ISEP (Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto) : identity of a school with roots in the 1800's

Abstract

The forerunner of ISEP was inaugurated on 27th. March, 1854 with the designation of "Industrial School of Porto" (Escola Industrial do Porto). In 1864, the Industrial Institute of Porto (Instituto Industrial do Porto) was created, closely modelled on its namesake in Lisbon. Emídio Júlio Navarro was responsible for the Decree which, on 30th. December, 1886, ordered the reform of industrial training in Porto, establishing new courses specially in commerce. From 1886-87, the Institute was organized into two departments: the industrial section and the commercial section. After the First World War, technical training was completely reformed so that the I.I.C.P. was divided to create the Industrial Institute, the Commercial Institute and the Higher Institute of Commerce. In 1924, the two branches of secondary education were again merged, allegedly to streamline resources, thus creating the I.I.C.P. (1924-1933). In 1933 with the New State, the Industrial Institute of Porto (1933-1974), definitively made commercial training autonomous and moved from the installations in the Porto University building to the building of the extinct Faculty of Letters. It was only on 19th. June, 1968 that the Paranhos centres (Rua de S. Tomé) were inaugurated. In 1988, ISEP became part of the structure of the Polytechnis Institute of Porto (Instituto Politécnico do Porto).