Castelldefels School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering

Presentation

The Castelldefels School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering (EETAC) is a higher education center of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTECH (UPC). It offers bachelor and master's degrees in the field of telecommunications, aeronautics and space, with a strong commitment to innovation in teaching methodologies and quality. This commitment includes intensive research activity, closely linked to industry to promote the transfer of results to society. The success of the School's teaching model is based on four main axes:

  • Cooperative project-based learning, of which the School has been a pioneering center.
  • Continuous assessment, based on sustained student workload.
  • Experimentation and use of laboratories, available to students when classes are not in session.
  • Internships in companies, included in the curriculum of some of the degrees.

Since its foundation in 1991, the School has been committed to the quality of both teaching and management. The design and implementation of an Internal Quality Assurance System (IQAS) led to the obtention of the ISO 9001:1994 quality accreditation, issued by the prestigious Det Norske Veritas (DNV) institution in 1999, making the School the first public university center in the state to be granted it. In 2002, the School renewed the certification with the ISO 9001:2000 quality accreditation: a continuous improvement system based on processes. In 2009, a restructuring of the IQAS was undertaken to align it with the AUDIT program guidelines.

The School has received various teaching-related awards. Its first director, Javier Bará Termes (1991-1996), was granted the "Jaume Vicens Vives" award in 1996, the most prestigious award given by the Catalan government to university professors, for implementing the curriculum in Telecommunications Engineering at the Polytechnic University School of Baix Llobregat (EUPBL), the foundational name of the School, then temporarily located in Sant Just Desvern.

The director who succeeded him, José Luis Andrés Yebra (1996-2002), initiated the consolidation phase of the School, with the relocation to the current building on the Baix Llobregat Campus (CBL), located in the Mediterranean Technology Park (PMT) of Castelldefels. His work was crucial in the academic transformation of the School, turning it from a pilot center with three hundred students and offering a single degree into a center with over a thousand students and offering four degrees. On June 13, 2001, the School's name was changed to the Higher Polytechnic School of Castelldefels (EPSC).

During the term of the next director, Miguel Valero García (2002-2008), the School received the "Jaume Vicens Vives" award in 2004, this time in its collective version, for the quality and organization of the Telecommunication Engineering degree, structured in accordance with the cooperative and project-based learning model (PBL). The School also won the Flyer 2005 award, given by the National Association of Aeronautical Engineers for the structure and quality of the Aerospace Engineering degree program, and was granted by AQU, in October 2006, the award for the "Quality management system at the EPSC" and a distinction for the "Pilot test of adaptation to the European Higher Education Area at the EPSC," in relation with the Telecommunications Engineering degrees: specialization in Telecommunication Systems and specialization in Telematics.

The director Jordi Berenguer i Sau (2008-2014) was responsible for adapting the IQAS to the AUDIT program guidelines in 2009. He also led the transition of the School's degrees to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It was during his term that the School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering of Castelldefels (EETAC) was branded with its current name on November 11, 2010, to comply with the LOMLOU, which eliminated the distinction between "Technical" and "Higher" schools, and to specify the School's areas of activity.

During the term of director Luis G. Alonso Zárate (2014-2021), the Double Degree in Aerospace Systems Engineering and Telecommunication Systems Engineering or Telematics Engineering was designed, implemented, and deployed, the first university double degree with access by pre-registration. Since its implementation in the academic year 2015-16, it has allowed high-achieving students to obtain degrees in aerospace and telecommunications engineering simultaneously in the same center and in just five years.

The current director, Cristina Cervelló i Pastor (since december 2021), ran for election with the determination to promote EETAC as a school to train successful professionals and researchers for the current and future needs and challenges of society. In this line, the school will launch, starting from the 2024-25 academic year, a new bachelor's degree in Satellite Engineering, the first in the country and the world, with the aim of providing comprehensive and rigorous training covering all knowledge, skills, and competencies, to the future professionals of a rapidly growing sector: space. Strategic lines of the current School board can be consulted following this link.