{"id":2596,"date":"2022-06-29T10:54:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T10:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/?page_id=2596"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:26:10","slug":"esquisso-historico","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/esquisso-historico\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHistorical Overview<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHistorical Overview<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The current Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra traces its roots far back in time, through a continuous evolution aligned with the cultural and social demands of the University of Coimbra and Portuguese society.
The merger resulting from the decree with the force of law issued on April 19, 1911, which united the Faculties of Philosophy and Mathematics created during the Marquis of Pombal\u2019s Reform, gave rise to the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Coimbra. The preparatory courses for admission to the Faculty of Engineering of Porto were established and regulated by Decree No. 24396 of August 22, 1934. Until then, the Faculty offered courses that qualified students to later attend the Technical Faculty of Porto and the Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico of Lisbon.
The need for a Faculty of Engineering at the University of Coimbra was first presented to the Faculty of Sciences\u2019 Academic Council on April 27, 1960. The professors on the Council were divided: some supported the creation of a separate Faculty of Engineering, while others advocated for integrating Science and Engineering courses within a single faculty. The latter view prevailed, and Decree-Law No. 259\/72 of July 28 established the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra.\n\nThe third year of the Electrical Engineering degree \u2014 the Engineering preparatory courses at the time covered the first two years \u2014 began immediately in the 1972\/73 academic year. The Faculty\u2019s leadership made it a priority to meet the essential and strategic requirements of Electrical Engineering, laying the foundation for the Department.\n\nIt implemented a doctoral training plan to prepare future professors, hiring young and talented graduates who were promptly sent to pursue their Ph.D. studies at prestigious foreign universities. The day-to-day management of the Department was entrusted to a Ph.D. holder, with sufficient delegated authority to ensure the smooth development of its activities and plans.\n\nFacilities were found at Quinta da Nora, which, although temporary, were adapted to meet the Department\u2019s immediate teaching needs. With the recruitment of administrative, technical, and support staff, all the necessary conditions were in place for the Department\u2019s establishment and growth.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Let us now briefly and succinctly describe the evolution of the Department over the last three decades of the 20th century. The period following the April 25th Revolution was marked by profound transformations throughout Portuguese society. The university institution was, perhaps, the one where ideological changes \u2014 reflected in power structures and behaviors \u2014 had the greatest impact and scope. Naturally, the plans previously established for the Department were questioned and modified.\n\nEngineering moved out of the Quinta da Nora buildings, which had been assigned to the Industrial Institute of Coimbra. The doctoral training program experienced some disruption but was soon resumed and strengthened. From the late 1970s onwards, the Department\u2019s development progressed steadily and sustainably across all its areas.\n\nThe number of faculty members increased consistently. From a single Ph.D. professor in the early days, the number reached 23 by 1995, before the creation of the Department of Informatics Engineering. When the Electrical Engineering degree program was first established, not a single faculty position was filled; by the end of the 20th century, the faculty roster was nearly complete, with 6 full professors and 5 associate professors. The non-teaching staff grew from 5 employees at the beginning to 23 by the end of the century.
The undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering, initially with only one specialization track, enrolled third-year students for the first time in 1972. Its first 41 graduates completed the program three years later, in 1975. The degree later expanded to offer three and then four specialization tracks.\n\nIn 1984, the Department launched the undergraduate program in Computer Engineering (Decree No. 401\/84). The first master\u2019s program offered by the Department was the Master\u2019s in Electrical Engineering Sciences, whose first edition took place in 1983. Later, this master\u2019s program was divided into two separate programs: the Master\u2019s in Computer Science (Decree No. 187\/82) and the Master\u2019s in Electrical Engineering Sciences (Decree No. 33\/83).
Order No. 63\/SCCS\/83 granted the University of Coimbra, through the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, the right to award the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering. The first doctoral degree, based on internally conducted research and supervision, was completed in 1985.
Both the Electrical Engineering program and the Department itself \u2014 first as an informal structure, later as a formal and statutory one \u2014 evolved over the years in accordance with the framework and procedures established by national legislation. Until April 25, 1974, its management was under the direct responsibility of the Faculty\u2019s Board. Shortly after the April Revolution, management was entrusted to a Management Committee composed of faculty members, students, and staff, which became regulated in 1976 by Decree-Law No. 781-A\/76 of October 28.\n\nFollowing Decree-Law No. 66\/80 of April 9, Ordinance No. 111\/81 of January 24 was issued, which legally and formally established the Department of Electrical Engineering. Later, in accordance with the Law on University Autonomy and the approval of the Statutes of the University of Coimbra and the Faculty Regulations, the Regulation of the Department of Electrical Engineering was published in the *Di\u00e1rio da Rep\u00fablica*, 2nd Series, No. 286, on December 13, 1994.\n\nIn 1995, a group of professors and teaching assistants from the Department, with unanimous consensus and approval, created the Department of Informatics Engineering (Senate Resolution of 13-12-1994).
The Department\u2019s scientific activity found its institutional foundation in the Center of Electrotechnics of the University of Coimbra (INIC), officially approved by ministerial order in March 1980, with effect from July 1, 1980.\n\nBy the end of the 20th century, within the framework of the government\u2019s policy for the research sector, the INIC was dissolved, and the creation of private, non-profit research institutions was encouraged. At the Department level, this resulted in the establishment of INESC, ISR, IT, and ICEMS.
The Department began its activities at Quinta da Nora, in a building originally designed for the Industrial Institute of Coimbra. For a few months after the April Revolution, it was located in the College of St. Benedict (*Col\u00e9gio de S. Bento*), later moving to the College of Jesus (*Col\u00e9gio de Jesus*), where it remained until 1996.\n\nAs the Department expanded, it became spread across four different buildings: the College of Jesus, the College of Arts, the basement of the Physics building, and one floor in the Boavista district. In September 1996, the Department was permanently relocated to its own building at the University of Coimbra\u2019s Polo II campus.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Department of Electrical Engineering (DEE) moved into its building at Polo II at the beginning of the 1996\u20131997 academic year. The size and quality of these new facilities, combined with the boost in R&D activities provided by the CI\u00caNCIA program, encouraged the implementation of profound functional reforms, which are still ongoing today.
In the 1997\u201398 academic year, a curricular reform of the Electrical Engineering degree was carried out. The resulting study plan came into effect in the 1998\u201399 academic year.
In 2000, the Department of Electrical Engineering undertook a restructuring of its postgraduate programs, which led to the creation of the Master\u2019s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and several postgraduate courses specializing in four areas: Automation and Industrial Informatics, Energy, Materials and Non-Destructive Testing, and Telecommunications.
As of May 30, 2001 (Order No. 11 486, *Di\u00e1rio da Rep\u00fablica* \u2013 2nd Series), the Department of Electrical Engineering was renamed the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC).
In the 2007\u20132008 academic year \u2014 following the Bologna Declaration, signed in June 1999 by the Ministers of Education of 29 European countries to create a coherent, competitive, and attractive European Higher Education Area that promotes the mobility of students, professors, and graduates \u2014 the DEEC implemented a curricular reform of its study programs. This reform established the current structure of Electrical Engineering education at the University of Coimbra.\n\nThe former undergraduate degree was replaced by the Integrated Master\u2019s in Electrical and Computer Engineering, structured in two modules: the first module, lasting three years, awards the Bachelor\u2019s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering Sciences, while the second module grants the Master\u2019s degree, offering four specialization areas \u2014 Automation, Computers, Energy, and Telecommunications.\n\nA Doctoral Program (3rd cycle) in Electrical Engineering Sciences was also created.
Today, the DEEC is composed of a group of young and dynamic faculty members committed to building a nationally leading school that is internationally recognized \u2014 both for the quality of its teaching and for the excellence of its research activities.

(*) Editorial Note:
The information on this page is based almost entirely on the text of the same title included in the departmental prospectus for the 1996\u20131997 academic year, written by Professor Carlos Artur Trindade de S\u00e1 Furtado. His work masterfully describes the genesis and evolution of the Department of Electrical Engineering (now known as the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) up to its establishment at the University of Coimbra\u2019s Polo II campus in September 1996.
Apart from minimal updating edits, this text includes a brief reference to the most relevant events for the DEEC (formerly known as DEE) since its relocation to the University of Coimbra\u2019s Polo II campus.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Esquisso Hist\u00f3rico Esquisso Hist\u00f3rico G\u00e9nese O actual Departamento de Engenharia Electrot\u00e9cnica e de Computadores da Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra vai buscar as suas ra\u00edzes bem longe no tempo, atrav\u00e9s de uma evolu\u00e7\u00e3o continuada, concertada com as exig\u00eancias culturais e sociais da Universidade de Coimbra e da Sociedade Portuguesa.A fus\u00e3o, resultante […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_theme","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1080","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2596","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2596"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4988,"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2596\/revisions\/4988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.deec.uc.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}