The IPCB integrates public higher education with administrative, scientific and pedagogical autonomy. Its mission is to give citizens a high standard of qualification, the production and dissemination of knowledge, as well as the cultural, artistic, technological and scientific teaching of its students in an international frame of reference.
Created by the Decree-Law n. 513-T/79, 26th December, the IPCB began its activity in October 1980 with the swearing in of the first installation committee.
The IPCB pursues its mission through its six schools: School of Agriculture (ESACB), School of Arts (ESART), School of Education (ESECB), School of Management of Idanha-a-Nova (ESGIN), Dr. Lopes Dias School of Health (ESALD) and School of Technology (ESTCB).
What IPCB offers educationally includes post-secondary education (technological specialization courses), graduation’s degrees (3 or 4 year degrees), master's degrees, post-graduate and specialization teaching.
The IPCB teaching areas are arts, communication and multimedia, food sciences, business and law, education and teacher training, engineering and computer sciences, health and social protection, tourism, sport and services.
The teaching staff is qualified and permanently committed to the deepening of scientific and pedagogical knowledge, and the non-teaching staff is motivated and involved. The IPCB as a national higher education institution is strongly committed to the development of the region, and has become recognized and respected by the community at large.
The students, who are served by public transport that ensures regular connections between the schools, the city and the students’ residences, have an intense academic spirit, spending a large part of the day at the schools. The six Students’ Associations, which are united in support of the IPCB educational project, the academy and its students, together make up the Academic Association of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco .
The city of Castelo Branco, located in the region of Beira Interior Sul (south inner Beira), 60 km away from the Spanish border, is served, in terms of accessibility, by the Beira Interior highway (A23), with direct connections to the A25 (Vilar Formoso - Aveiro) and A1 (Lisbon – Porto) and, by the railway, to Lisbon.