Instituto Superior Técnico

Instituto Superior Técnico
Type Public school
Established 1911
President Arlindo Oliveira
Academic staff
 948 [1]
Students 10,894 (April 2013) [1]
Undergraduates 6,495 [1]
Postgraduates 4,768 [1]
Location Lisbon, Oeiras and Loures, Portugal
Campus Urban
Colours Cyan and White         
Nickname Técnico
Affiliations CLUSTER, EIT-KIC InnoEnergy, TIME, CESAER, MAGALHÃES, ATHENS, EASN
Website http://www.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/en
North Tower of Instituto Superior Técnico

Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) is a school of engineering,[2] part of the Universidade de Lisboa (University of Lisbon). Founded in 1911, IST is the largest school of engineering in Portugal. It is a public school with a large degree of scientific and financial autonomy.[1]

IST, since its foundation, has been the largest school of engineering, science and technology in Portugal, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It has three campi, all located in the Greater Lisbon area (Alameda in Lisbon, Taguspark in Oeiras and Tecnológico e Nuclear Campus in Loures), and consists of ten Departments and one Autonomous Section that are responsible for teaching the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Each Department is organised in sections, which group together specific subjects within its scientific area. In addition, the laboratories of the several Departments are an important source of support to the teaching and research activities carried out at IST.

IST offers 18 undergraduate programmes attended by more than 6,000 students, covering a wide range of areas of knowledge, including not only all the traditional engineering specializations, but also other modern areas such as Biomedical Engineering, Aerospace and Physics Engineering. Over 4,500 students are enrolled in 33 masters, 31 doctoral and several specialized programmes. IST has produced 1,292 Ph.D. holders.

IST is also actively involved in several networks and international programmes to promote student mobility, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Through a large number of agreements with other institutions worldwide, IST participates in more than 20 Dual Master programmes, and joint PhD programmes with MIT, CMU, UT-Austin and EPFL.

IST benefits from an IBM supercomputer built in 2007, which is one of the most powerful in Portugal (1.6 TFLOPS as of 2007).[3]

History

Statue with initiatic purposes on the campus of Alameda in Lisbon

Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) was created in 1911 from the division of the Industrial and Commercial Institute of Lisbon. Alfredo Bensaúde, an engineer, was IST's first dean (1911–1922) and promoted a wide-rang reform in the Portuguese higher technical education, including the first engineering courses at IST: mining, civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical-industrial. IST's second dean was Duarte Pacheco (1927–1932), also an engineer, who was responsible for the construction of the university campus at Alameda. The architect Porfírio Pardal Monteiro designed it. Meanwhile, IST became part of the recently created Technical University of Lisbon. Throughout the following decade, the image of engineers from IST was projected into major engineering works, promoted by Duarte Pacheco, who was by the time Minister of Public Works.

Between 1952 and 1972, 12 study centres were established in Portugal, three of them at IST, in the fields of chemistry, geology and mineralogy, and electronics. These centres were responsible for promoting faculty training and scientific qualification through doctoral studies in universities and research centres abroad. In 1970, the minimum period for obtaining a bachelor's degree decreased from six to five years, and IST denoted a remarkable increase of the number of students. During this period, scientific research at IST increased significantly, through the creation of the Complexo Interdisciplinar which fasten together various autonomous research units, and contributes to transform IST in a reference school at European level.

In the 1990s, new courses were created in cutting-edge engineering areas, including master and doctoral programmes. In 2001, IST inaugurated a new campus in Oeiras, located in a science and technology park, the TagusPark, which involves more than 120 technology-based companies. In the academic year of 2006-2007, the Declaration of Bologna was successfully implemented for all IST programmes, aiming the establishment of a European Education Area to make Europe a competitive knowledge-based economy.

Today's IST is generally recognised as Portugal's leading engineering school. IST is involved with some of Portugal's most prestigious R&D&I and technology transfer institutions. A vast number of courses in cutting-edge engineering areas, at undergraduate, master and doctoral levels, are nowadays offered at IST. IST is also actively involved in several networks and international programmes to promote student mobility, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Through a large number of agreements with other institutions worldwide, IST participates in more than 20 Dual Master programmes, and joint PhD programmes with MIT, CMU, UT-Austin and EPFL.

Programs of study

Central pavilion of IST on the campus of Alameda in Lisbon

IST offers undergraduate and graduate studies in:

Affiliations

Locations

Since 2011 IST has three campuses:

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links

Coordinates: 38°44′12″N 9°08′20″W / 38.73667°N 9.13889°W / 38.73667; -9.13889

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