Boriquén Institute of Technology
Ariri-nia-ke | |
| Type | Public regional polytechnic |
|---|---|
| Established | 1742 AN |
| Affiliation | Federal University Council |
| Budget | NAX€31 million (research) |
Academic staff |
950 |
| Students | 14,200 |
| Undergraduates | 12,400 |
| Postgraduates | 1,800 |
| Location | , , |
| Campus | Urban |
The Boriquén Institute of Technology (BIT; Wakara: Ariri-nia-ke, "making-mind-place"; Alexandrian: Institut de Technologie de Boriquén) is a public polytechnic at Yabucoa, in the Region of Boriquén, Nouvelle Alexandrie. Founded in 1742 AN by the regional government on an endowment from Yucahúké Busiri, 1st Duke of Yabucoa, it is the principal institution of technical education in the interior of the region.[1]
The curriculum is confined to the applied sciences and addresses the practical questions of the region, from the agronomy of the interior to the engineering of the Lake Cherusken basin. The institute is classed among the Federation's technical institutes rather than its research universities.
History
The institute was established in 1742 AN, twenty-four years after Boriquén entered the Federation. The regional government, then under Governor Ana Yuisa Caguax of the Wakara People's Party, had for some years sought to found a school of applied science in the region, and the means came from Yucahúké Busiri, the region's first Regional Governor, who in his later years gave an endowment for the purpose out of the ducal estates at Yabucoa.[2] The gift provided the campus land and the institute's first chairs, and reserved the presidency of its board of governors to the Dukes of Yabucoa.
The largest public work then recently completed in the region, the high-speed rail line from Hato Rey through Yabucoa to Guánica finished in 1739 AN by Constructora de Hato Rey, had drawn its engineers almost entirely from outside the region.[3] Yabucoa was chosen as the site of the new school over the regional capital at Hato Rey, which already held the University of Borikén and, from 1729 AN, the Boriquén Technology District; it was intended from the outset to serve the interior. The Plan de Hato Rey committed the federal and regional governments to support Wakara schools and cultural institutions, and the institute admitted Wakara students from its first years.[4]
Its Wakara name was formed by the Guatu Wakarabo, the Wakara language council, in the course of its work coining Wakara equivalents for federal and regional institutions after incorporation. It distinguishes the polytechnic from a university, for which the attested Wakara term is nia-hatu-ke, "great mind-place".[5]
On the 1st Duke's death in 1753 AN, his son Hatuey Busiri, an engineer trained at the University of Borikén who had taken part in setting up the school, succeeded him as president of the board.
Organization and campus
The campus at Yabucoa is urban, occupying the land given at the foundation, with agricultural stations in the surrounding cacicazgo and a hydraulic laboratory on the Lake Cherusken shore.
Governance and funding rest with the Region of Boriquén, on the ordinary division of educational costs in the Federation, under which the Regions provide the greater share and the federal government the remainder, supplemented by the endowment income.[6] A board of governors directs the institute, which is affiliated with the Federal University Council. It falls outside the Grand Institutes of Education Act, 1711, which governs the Grand Institutes separately.
Academic programs
The curriculum is built around agronomy and the agricultural sciences, serving the highland coffee and cacao of the interior and the traditional Wakara husbandry of the cacicazgos; civil, hydraulic, and structural engineering, directed at the irrigation systems drawn from the Cherusken River and at the regional road network; surveying and geodesy; and the technology of the lake fisheries.[7]
Some 14,200 students are enrolled, most of them undergraduates studying for professional qualifications, taught by an academic staff of 950. The institute maintains no faculty of medicine or of law, and its postgraduate work is small in proportion to its undergraduate teaching. The institute is ranked annually by the Federal Education Standards Board, which placed it thirty-third among New Alexandrian universities as of 1749 AN.[8]
See also
- Yucahúké Busiri
- Hatuey Busiri
- Duke of Yabucoa
- List of universities in Nouvelle Alexandrie
- University of Borikén
- Education in Nouvelle Alexandrie
- Higher education in Nouvelle Alexandrie
- Boriquén
References
- ^ Yucahúké Busiri; List of universities in Nouvelle Alexandrie.
- ^ Yucahúké Busiri; Regional Governor of Boriquén.
- ^ Constructora de Hato Rey.
- ^ Plan de Hato Rey.
- ^ Wakara language.
- ^ Education in Nouvelle Alexandrie.
- ^ Agriculture in Nouvelle Alexandrie; Boriquén.
- ^ List of universities in Nouvelle Alexandrie.
