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Christian Schneijderberg (2020)In:&#160; Geschwind, Lars/Broström, Anders/Larsen, Katarina (eds.), Technical Universities. Past, present and future. Cham: Springer, pp. 103-144Abstract. The chapter presents both an overview of technical universities (TUs) in Germany, and how the methodological and theoretical approach of the orders of worth framework by Boltanski and Thévenot (2006) is useful for analyzing public organizations/forms. Guided by the research questions a) “How do publicly set performance indicators empirically construct the form of TUs?” And b) “How does market evolution of education and research products alter the civic-industrial conventions of coordination?”, first, seven characteristics are generated to define a TU in Germany: Recognition by the state, history as technical higher school, name, minimum of 40 engineering professorships, about 60% of professorships in natural sciences, technological, engineering, and mathematical sciences (STEM), average proportion of 1 to 1.6 of professorships in mathematical and natural sciences to professorships in engineering or vice versa, and professorships in social sciences. Second, further developing the theory of Boltanski and Thévenot (2006) helps understanding TUs as a dynamic but stable construction nurtured by investments in a form (Thévenot 1984). This is achieved by theoretically and empirically elaborating on the comprehension of a situation as it is (in comparison to justification in a situation) by focusing on the civic-industrial compromise of public universities being challenged by the market order constructed around higher education and research products and services by the German federal states.Link to the chapter