The Dutch government's decision to locate the country's third technical university in Enschede, the main city of Twente, had much to do with the north-eastern province's rich manufacturing industry (textiles, metal, electrical engineering, chemicals).

Another important consideration was the fact that the local economy needed a boost to compensate for the dwindling textile industry.

[3][4] The University of Twente was built on the former country estate of Drienerlo, situated between Hengelo and Enschede.

The other two members of the executive board are Vinod Subramaniam (president of the executive board) and Machteld Roos (vice-president)[18] There are five faculties at the University of Twente; each faculty is in turn organized into several departments: Next to the programmes administered by the faculties mentioned above, University College Twente offers the broad honours BSc programme in Technology and Liberal Arts and Sciences, or ATLAS for short, and the Twente Graduate School offers post graduate education (PhD and PDEng).

The University of Twente has the following faculties with corresponding bachelor- and master programmes: BMS (Behavioural, Management & Social Sciences)

The degree programs at the University of Twente range from business administration and psychology to applied physics, engineering and biomedical technology.

[20] UT is also one of the founders of Novel-T, formerly Stichting Kennispark Twente, a startup accelerator and support program for university spin-offs.