School of Forestry Engineering of Pontevedra

The School of Forestry Engineering of Pontevedra is a university center founded in 1990 in the Spanish city of Pontevedra and based in the campus of A Xunqueira, in the north of the city.

The faculty belongs to the University Campus of Pontevedra, integrated in the Galician University System and dependent on the University of Vigo. It offers undergraduate forestry engineering studies.

History
The School of Forestry Engineers of Pontevedra was created in 1990 by Decree 416/1990, of 31 July 1990, of the Galician Ministry of Education, in its article 15, with the name of University School of Technical Engineers of Forestry Industries. The same decree authorized the issuance of the degree of Technical Engineer of Forestry Industries to the School.

The creation of the School of Forestry Engineering in the city was closely linked to Pontevedra's forestry tradition. The capital municipality and the Pontevedra region were linked to the forestry sector since the first decades of the 20th century. The Biological Mission of Galicia was established in Pontevedra in 1928 and the Lourizán Forestry Center was located in Lourizán since 1943, when the Provincial Council of Pontevedra ceded the Pazo de Lourizán to the Ministry of Education to be used as a regional center for teaching, research and forestry experiences, which became the Higher Technical School of Forestry in 1946.

The first curriculum of the School of Forestry Engineering at the University Campus of Pontevedra was approved on 16 July 1991 and the school began operating in the 1991–1992 academic year.

Initially, the School was provisionally housed in premises provided by the School of Teacher Training of E.G.B. (the former Teacher Training School, near the Lérez River, on Avenida de Buenos Aires) and did not move to its definitive headquarters, its own building on the A Xunqueira campus, until 1996. On 14 October 1995 the building, designed by architect José Ramón Rúa Rodríguez, was practically finished and became the first university building constructed on the A Xunqueira campus.

In 1999, by Decree 216/1999, of 15 July of the Galician Ministry of Education, in its article 3, the school was renamed University School of Forestry Technical Engineering. In 2011, by Decree 14/2011 of 3 February, the school was renamed definitively School of Forestry Engineering, a name it retains today.

In 2019, the school's forestry engineering degree became the fourth Galician university degree to obtain the EUR-ACE international quality seal in engineering.

Undergraduate studies
Degree in Forestry Engineering. The specialties offered are Forest Industries and Forestry Operations.

Facilities
The administrative services of the University Campus of Pontevedra and the point of delivery and collection of documentation (LERD) of the Galician University System are located in the School of Forestry Engineering. The Erasmus Students Network organization for Erasmus students also has a branch in Pontevedra located at the School.

Activities
The school organizes and hosts various activities such as the Galician Conference on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. In November 2019, the III Jornadas Gallegas de Patrimonio Natural y Biodiversidad was held at the center with different conferences on topics such as red tides, light pollution, conservation of species such as salamanders or bears, or forest and landscape management.

Culture
The patron saint of the faculty is San Leandro and the faculty celebrates his feast day in April.