Spain
Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Spain
Spain
Spain
The Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Catalan: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, pronounced [uniβəɾsiˈtat puliˈtɛŋnikə ðə kətəˈluɲə], Spanish: Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, UPC), currently referred to as BarcelonaTech, is one of the largest polytechnic universities in Spain. The majority of its Engineering Schools and Research facilities are consistently ranked as leading academic institutions in their fields in Europe.
It was established in 1971 as a result of different higher technical schools founded in the 18th century merging together. Those schools include Industrial Engineers of Barcelona (ETSEIB) and Terrassa (ETSEIAT), the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Barcelona (ETSAB) and some research institutes.
As of 2025 it has 18 schools in Catalonia located in the cities of Barcelona, Castelldefels, Manresa, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Terrassa, and Vilanova i la Geltrú. As of the academic year 2024–25, the UPC has over 30,000 students and over 3,000 teaching and research staff, 67 undergraduate programs, 96 graduate programs and 46 doctorate programs.
UPC is a member of the Top Industrial Managers for Europe network, which allows for student exchanges between leading European engineering schools. It is also a member of several university federations, including the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER) and UNITECH. UPC is also a parent institution of the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI).
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) is a public university in Spain. In the 2025 QS World University Rankings by subject, it was ranked 97th worldwide in Engineering and Technology. Other rankings, such as EduRank, rank UPC as the best engineering university in Spain.
The QS World University Rankings also place UPC among the world's top 50 universities in disciplines such as architecture, civil engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, telecommunications engineering, instruments science and technology, and remote sensing.
According to the annual university ranking conducted by El Mundo, UPC is ranked first in Spain in fields such as civil engineering, computer science, and mechanical engineering.
The university traces its origins to the foundation of the Polytechnic Higher Institute in 1968, which was formed by the merger in Barcelona of the state technical schools of Architecture and Engineering established in the mid-19th century. The institute was presided over by industrial and aeronautical engineer Víctor de Buen Lozano.
In March 1971 the Polytechnic University of Barcelona (UPB) was established, initially comprising:
Its first rector was Víctor de Buen Lozano, former president of the Polytechnic Higher Institute. That same year saw the creation of the Technical School of Telecommunications Engineering of Barcelona (ETSETB) and the Institute of Educational Sciences (ICE-UPC).
In 1972 the University Schools of Technical Industrial Engineering at Terrassa (now the School of Engineering of Terrassa, EUETIT) and at Vilanova i la Geltrú (now EPSEVG), the University School of Technical Architecture of Barcelona (now EPSEB), and the University School of Technical Mining Engineering of Manresa (which that year was renamed Polytechnic University School of Manresa, EUPM, now EPSEM) were integrated into the UPB. That year also saw the establishment of the University Schools of Technical Agricultural Engineering at Girona and Lleida; Girona’s school soon became a full Polytechnic University School, and Lleida began offering first- and second-cycle courses. In December 1972 Gabriel Ferraté Pascual succeeded Víctor de Buen Lozano as rector.
In 1974 the Technical School of Civil Engineering of Barcelona (ETSECCPB) opened. In March 1976 the Faculty of Informatics of Barcelona (FIB) was founded, and Julián Fernández Ferrer was elected rector, succeeding Gabriel Ferraté, who had been appointed Director General of Universities and Research in Madrid. Also in 1977 the University School of Optics (EUOOT) opened in Terrassa by ministerial order.
In 1978 Gabriel Ferraté was re-elected rector, serving until 1994. In 1979 the Technical School of Architecture of the Vallès (ETSAV) opened in the Sabadell-Terrassa area; it moved to Sant Cugat del Vallès in 1991.
On 4 July 1983 Spain’s University Reform Act (LRU 232/1985) paved the way for new statutes, and in 1984 the institution was officially renamed the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). On 19 December 1984 the Parliament of Catalonia established university coordination laws and social councils, appointing Pere Duran Farell as the first President of the UPC Social Council.
Jordi Rodríguez-Amat (born 2 November 1944), president of the Rogriguez-Amat Foundation and professor at the University of Barcelona.
Anna Kiesenhofer (born 14 February 1991), Austrian professional cyclist and mathematician; Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist in the women’s road race; PhD in Mathematics from the UPC.
Matthias Maurer (born 18 March 1970), German ESA astronaut and materials scientist; selected for SpaceX Crew-3 to the ISS; studied materials science at UPC.
Olga Malinkiewicz (born 26 November 1982), Polish physicist, inventor and entrepreneur; co-founder and CTO of Saule Technologies; developed inkjet-printed perovskite solar cells; UPC alumna.
Oriol Vinyals (born 1983), Spanish machine-learning researcher at DeepMind; co-inventor of the seq2seq model; studied telecommunications engineering at UPC.
Mateo Valero Cortés (born 1952), Spanish computer architect; founding director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (home of MareNostrum); PhD in telecommunications engineering from UPC.
Carme Pigem Barceló (born 8 April 1962), Spanish architect; co-founder of the Pritzker Prize–winning firm RCR Arquitectes; studied at UPC’s ETSAV.
Roger Torrent i Ramió (born 19 July 1979), Catalan politician and urban planner; President of the Parliament of Catalonia (2018–2021); UPC postgraduate in territorial and urban studies.
Pere Navarro Olivella (born 25 May 1952), Spanish civil servant and politician; Director-General for Traffic since 2018; degree in industrial engineering from UPC.
Josep Roca i Soler (b. 19XX), engineer and co-founder of Roca, studied industrial engineering at the UPC.
The UPC has a number of research centres.
From 1991–2010, the Board of Trustees at the UPC organized and awarded an annual Science Fiction Award. Currently the award is presented bi-annually.
Previous winners include:
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