Polytechnic José Antonio Echeverría
Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (ISPJAE/CUJAE) | |
Type | Public |
---|---|
Established | 1964 |
Rector | Alicia Alonso Becerra |
Administrative staff | 770 |
Students | 8,100 |
Location | Havana, Cuba |
Website | cujae.edu.cu |
The José Antonio Echeverría Higher Polytechnic Institute" (Spanish: Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría, Cujae) is an undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research university located in Marianao, Havana, Cuba.
History
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.
Names and confusion
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.
International aid
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.
After the early 1990s
The technical university reduced its number of students to half, after the collapse of the soviets’ subventions in the early 1990s.
Organization
These are the 7 faculties in which the university is divided into:
- Faculty of Architecture
- Faculty of Civil Engineering
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering
- Faculty of Industrial Engineering
- Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
- Faculty of Chemical Engineering
- Faculty of Computer Engineering
Notable alumni
- José Angel Navarro (graduated engineer) Concert Guitarist
- Angel García "Virulo" (graduated architect) Comedian
- Felipe Perez Roque (excanciller)