The Technical University of Lisbon (UTL) is a public university with administrative and financial autonomy that was established in 1930 from the merging of four existing schools: the High School of Veterinary Medicine, now the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FMV); the School of Agronomy (ISA); the Higher Institute of Economic and Financial Sciences, now the School of Economics and Management (ISEG); and the School of Engineering (IST).
"To link higher technical schools more directly with each other for the socioeconomic benefit of the whole of society and the wellbeing of the professions they serve, which are essential for the health and advancement of the country”; the University was created to teach “how society should be developed to meet all the demands of [...] modern civilisation." From the preamble to Decree-law no. 19081, of December 2, 1930, which created the Technical University of Lisbon.
The University was later expanded by the addition of three new higher education establishments: the Institute of Overseas Studies, now the School of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP), in 1961; the Higher Institute of Physical Education, now the Faculty of Human Kinetics (FMH), in 1976; and the Faculty of Architecture (FA) in 1979.
Around 19,000 undergraduate students and 3500 graduate students involved in Postgraduate Programmes currently attend the seven Schools of the Technical University of Lisbon.
The premises of the Technical University of Lisbon are located in several parts of Lisbon. Some of the schools remain in their original locations: ISA (Tapada da Ajuda), ISEG (Quelhas) and IST (Alameda). A new Ajuda University Campus was created in 1987. with new premises for the Faculty of Architecture (FA), the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FMV) and the School of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP), as well as catering facilities and the Centre of Physical Activity and Recreation (CEDAR), located next to the School of Agronomy (ISA). Further expansion of UTL was done within Taguspark (Oeiras), where a second IST campus is operating since 2000. Other facilities include the Ajuda Botanical Garden and the Ajuda Woodlands.