Escuela de Administración de Empresas

In 1971 the Legislative Assembly approved law #4777, thus creating the Costa Rica Institute of Technology.  The Institute became the country’s first and only technological university oriented to the modernization and improvement of the national productive sector and the technology transfer for the transformation of the Costa Rican society.  As an institution financed by public funds, the TEC, as it is known in the country, rigorously undertakes its commitment to excellence in technological training and technology development, areas that have been assigned to the institution.

The central campus of the Costa Rica Institute of Technology is in the city of Cartago, in the foothills of the Irazu Volcano, southeast of San Jose which opened its doors for the first students on March 1973.  There is also a Regional Campus in Santa Clara de San Carlos since 1975, an Academic Center since 1978 and a Technology Transfer Center since 1994 as two metropolitan centers.

More than of land and of buildings host classrooms, laboratories, research centers, sports and cultural facilities, auditoriums, offices, snack bars, cafeterias, libraries, experimental forests and farms, workshops and bookstores .  The institution makes these facilities available to its students, employees and neighboring communities. 

The Costa Rica Institute of Technology forms part of the National Council of State Universities (CONARE), which is responsible for the inter-university coordination among the four public universities of the country, besides is the center for the Integrated Superior Education Accreditation National System (SINAES) and the Superior Education Articulation Council.

The Institutional Representative Assembly, TEC’s governing body, is composed of faculty, student and administrative representatives. This group is responsible for creating and approving policies that guarantee that the orientation of the university complies with its commitment to the country.

The Institutional Council is the higher executive board of the Costa Rica Institute of Technology and it is represented by the following members:

1.  The Rector, being the President
2. Two members on the national community
3. Four professors representing the Faculty
4.  An administrative member of the Community
5.  Two students elected by the Student Federation (FEITEC)
6.  One alumni

As a reflection of the Costa Rican democratic system, the President (Rector), members of the Institutional Council and Directors of the Academic Schools are elected directly. The President selects the Vice-Presidents of Academic Affairs, Research and Extension, Student Life and Administration to work as a team through his term.

Students are organized in a student federation which, through their executive committee and the Career associations, oversees the rights of students and organizes institutional development projects. Representatives of the Federation of Costa Rica Institute of Technology Students (FEITEC) participate in all the advisory and decision-making councils of the institution.

The approximately 600 professionals that make up TEC’s faculty and academic supportive services come from different university disciplines in the areas of Engineering, Basic and Natural Sciences, Computers, Education, Economics, Liberal Arts, Social Sciences and Fine Arts. Of those, 72% have Licenciate, Masters or Doctoral degrees. More than three hundred professors are hired full-time to design and lead teaching, research, extension and student life programs.

The most important achievements of the university with an impact in Central America and the Caribbean are the more than 9 000 alumni holding a degree in the different academic options, besides a broad number of technological applications and the results of the different research technology based projects.

TEC has given a priority to the integral education of the professionals in the different areas where the technological transformation is a key for the improvement of the quality of life. TEC has considered the triangle TECHNOLOGY – ENVIRONMENT - HUMAN DEVELOPMENT as a base for its scope of engineering and technology referred to industry, infrastructure, agro-forestry, business, management and recently in technical education and mathematics teaching.

The broad spectrum of the TEC´s academic offer is characterized for the diversity of levels on the same campus which facilitates the best performance of the infrastructure, equipment, lecturers and academic supporters. Some Schools are offering different academic options in different levels as associate, bachelor and master´s degrees. Some Schools have implenented technician programs oriented to the needs of the labor market.