Historically, polytechnic schools rose to prominence in many national settings during the second half of the nineteenth century (Fox and Guagnini 2004). Over time, new areas of technology have been developed and incorporated into their repertoire, and waves of academisation have swept over the former polytechnics, transforming some of them into technical universities (Christensen and Ernø-Kjølhede 2011). Their proud traditions and brands tend to prevail. Several technical universities are included among the most prestigious academic institutions of their nations and the training of engineers and engineering research still enjoy a high level of prestige and national priority, for example in the context of innovation and industrial policy (cf. Clark 1998). Many institutions that might be referred to as technical universities are also held in high regard by industry, and embraced as focal points for regional renewal and development (Lehmann and Menter 2016). Despite their often formidable success as higher education institutions (HEIs), higher education research has not concerned itself with the study of technically oriented universities as a (potential) organisational category. By no means do we argue that universities within this category of higher education institutions have been entirely absent in previous research. Technical universities feature in studies