The Santander School of Civil Engineering was created by Royal Decree (12-12-1963). Teaching started on the first course in October 1966. Thanks to the reorganisation of teaching techniques and making full use of the existing university infrastructure, chiefly being the facilities of the Menendez Pelayo International University with its hall of residence, the start of the School was heralded an unprecedented success, not only Santander was the only capital city in the North of Spain without solely university studies, but moreover the setting up of a Civil Engineering School in the Cantabrian capital was achieved, in an era in which the only school was in Madrid, created in 1802 after the drive and tenacity of Agustín de Betancourt.
The School represented the first Higher Education teaching centre in the region. It was the first step of the process that culminated in the creation of the University District of Santander later named the University of Cantabria in October 1972.
During the first stage, teaching was very much conditioned by the availability of teaching staff, and the specialties to be taught were progressively introduced. With the incorporation in 1975 of Mr. Guillermo Gómez Laá, as the first Full Professor, later the first Magnificent Rector of the University of Cantabria, a dynamic began that has allowed us to reach the present moment of total consolidation, in which we have an appropriate teaching staff, configuring a Center with its own personality, not only to deal with the teaching of the different disciplines, but also with research and the service of engineering.
Initially, the 1964 Study Plan was followed, and the first attempt at change came about as a result of the Decree of July 30, 1975, which modified the duration of technical education, increasing it to six years. However, Plan 75 consisted only of a reorganization of the subjects of Plan 64, distributing them among the six courses.
For several years, a group of professors worked with the ultimate goal of proposing a substantial modification in the courses taught at the School. This resulted in the 1982 Study Plan, which was approved by the School Board and the Governing Board of the University, and the structure and content of the first five courses were published in the BOE of October 30, 1982. These courses constitute the "common core" and are of a four-monthly nature, with a total of five subjects per course and per four-month period.
Subsequently, work was done on the design of the sixth year, and its structure was approved by the Board of the Center and homologated by the Council of Universities. The first four specialties were published in the BOE of January 26, 1988, although the possibility of incorporating new ones in the future remained open.
By Resolution of the University of Cantabria of September 23, 1991 (BOE of October 11, 1991), a modification of the Specialties of the 1982 Study Plan was approved, with the aim of achieving greater flexibility in the annual establishment of the complementary and additional subjects to be taught in each academic year. Likewise, the "Curricular Itinerary of Construction, Organization and Management" was approved, thus becoming the fifth Specialty of the Career. Finally, a sixth specialty was incorporated, under the name of "Curricular Itinerary of Urban and Territorial Planning", approved by Resolution of the University of Cantabria on September 26, 1994, thus configuring the definitive catalog of specialties of the degree.
In the 1999-2000 academic year, the implementation of the new 5-year CAMINOS 99 study plan began, approved by the School Board on March 24, 1998, and published in the BOE (Official State Gazette) on January 22, 2022. In addition, in this same academic year, the degree of Technical Engineer in Public Works (ITOP) with the specialty of Civil Construction in 3 years, approved by the School Board on November 24, 1998, and published in the BOE on May 5, 1998, began to be offered.
In the field of research, in 2007 the creation of the Institute of Environmental Hydraulics of Cantabria (IH Cantabria) and the construction of its new facilities in the Scientific and Technological Park of Cantabria, including the CCOB (Cantabria Coastal and Ocean Basin), part of the strategic research infrastructure of the Government of Spain, stand out.
The new state regulations of 2007, emanating from the Bologna Plan, forced the separation of university education into three levels: bachelor, master and doctorate. To adapt, the School created the 4-year Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering and the 2-year Master's Degree in Civil Engineering, replacing the previous ITOP and ICCP degrees. The Civil Engineering Degree (2010 Plan) began to be taught in September 2010, like all degrees in Spain, with three possible mentions: Civil Construction, Hydrology or Transport and Urban Services. For its part, the MICCP began in the 2012-2013 academic year, with no specialties offered. The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the School and the publication of the book on its history marked the 2016-2017 academic year.
After a complete revision of the study plans, substantial changes were made to both degrees in 2020. Thus, the Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering (Plan 2020) is currently offered only with the mention in Civil Construction, although mandatory contents of the other mentions have been added to ensure the generalist training of graduates. In addition, the degree has the International Bilingual Itinerary (IBI) - Cornell Program, a program of excellence with more than 20 years of experience in the training of the best graduates. The MICCP (2020 Plan) is currently offered with three possible specialties: Structures, Materials and Geotechnics; Water, Energy and Environment; or Transport, Urban and Regional Planning.
In addition, the wide range of postgraduate courses offered by the School has been growing and adapting to the demands of the sector, offering multiple specialized master's degrees, some of them interuniversity and even with the Erasmus Mundus mention, and its own degrees in various areas of knowledge. Likewise, the continuous work of the School's research groups has made it possible to increase knowledge on civil engineering, with international impact and transfer to companies and society.
