Polytechnic University of Catalonia

The Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Catalan: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, pronounced [uniβəɾsiˈtat puliˈtɛŋnikə ðə kətəˈluɲə], Spanish: Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, UPC), currently referred to as BarcelonaTech, is one of the largest polytechnic universities in Spain. The majority of its Engineering Schools and Research facilities are consistently ranked as leading academic institutions in their fields in Europe.

It was established in 1971 as a result of different higher technical schools founded in the 18th century merging together. Those schools include Industrial Engineers of Barcelona (ETSEIB) and Terrassa (ETSEIAT), the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Barcelona (ETSAB) and some research institutes.

As of 2025 it has 18 schools in Catalonia located in the cities of Barcelona, Castelldefels, Manresa, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Terrassa, Igualada, and Vilanova i la Geltrú. As of the academic year 2024–25, the UPC has over 30,000 students and over 3,000 teaching and research staff, 67 undergraduate programs, 96 graduate programs and 46 doctorate programs.

UPC is a member of the Top Industrial Managers for Europe network, which allows for student exchanges between leading European engineering schools. It is also a member of several university federations, including the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER) and UNITECH. UPC is also a parent institution of the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI).