The RWTH IT Center at the 12th Aachen Company Run
Source: Own illustration
The IT Center of RWTH Aachen University was once again represented at this year’s event. On Friday 19 September 2025, a total of 7,523 runners from 518 companies took part in the race. As usual, the sporting event took place around Pascalstraße in Aachen-Oberforstbach.
AI-Tech MeetUp NRW 2025 in Bochum
Source: Own Illustration
On Monday, September 22, 2025, the AI-Tech MeetUp NRW — a collaboration between the state projects Open Source-KI.nrw, KI:edu.nrw, and KI:connect.nrw—took place at Ruhr University Bochum with a focus on (generative) artificial intelligence. We, as the IT Center of RWTH Aachen University, were also represented at this exciting event as participants and project partners.
Welcome, New Matse Trainees!
We are delighted to welcome 92 new MATSE trainees this year. These talented young professionals are being trained as mathematical-technical software developers and were warmly welcomed at
Source: Own Illustration
the IT Center on September 2.
On September 4, the new MATSE trainees also enjoyed an exciting program of events, which we have summarized for you in this blog post.
QMSL and QMSLportal: Making Quality in Teaching and Learning Visible
Source: ZHV, Division 6.2
Good teaching thrives on clear goals, transparency, and a willingness to continuously develop. To make this possible, RWTH Aachen University has created a strong foundation with its Quality Management System for Teaching (QMSL), which ensures that teaching and learning are regularly reviewed, reflected upon, and improved. The QMSLportal plays a key role in this, bringing together all important data and procedures in one place. Read the rest of this entry »
Ritchy: The IT- ServiceDesk’s AI Chatbot
Source: Own Illustration
With approximately 45,000 students, around 10,000 employees, and a steadily growing number of digital offerings, the IT-ServiceDesk receives a wide variety of questions every day: from setting up Wi-Fi and software access to special services for research and teaching. In order to process these efficiently and promptly, the IT Center has recently started testing a modern solution: Ritchy – an AI-supported chatbot that assists users of IT Center services. In this article, we show how Ritchy works, what makes it special, and what advantages it offers.
Careers at the IT Center: Your Opportunities and Prospects
Source: Own illustration
The IT Center is the central IT facility at RWTH Aachen University and plays a key role within the university. It offers a wide range of career opportunities. In addition to positions in information technology, there are opportunities in administration. This article provides insight into what makes the IT Center stand out as an employer, the qualifications we seek in entry-level candidates, and the advantages of working for us.
RWTH Adminrunde: Secure exchange – Mailing list
Source: Own Illustration
Central IT provision only works with good communication and by exchanging information with local IT managers at the institutions – and this is exactly what the RWTH Admin Round Table is for. For over 14 years, it has provided a platform for administrators and IT enthusiasts to exchange information on current university-related IT topics throughout RWTH. The round table is organised by a dedicated team of five from various institutions and the IT Center.
Technical Background to the X-Win Conversion
Source: Own Illustration
On June 10, 2025, we successfully converted RWTH’s network connection to the German science network (X-WiN) to a new generation of routers. You can also read more information in the blog post. These important components of the network infrastructure were replaced with more powerful and energy-efficient devices. In this article, we take a look behind the scenes of the technical changeover: Why was it necessary? What was replaced? How did the complex conversion actually work?
Team UX at the IT Center
Source: Own Illustration
In this series, the IT Center’s UX team reports on its work. When developing interactive systems such as websites and apps, not only HTML, CSS and JavaScript play a decisive role, but also usability and user experience. Put simply, this refers to the question of whether a system supports its users in achieving their goals effectively, efficiently and satisfactorily and what perceptions and reactions result from using a system.
At the IT Center, we also focus on the usability and user experience of our systems. User tests such as the annual satisfaction survey on the RWTHapp are a key tool that we use for this. You can find this year’s results here.
DNS at RWTH Aachen Part 2: Security in the DNS – Protection Against Misuse
Source: Own Illustration
In the first part of this blog series on the Domain Name System (DNS), we explained various technical details. The very fact that DNS servers are consulted to convert computer names into IP addresses means that the system plays a very central role in the functioning of the Internet.
