Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE (Ex - Escuela Politécnica del Ejército)

INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE

The Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas- ESPE was created in June 1922, originally as the School of Engineer Officers, whose mission was the training of Army officers in the techniques of Military Engineering. Later, in 1936, it changed its name into School of Artillery and Engineers.

Due to the importance of engineering worldwide, after the Second World War, in 1948 it changed its name into Technical School of Engineers.  In October 1972, civilian students were allowed to enter, in order to share with them the excellence and quality of training given by the professors, who besides the professorship, they were prominent professionals in the civil and military fields. The history of Military Engineering reached its greatest dimension on December 8, 1977, when the National Congress approved the name of Army Polytechnic School - ESPE, maintaining its hierarchical structure, dependent on the Ecuadorian Army in the appointment of its authorities and officials.  

In 2010, the enactment of the Organic Law of Higher Education of October 12, 2010, made the Army Polytechnic School- ESPE change its name into Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas - ESPE.  The Twenty-Second Transitional Provision ordered the Army Polytechnic School-ESPE, the Navy University “Commander Rafael Morán Valverde”  UNINAV and the Technological Institute of  Aeronautics ITSA become a single institution.  Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas-ESPE is now the only military institution of higher education in Ecuador and has had civilian students since 1972. The university is dependent on the Joint Command of the Armed Forces in institutional policy, in the assignment of its main authorities and other military personnel who permanently support academic management. 

Since its creation, the academic offer of ESPE has been mostly oriented to technical programs. Its main strength is the training of Engineers, accompanied by a strong ethical component which is reflected in the daily activities carried out by the entire university. 

ESPE is a University that brings together more than 23,000 students, with a coverage that reaches the entire national territory, through its on-site and distance academic programs, along with an infrastructure composed of a main campus, two branch campuses and 23 support centers located in all the provinces of Ecuador. 

Being a historically military university, politics is a subject only addressed as part of the discussion in the classroom. Unlike the other public universities in the country, political proselytizing is not part of the culture of our university despite the existence of a participatory co-government, which is conducted within the framework of mutual respect.