The Polytechnical Institute of Coimbra (IPC - Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra) is a public polytechnic institute of higher education in Coimbra, Portugal. It was created by decree of 1979, but its effective start up was only in 1988 through the creation and union of new and former schools. With an enrollment of 10,197 (2008)[1] students, it is the third biggest polytechnic institute of Portugal.
The Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra has been in operation since 1988, although some of its current schools were providing degrees independently since the 1970s, and even before some were technical or vocational schools. The agriculture school whose origins can be dated back to the 19th century, and the current engineering institute, formerly an industrial school in operation between 1965 and 1974, were technical schools of intermediate education before had been upgraded to higher education polytechnic institutions. Today, it comprises several autonomous schools in engineering, education, accountancy, and agriculture.
The Polytechnical Institute of Coimbra has an independent students' union for each school or institute. The Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra (agriculture school) has a notable rugby union department.
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