research Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence". Technical University of Munich. 20 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  3. ^ Kreiss, Christian. "Ein vielsagender geheimer Vertrag mit Facebook". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  4. ^ a b Köver, Chris (21 January 2019). "Warum Facebook ein Institut für Ethik in München finanziert". Netzpolitik.org (in German). Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  5. ^ Hauck, Mirjam (21 January 2019). "Facebook und die TU München: "Wir sind unabhängig"". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  6. ^ a b "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Education & Training 2022". QS World University Rankings. Retrieved 7 April 2022.

See also

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