The Technische Universität München (TUM) is facing up to international competition for knowledge and innovation and has adopted the strategic principle of the entrepreneurial university. With its corporate concept "TUM. The Entrepreneurial University.” TUM has won the "elite" status in the Excellence Initiative by the German Federal and State Governments in 2006. The nationwide competition was launched in summer 2005 with the goal of promoting top-level research at German universities.

The TUM International Graduate School of Science and Engineering (IGSSE) is part of this program.

Other Excellence projects of TUM and LMU München:

• TUM Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)
• Excellence Cluster "Cognition for Technical Systems (Cotesys)"
• Excellence Cluster "Origin and Structure of the Universe – Fundamental Physics"
• Excellence Cluster "Munich Center for Integrative Protein Science (CIPS^M)"
• Excellence Cluster "Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM)"
• Excellence Cluster "Munich Centre of Advanced Photon Science (MAP)"
• Graduate School "Systemic Neurosciences" (GSN)