| Polytechnic University José Antonio Echeverría | |
|---|---|
| Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (ISPJAE/CUJAE) | |
| Established | 1964 |
| Type | Public |
| Admin. staff | 770 |
| Students | 8,100 |
| Location | Havana, Cuba |
| Website | www.cujae.edu.cu |
The Polytechnic University José Antonio Echeverría" (Spanish: Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría, Cujae) is an undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research university located in Havana, Cuba.
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The Cujae was founded in 1964 as a spin-off from the Faculty of Technology of the University of Havana. Today, it is the most respected technical university in Cuba organized in 7 Faculties and very estimated in other countries as well. The Campus is very interesting due to its brutalist architecture where the tropical foliage interacts with the buildings in a pleasant manner.
It should be differentiated between ISPJAE and CUJAE. The last one stands for Ciudad Universitaria José Antonio Echeverría. The ISPJAE is the official name, which includes the academic institution, i.e. the classrooms, laboratories, etc. while CUJAE includes the ISPJAE plus the rest of the campus, i.e. students’ accommodation, restaurants, etc. However, CUJAE is normally used due to its easier catchy pronunciation instead of ISPJAE. The first web site the University had was ispjae.cu and later ispjae.edu.cu to finally use the actual address cujae.edu.cu. Sometimes, the CUJAE is written as Havana Polytechnic University in some English literature, such as journals, etc. This has led to the speculation that its future official name would be Universidad Politécnica de la Habana as the name of José Antonio Echeverría is unknown to the outside world.
The Cujae received support from UNESCO, UK (through the British Council), Soviet Union, Canada and other countries during the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s by means of guest lecturers, post-graduated training (Master, PhD, etc.) to its academic staff abroad, etc. Most of this aid came to an abrupt end when a military department was introduced in the University for the solely purpose to train the students.
An academic year is divided in two semesters. At the end of each semester, final exams take place. The ratio (number of graduated students)/ (number of admitted students) is very low, despite hard entry exams. One example: the 8/160 was the ratio of graduated/admitted students for one of the mechanical engineering program during the study period 1983-1988. The reason lies in a five years full time severe study and knowledge-control regime. Class assistance is compulsory (even ringing bells advice when the lecture starts/finishes!!). Lecturers have to orally test and grade students during the first ten minutes of theoretical lectures and practice classes are used to test students randomly. Those who fail such small tests are exposed to more small tests. Failing to pass them will invalidate the student, i.e. the student has take the exam only in August (each student cannot take more than three exams in August). In addition, none announced control tests for all students in the class are common practice beside the scheduled mid- terms and final exams. Old exams are NOT available and students cannot re-take more than three exams per semester. In addition, students have to pass all the exams before moving to the next year. Failing to do so, implies to be expelled from the university.
There have been cases of failed students from the CUJAE who went to other (better ranked) universities abroad and achieved honor degrees. The opposite exists, i.e. honor students from universities abroad that had difficult to adapt/pass the CUJAE’s harsh regime. The lack of (private) competitive universities having a student-friendly culture in Cuba may create the belief among the young students that such hard regime is standard in the Universities around world. This could explain why few CUJAE graduates show interest to pursue higher degrees abroad.
The technical university reduced its number of students to half, after the collapse of the soviets’ subventions in the early 1990s.
These are the 7 faculties in which the university is divided into:
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