History of Naval Engineering education in Spain
Teaching in Naval Engineering in Spain started in 1772 during King Charles III's reign when the Marine Engineers Academy was set up in Ferrol. This institution helped to create a powerful and modern Spanish Fleet. Its activities last until 1827 and they start again by the middle of the XIX century when the School of Navy Engineers was founded in San Fernando (Cádiz), which later on returned to Ferrol.
The Academy in Ferrol is the one who creates the occasional student at the end of the XIX Century who obtains an Education Certificate but he does not belong to the Navy corps, which becomes the origin of the civil Naval Engineer. The Association of Naval Engineers, composed by civilians but also mainly by the military, plays a decisive role to convince The Second Republic Government of the need to create The Special School of Naval Engineers in 1933, dependant on the Public Instruction Ministry.
This School has itinerant headquarters in several buildings throughout Madrid. One of the most outstanding buildigs is the 26 O'Donnell Street Palace, which was refurbished for teaching purposes when the Spanish Civil War ended. The devastation of war made the Government to consider the rebuilding of the means of production, among them those linked to the maritime activities and shipbuilding. One of the objectives in order to achieve this goal was to have qualified Engineers in this sector and, consequently the Government decided to build new building at Ciudad Universitaria. It was set up in 1948 and it was the headquarters of the Special School of Naval Engineers and nowadays High School of Naval Engineering. A distinctive element of the building is a tower inspired in the Roman Hercules lighthouse in La Coruña. This lighthouse was first built during Trajan's period.