Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Autonomous Industrial University of Barcelona (1933–1934?) and the Frustrated Expectations of Democracy in Pre-war Spain

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sciences in the Universities of Europe, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science ((BSPS,volume 309))

Abstract

The call for autonomy was a central issue in Spanish universities at the beginning of the twentieth century. First attempts led to the establishment of autonomous universities in Barcelona and Madrid in 1933, after the proclamation of the II Republic (1931). Although this experience was short-lived (it was halted by the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939), it raised many hopes, including its extension to technical education, a project completely unknown until recently. Despite never implemented, the Industrial University of Barcelona exemplifies that the world of technical education was aware of the need for self-government in teaching and research. The Industrial University of Barcelona encompassed a variety of expertise ranging from vocational to higher engineering education. Its autonomous status symbolized the definitive recognition of technical education in the democratic Spain of 1930s.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    At present, autonomy is one of the main issues concerning university reform in Europe, see Parliamentary Assembly (2006). See also Charle (2004) and Gerbod (2004).

  2. 2.

    The self-government of the German universities has been a central issue in the higher education system of this country. For the actuality of the question after the Second World War, see, for example, Hahn (1964).

  3. 3.

    For a world overview, see Brock (1990).

  4. 4.

    Moyano’s Law governed Spanish education for more than a century. See Peset and Peset 1974, Chap. 18.

  5. 5.

    See, for example, Ringrose (1996). Also Nadal Oller ed. 1988–1994.

  6. 6.

    Political autonomy was forecast for the other historical regions, Galicia and the Basque Country. Nevertheless, these regions were not able to constitute their own government before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. See for example, Termes (1987), Carr (2000).

  7. 7.

    It should be remembered that technical education was in very different situation around the world. In France, the “Grandes Écoles” had enormous prestige without relationship to the universities. In Germany, the technical high engineering schools became university centres in the 1870s including technical research. In countries such as Belgium or Switzerland technical education followed the French and German system. In Great Britain, technical education had difficulties to be recognised. In the United States, technical education was in a process of transformation from pure vocational centres to university centres. For an international comparison, see Kranzberg (1986). For an overview on technical education, see Guaginini (2004).

  8. 8.

    On technical education in Barcelona, see Alberdi (1980).

  9. 9.

    In Spanish, Universidad Literaria, composed of the faculties of Law, Letters, Pharmacy, Medicine, and Sciences.

  10. 10.

    Flexner (1930) expressed a great criticism to the American universities for including high schools.

  11. 11.

    Ponencia. 1933–1934. The text was found in the Photographic Archive of the City of Barcelona in 2000. A set of pictures of the Industrial University was “protected” with the document.

  12. 12.

    See Campalans (1973), Riera Tuèbols (1990).

  13. 13.

    On Torrens-Ibern and his commitment to technical education see Lusa (2006, pp. 103–106).

  14. 14.

    Alexandre Galí has been a relevant reformer of education in Catalonia. A summary of his trajectory, reproducing some of his texts, is in Galí i Herrera (1995).

  15. 15.

    In Spanish: “Patrimonio”.

  16. 16.

    One of the promoters of this centre was Emili Mira López, who went to exile after the Spanish Civil War. See, for example, Mülberger (2010).

References

  • Alberdi, Ramon. 1980. La formación profesional en Barcelona. Política – Pensamiento – Instituciones 1875–1923. Barcelona: Don Bosco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brock, W. H. 1990. Science education. In Companion to the history of modern science, eds. R. C. Olby, G. N. Cantor, J. R. R. Christie, and M. J. S. Hodge, 946–959. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campalans, Rafael. 1973. Ideari de Rafael Campalans, ed. Albert Balcells. Barcelona: Pòrtic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardwell, Donald S. L. 1972. The organization of science in England. London: Heinemann Educational.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, Raymond, ed. 2000. Spain: A history. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charle, Christophe. 2004. Patterns. In A history of the university in Europe. Volume III. Universities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1800–1945), ed. Walter Rüegg, 33–79. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Puelles Benítez, Manuel. 1986. Educación e ideología en la España contemporánea. Barcelona: Labor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Escuela Industrial de Barcelona. Acta. 1904. Revista Tecnológico-Industrial, 27 (May), 109–129. Facsimile in Documentos de la Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Barcelona, num. 12, 2002, 108–128. http://upcommons.upc.edu/revistes/handle/2099/967. Accessed June 2013.

  • Ferré i Trill, Xavier. 1993. Estanislau Ruiz i Ponsetí: sindicalisme i política. Maó: Revista de Menorca.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flexner, Abraham. 1930. Universities. American, English, German. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galí, Alexandre. 1981. Història de les institucions i del moviment cultural a Catalunya 1900–1936. Llibre IV. Ensenyament tècnico-industrial i tècnico-manual o d’Arts i Oficis. Barcelona: Fundació AG.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galí i Herrera, Jordi. 1995. Alexandre Galí i el seu temps. Barcelona: Proa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerbod, Paul. 2004. Resources and management. In A history of the university in Europe. Volume III. Universities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1800–1945), ed. Walter Rüegg, 101–121. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guagnini, Anna. 2004. Technology. In A history of the university in Europe. Volume III. Universities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1800–1945), ed. Walter Rüegg, 593–635. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hahn, Walter. 1964. Patterns and trends in West German universities: Academic self-government versus state control. The Journal of Higher Education 36 (5): 245–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kranzberg, Melvin, ed. 1986. Technological education-Technological style. San Francisco: San Francisco Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • L’Escola d’Enginyers de Barcelona dintre de la Universitat. 1933. Tècnica 46 (177): 349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lusa, Guillermo. 2006. La Escuela de Ingenieros de la Dictadura a la República (1927–1936), Documentos de la Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Barcelona, 16:3–119. http://upcommons.upc.edu/revistes/handle/2099/2261. Accessed June 2013.

  • Mülberger, Annette. 2010. Un psicólogo abandona su mundo: El exilio de Emilio Mira y López. In El exilio científico republicano, ed. J. L. Barona, 157–172. Valencia: PUV.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nadal Oller, Jordi, ed. 1988–1994. Història econòmica de la Catalunya contemporània. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parliamentary Assembly. 2006. Recommendation 1762. Academic freedom and university autonomy. http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/AdoptedText/ta06/ERec1762.htm. Accessed June 2013.

  • Paul, Harry W. 1985. From knowledge to power. The rise of the science-empire in France 1860–1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Peset, Mariano, and José Luis Peset. 1974. La Universidad española, siglos XVIII y XIX: despotismo ilustrado y revolución liberal. Madrid: Taurus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ponencia sobre un Estatuto de la Universidad Industrial de Barcelona. 1933–1934. CRHT archives, UPC. Facsímile version in Documentos de la Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Barcelona 16, 2006: 236–246 http://upcommons.upc.edu/revistes/handle/2099/2264. Accessed June 2013.

  • Pozo Ruiz, Alfonso. 2008. La autonomía universitaria en el Decreto de César Silió (1919), Alma Mater Hispalense. 500 años. http://personal.us.es/alporu/historia/plan_cesar_silio_1919.htm. Accessed June 2013.

  • Proyecto de Escuelas Industriales. 1900. El Trabajo Nacional, IX (July): 41–56. Reproduced in Documentos de la Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Barcelona, 12, 2002: 67–82. http://upcommons.upc.edu/revistes/handle/2099/967. Accessed June 2013.

  • Puig i Reixach, Miquel, ed. 1977. Els Congressos Universitaris catalans. Catalanització i autonomia de la Universitat. Barcelona: Undarius.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ribas i Massana, Albert. 1976. La Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1933–1939). Barcelona: Edicions 62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riera Tuèbols, Santiago. 1990. Rafael Campalans. In Quatre enginyers industrials per a la història: Carles Pi i Sunyer, Pompeu Fabra i Poch, Rafael Campalans i Puig, i Josep Serrat i Bonastre, 86–144. Barcelona: Associació i Col·legi d’Enginyers Industrials de Catalunya, La Llar del Llibre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ringrose, David R. 1996. Spain, Europe, and the Spanish miracle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roca-Rosell, Antoni. 1996. L’enginyeria de laboratori, un repte del nou-cents. Quaderns d’Història de l’Enginyeria 1:197–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roca-Rosell, Antoni. 2007. El discurso civil en torno a la ciencia y la técnica. In El regeneracionismo en España, eds. M. Suárez Cortina and V. L. Salavert Fabiani, 241–259. Valencia: Universitat de València.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roca-Rosell, Antoni, ed. 2008. L’Escola Industrial de Barcelona. Cent anys d’ensenyament tècnic i d’arquitectura. Barcelona: Diputació de Barcelona, Ajuntament de Barcelona, and Consorci de l’Escola Industrial de Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roca-Rosell, Antoni. 2009. La formation des ingénieurs industriels catalans pendant la période républicaine (1931–1939). À la recherche d’une nouvelle conscience professionnelle?. In Jogos de identidade profissional: os engenheiros entre a formação e a acção, eds. A. Cardoso de Matos, M. P. Diogo, I. Gouzevitch, and A. Grelon, 501–512. Lisboa: Colibri.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roca-Rosell, Antoni, and Guillermo Lusa. 1998. Un altre 98? Ciència i tècnica al voltant de 1900. Afers 31:609–626.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roca-Rosell, Antoni, and Vicent L., Salavert Fabiani. 2009. Catalanisme, valencianisme i ciència en el canvi de segle. In La Ciència en la història dels Països Catalans, eds. R. Parés and J. Vernet, vol. 3, 523–569. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Universitat de València.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roca-Rosell, Antoni, Guillermo Lusa-Monforte, Francesc Barca-Salom, and Carles Puig-Pla. 2006. Industrial engineering in Spain in the first half of the twentieth century: From renewal to crisis. History of Technology 27:147–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosell, Jaume. 1995. Rafael Guastavino i Moreno: enginy en l’arquitectura del segle XIX. In Ciència i tècnica als Països Catalans: una aproximació biogràfica, eds. J. M. Camarasa and A. Roca-Rosell, 494–522. Barcelona: Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosell, Jaume. 2002. Rafael Guastavino i Moreno: inventiveness in 19th century architecture. In Guastavino Co. (1885–1962): Catalogue of works in Catalonia and America, 44–59. Barcelona: Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya.

    Google Scholar 

  • Termes, Josep. 1987. De la revolució de setembre a la fi de la Guerra Civil: 1868–1939. Barcelona: Edicions 62 (Història de Catalunya, vol. 6).

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrens Ibern, Joaquim. 1933. Qüestions d’ensenyament tècnic, mss, 10 pp, October. Reproduced in Documentos de la Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Barcelona, vol. 16, 2006: 219–229. http://upcommons.upc.edu/revistes/handle/2099/2260. Accessed 1 Nov 2014.

  • Universitat de Barcelona. 1934. Anuari 1934–1935. Barcelona: Tip. Occitania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Visita de S.M. el Rey D. Alfonso XIII a los terrenos y edificios donde ha de instalarse la Universidad Industrial de Barcelona. 1908. Barcelona: Imprenta Sucesor F. Sánchez. Reprint. Barcelona: EUETIB, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat Politècnica de CatalunyaBarcelona Tech, Diagonal 647, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Antoni Roca-Rosell

Authors
  1. Antoni Roca-Rosell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antoni Roca-Rosell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT), Faculty of Sciences/University of Lisbon, Campo Grande, Lisboa, Portugal

    Ana Simões

  2. Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT), New University of Lisbon (FCT/NOVA), Lisbon, Portugal

    Maria Paula Diogo

  3. Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Kostas Gavroglu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Roca-Rosell, A. (2015). The Autonomous Industrial University of Barcelona (1933–1934?) and the Frustrated Expectations of Democracy in Pre-war Spain. In: Simões, A., Diogo, M., Gavroglu, K. (eds) Sciences in the Universities of Europe, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 309. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9636-1_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation