The university was established on August 1, 1971, following the Bavarian Law for Universities of Applied Sciences passed on October 27, 1970. The university is a corporation under public law. The state of Bavaria is the bearer of the requirements. Major academic disciplines include engineering, business administration, social studies and design.
"The inititative of focusing on engineering was born in one of the oldest polytechnics in Europe, the ""Municipal Polytechnic Institute"" which was founded in 1823 by Johannes Scharrer, Nuremberg´s mayor and patron of the German railroad system. When the school was nationalized in 1833, the physicist Georg Simon Ohm became a member of the staff and was director of the institute from 1839 to 1849. After first being called an ""Industrieschule"" (Industrial School) and ""Königlich Bayrisches Technikum"" (Royal Bavarian Polytechnic), later ""Höhere Technische Staatslehranstalt"" (Higher Education Technical Institute), the school was renamed ""Ohm-Polytechnikum Nürnberg"" in 1933 to honor Ohm and to commemorate its one hundredth anniversary. After disbanding the Municipal Building School in 1935, the Department for Structural Building was incorporated.http://www.th-nuernberg.eu/home/profile-and-history/history/page.html"