Polytechnic José Antonio Echeverría

Polytechnic University José Antonio Echeverría
Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (ISPJAE/CUJAE)
Established	1964
Type	Public
Admin. staff	770
Students	8,100
Location	Havana, Cuba
Website	www.cujae.edu.cu

The Polytechnic University José Antonio Echeverría" (Spanish: Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría, Cujae) is an undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research university located in 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.

Enrollment and retention

An academic year is divided in two semesters. At the end of each semester, final exams take place. The ratio (number of graduated students)/ (number of admitted students) is very low, despite hard entry exams. One example: the 8/160 was the ratio of graduated/admitted students for one of the mechanical engineering program during the study period 1983-1988. The reason lies in a five years full time severe study and knowledge-control regime. Class assistance is compulsory (even ringing bells advice when the lecture starts/finishes!!). Lecturers have to orally test and grade students during the first ten minutes of theoretical lectures and practice classes are used to test students randomly. Those who fail such small tests are exposed to more small tests. Failing to pass them will invalidate the student, i.e. the student has take the exam only in August (each student cannot take more than three exams in August). In addition, none announced control tests for all students in the class are common practice beside the scheduled mid- terms and final exams. Old exams are NOT available and students cannot re-take more than three exams per semester. In addition, students have to pass all the exams before moving to the next year. Failing to do so, implies to be expelled from the university.

There have been cases of failed students from the CUJAE who went to other (better ranked) universities abroad and achieved honor degrees. The opposite exists, i.e. honor students from universities abroad that had difficult to adapt/pass the CUJAE’s harsh regime. The lack of (private) competitive universities having a student-friendly culture in Cuba may create the belief among the young students that such hard regime is standard in the Universities around world. This could explain why few CUJAE graduates show interest to pursue higher degrees abroad.

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. An academic year is divided in two semesters. At the end of each semester, final exams take place. The ratio (number of graduated students)/(number of admitted students) is very low, despite very high requirements and entry exams. One example: in the 1983 Mechanical Engineering intake only 8 out of 160 students were able to graduate in 1988. The reason lies in the level of intense studies and examination regime that the students are subjected to throughout the five year full-time period. Class attendance is compulsory (even with the use of ringing bells to advise students and lecturers to change periods!!). Lecturers have to orally test studetns and record marks during the first ten minutes of lectures at random, meaning that students are always required to come to lectures being up to date with with their studies. Those who fail such oral tests are required to sit other formal tests to show improvements in their performances to the satisfaction of their respective factulties. Failing such tests invalidates the student's enrolment, i.e. the student will not be allowed to sit final examinations of the semester and will have to wait till August to sit a final Exit/Entry exam for that particular module(no student is allowed to sit more than three of such exams in August). In addition, written tests are carried out for all students without prior warning in addition to beside normal scheduled mid- terms and final exams. Old exams are NOT available whatsoever and students cannot re-take more than three exams per semester. Students are also required to pass all their exams before they are allowed to move on to the next year. Failing to pass all the above requirements in every model implies an expulsion from the university.

There have been many cases of failed students from the CUJAE who have gone to other (internationally renouned) universities abroad and achieved good honors degrees. The opposite rearly exist, i.e. students from universities abroad have difficulties in adapting/passing the CUJAE’s harsh testing regime. The lack of competition from other universities sometimes creates the belief among some students that such harsh studying regimes are the norm in every university around world. This probably explains why only few graduates from CUJAE take interest in pursuing postgraduate studies abroad.

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

See also

• Education in Cuba
• List of universities in Cuba
• Havana

External links

• Polytechnic University José Antonio Echeverría Website (Spanish)

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