The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid's Facultad de Informática is Madrid's longest standing and most highly reputed higher education institution offering a degree in informatics engineering.
The Facultad de Informática is situated at the Montegancedo Campus on the edge of the municipalities of Boadilla del Monte, Pozuelo de Alarcón and Alcorcón. Set in the midst of a green space, it has good travel links, making for a dynamic student life, mirrored by the many scientific or technical, cultural or informative events and activities to which it plays host.
The Facultad de Informática now has 175 teaching staff and 1753 students enrolled in its Bologna-compliant Bachelor in Informatics Engineering. This broad spectrum degree programme prepares students both to join the labour market directly or to specialize in any branch of informatics through a master's degree course without the need for any additional training, etc.
The Facultad de Informática has a library with 218 reading and 12 video library positions, archiving over 28,000 items. The campus is equipped with newly built sports facilities, including a synthetic 7-aside football pitch, basketball court, an indoor football pitch, a fitness room and two tennis courts.
The key things that the Facultad de Informática has to offer are student support, study abroad opportunities, industrial or laboratory placements, a faculty with an excellent reputation and Bologna-compliant degree programmes.
Students are the Facultad de Informática's key asset, and we make every effort to assure that they achieve their utmost potential in terms of personal and professional development. To achieve this goal, a number of schemes are in place, targeting incoming first-year students especially:
We would like to see most of the Facultad de Informática's students completing their studies with a stay abroad. The International Office offers more computing exchange placements than any other university in the Madrid region and possibly Spain. It has entered into agreements with 88 European universities, 13 Latin American and 13 Chinese universities. Additionally, we have double degree agreements with 20 prestigious European and 2 US universities. These agreements include the a double degree option for the Ingeniero1 in Informatics Engineering and the Master in Telecommunications Engineering with France's top two telecommunications schools. The International Office advises students, manages exchanges and offers English, French, German, Italian, Swedish, Finnish and Mandarin Chinese courses to students before they leave.
It is essential for students to gain some work experience before they finish their degree, either through an official placement as part of their course or straight afterwards as they complete their final-year project. The Facultad de Informática's Career Guidance Centre helps students and graduates to find a placement or a job, thereby looking after their interests as well as the needs of companies operating in the field. The Facultad de Informática entered into student placement agreements with 150 companies in the 2007/08 academic year, and over 550 offer placements.
Founded in 1976, the UPM's Facultad de Informática was Spain's first school of informatics (together with the institutions set up by the Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña and the Universidad del País Vasco). Over the last 33 years the Facultad de Informática gradually forged its reputation, which has benefited generations of engineers trained at the Facultad de Informática, many of whom now hold management positions within industry and government.
Students that find research more exciting have the chance of researching their final-year project at one of the Facultad de Informática's laboratories. Some 146 Facultad de Informática students are involved in national or international research projects funded by grants or contracts. The projects are run by Facultad de Informática research groups, but students are also involved in research at the UPM's Supercomputing Centre on the Margerit supercomputer and at IMDEA Software (Madrid Institute for Advanced Research in Software Development Technology), which are both based at our campus.
Our faculty members have earned a reputation world-wide for the research they conduct at the Facultad de Informática. This benefits students in that both tuition is continually revamped and they get the chance to cooperate in the research activities as trainees. At present, the Facultad de Informática's research groups and laboratories have 108 ongoing research projects, many of which are carried out in conjunction with industry. The Facultad de Informática has highly rated researcher training programmes that supply Madrid's other universities with researchers and professors. Prof. Manuel Hermenegildo Salinas, a Facultad de Informática professor, is the holder of the Julio Rey Pastor National Prize for Mathematics and Information and Communications Technologies awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and the Aritmel Prize for Computing. Prof. Hermenegildo also holds the Prince of Asturias Endowed Chair in Information Science and Technology at the University of New Mexico, USA.
A key indicator of the quality of the education imparted at the Facultad de Informática and its faculty is that it has repeatedly ranked as the top Spanish university offering the Ingeniero1 in Informatics Engineering degree in the annual survey conducted by the El Mundo newspaper.
Life at the university is not confined to just attending lectures and studying the subjects taught. The Facultad de Informática has a very diverse cultural and social life, offering students the chance to pursue their hobbies, get to know each other and share experiences. Apart from the traditional tuna (group of musicians), which has won many a national competition, the Facultad de Informática has a very active theatre group (Histrión), informatics associations (the ACM Students Chapter, IDIM, CITFI), a magazine (Coleópteros), a Potholing Club and associations embracing Christian humanism (Alpha-Omega Association), promoting Manga and Anime and Japanese culture, like the Nerv Association, or social and cultural activities, like ASCFI. ASCFI has its own radio station and organizes weekend trips. Also the Facultad de Informática has a Sports Club, which organizes both in-house competitions at the Campus sports facilities and the participation of Facultad de Informática teams in university leagues. Every Spring students organize a party on the campus open to all Facultad de Informática students.
Finally, the Facultad de Informática sponsors a heavy programme of conferences related to the field of computing and all sorts of seminars. A highlight is the Facultad de Informática's Research and Culture Week (SICFIMA), which is held annually and attended by leading figures from science, society and industry.
Why study for a degree in informatics engineering?
