Technological University of Panama

The Technological University of Panama, Universidad Tecnologica de Panama (UTP) in Spanish, is the second largest university in Panama. It is a public university comprised of six colleges in seven campuses nationwide. The main campus is a 60-acre piece of land located in Panama City, the country’s capital city.

History

UTP started operations as a Polytechnic Institute in 1975 offering programs in electromechanical engineering, industrial engineering, civil engineering, computer systems engineering, and mechanical engineering. Six years later, UTP officially becomes a university consisting of five colleges. One more college, the College of Science and Technology was created in 1996.

Academics

UTP is the country’s leading university in engineering programs and one of the most important universities in Central America. It offers programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels in six colleges: the College of Civil Engineering, the College of Electrical Engineering, the College of Mechanical Engineering, the College of Industrial Engineering and the College of Computer Systems Engineering and the College of Science and Technology. It also offers programs in conjunction with other institutions of higher education such as the Florida Institute of Technology in the US and the University of Jaen in Spain through FUNIBER.

The academic year is divided into two sixteen-week semesters and a 7-week long summer term. The first semester usually starts in mid March and ends towards the middle of July. The second semester starts in early August and ends by mid December. The summer term begins in mid January and ends in early March.

Although most courses are offered in three different shifts (roughly from 7:00am to 12:00pm, 1:00pm to 5:00pm, and 6:00pm to 11:00pm), UTP students cannot ‘customize’ the study programs they choose to follow. There are no elective courses, so students must follow predetermined tracks.

References

http://www.utp.ac.pa/secciones/pdf/genesis_utp.pdf “the History of the UTP (Spanish)”
http://www.utp.ac.pa/secciones/calendario/calendario_academico.htm “UTP’s Academic Year (Spanish)”

External Links

Official website (in Spanish): www.utp.ac.pa