Instituto Superior Técnico

The Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, also known as Técnico, and stylized TÉCNICO LISBOA; English: ) is the school of engineering and technology of the University of Lisbon. It was founded as an autonomous school in 1911, and was integrated into the Technical University of Lisbon (now part of the University of Lisbon) in 1930. IST is the largest school of engineering in Portugal by number of enrolled students, faculty size, scientific production and patents.

IST has three campuses, all located in the Lisbon metropolitan area: the Alameda campus in Lisbon, the Taguspark campus in the Oeiras municipality, and the ''Tecnológico e Nuclear'' campus in the Loures municipality. The school is divided in 11 departments that are responsible for teaching undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Each department is organized in sections, which group together specific subjects within its scientific area. In addition, the laboratories of the several departments support the teaching and research activities carried out at IST.

IST is a member of several university partnerships, including CLUSTER, CESAER, T.I.M.E., TPC, and the ATHENS Programme.

History

The ''Instituto Superior Técnico'' (IST) was created from the split of the Lisbon Commercial and Industrial Institute (IICL) into two schools. Following the implantation of the Republic in Portugal in 1910, Alfredo Bensaúde, a professor of Mineralogy and Geology at the IICL, was invited by Manuel de Brito Camacho, Minister of Development in the Provisional Government, to create and lead a new technical school, as part of nationwide education reforms. A decree approved on 23 May 1911 and published in the ''Diário do Governo'' declared that the IICL would be split into two schools: the ''Instituto Superior do Comércio'' (current Lisbon School of Economics and Management) and the ''Instituto Superior Técnico''.

Alfredo Bensaúde was the first director of IST, a position he held from 1911 to 1920. He implemented its first pedagogical program, which had five engineering courses: mining engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and chemical-industrial engineering. Under his direction, there was an investment in theoretical-practical teaching where workshops and laboratories, as well as the library, played an essential role. He also noted for recruiting foreign teachers, which he considered to have an essential role in organizing some of the courses.

The first facilities of IST were located in the Rua da Boavista in Lisbon. In 1927, Duarte Pacheco became director of IST and started the project for a new campus for the school. He requested the design to architect Porfírio Pardal Monteiro, who counted with the collaboration of Luís Benavente, a fellow architect, in the project. The construction of the Alameda campus started in 1928 and was finished in 1935, with the inauguration happening the following year. IST became the first academic institution in Portugal with its own campus. In the meantime, in 1930, IST became part of the newly created Technical University of Lisbon. In 1948, IST hosted the "Fifteen Years of Public Works" exhibition, an event organized by the Portuguese State to exhibit the new infrastructures built in the first 15 years of the ''Estado Novo''. The statue of a woman holding a square and compass, by Salvador Barata Feyo, placed in the northern side of the campus, is a sculpture from this exhibition that was permanently added to the Alameda campus.

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 the number of students enrolled at IST significantly increased. During the 1970s, scientific research at IST also has a major increase, through the creation of the Interdisciplinary Complex building in 1973, which gathered together various autonomous research units.

During the 1990s, more engineering courses, including Master and PhD degrees, were added to IST's curricular offer. The facilities in the Alameda campus had the greatest expansion in this decade, with the construction of the Civil Engineering and Architecture Pavilion and the North and South towers.

In 2000, IST inaugurated a new campus in the municipality of Oeiras, specifically in the Taguspark, the first Portuguese science and technology park. In the academic year 2006–2007, the Declaration of Bologna was successfully implemented for all IST programmes, reducing the time to obtain a bachelor's degree to three years. In 2012, the ''Tecnológico e Nuclear'' campus was added to IST, following the discontinuation of the Technological and Nuclear Institute.

Today IST is involved with several of Portugal's research, development and technology transfer institutions and offers a vast number of degrees in science and engineering areas, at undergraduate, master and doctoral levels. IST is also part of several networks and international programmes to promote student mobility, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Campuses and facilities

IST has three campuses: the Alameda campus in Lisbon, the Taguspark campus in the Oeiras municipality, and the ''Tecnológico e Nuclear'' campus in the Loures municipality.

Alameda campus

The Alameda campus is the primary location of IST. It was inaugurated in 1936 as the first dedicated university campus in Portugal. It is located in the ''freguesia'' of Areeiro, in Lisbon.

The campus originally had 7 buildings. Throughout the years, new buildings were constructed inside the campus, expanding the facilities of IST. Some of the buildings added after 1936 include:

* The Interdisciplinary Complex, opened in 1973;
* The Civil Engineering and Architecture Pavilion, opened in 1993;
* The North Tower, opened in 1994;
* The South Tower, opened in 2000;
* The Social Action Pavilion, opened in 2003.
Currently the campus has a total of 26 buildings.Tecnico Lisboa
Campus Plan - Alameda
2015 Apart from lecture and research buildings, it includes a dedicated canteen building, a building for the students' association, playing fields for sports, an indoor swimming pool, and a kindergarten.

Taguspark campus

IST inaugurated a second campus in the Taguspark, a science and technology park in Porto Salvo

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