The Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) is the biggest university in Spain and one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1293), noted for its long tradition in science and humanities. However, in Spain, engineering degrees were usually taught at polytechnic schools. Then, the Bologna Process went into effect, which led to arrival of many new and different degrees.
At UCM, we have an Informatics Faculty, an Electronics department at the Physics Faculty, and other departments and research groups that are able to teach the basic skills of engineering (math, physics, etc.). Looking to expand the curriculum, we decided to create a new degree in Communications Electronics Engineering.
The degree started in 2012, and it definitely wasn’t the best time to start an adventure. The economic crisis was striking the University hard; there was no money to hire new teachers, create new infrastructure, or buy new equipment. We had computing labs and two electronics laboratories, but they were focused in low-frequency electronics. That is, they were equipped with oscilloscopes, power supplies, and some function generators, but we lacked special RF instruments like spectrum analyzers or vector network analyzers (VNAs). We only had a few high-end instruments used in R&D projects, and they were not always available. In addition, it was a bit reckless to use these expensive instruments to teach people who were using them for first time.