Harbour.Space Institute of Technology, also known as Harbour.Space, is an unaccredited private for-profit university for technology, entrepreneurship, and design, with campuses in

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...

and

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

. Harbour.Space offers foundation, bachelor's, and master's degrees in technical and non-technical programs as well as short courses.

History

Harbour.Space Institute of Technology was founded in 2015 by Svetlana Velikanova and Ingo Beyer von Morgenstern, with its first campus in Barcelona, Spain. Upon opening in September 2016 at the OneOcean Port Vell, the university accepted 30 students from 11 countries. The current Harbour.Space Barcelona campus is located in Carrer Rosa Sensat 9-11. In August 2016, Harbour.Space signed an agreement of collaboration with the

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT; , also known as PhysTech), is a public university, public research university located in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It prepares specialists in theoretical physics, theoretical and applied physics, ...

, to develop academic exchange programs for students and staff. Also in 2016, Harbour.Space began a collaboration with Barcelona Activa to organise international programming bootcamps and public lectures. In 2017, Harbour.Space announced a collaboration with the programming platform

Codeforces Codeforces () is a website that hosts competitive programming contests. It is maintained by a group of competitive programmers from ITMO University led by Mikhail Mirzayanov. Since 2013, Codeforces claims to surpass TopCoder in terms of active co ...

. In February 2019, Harbour.Space and the

University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) ( Thai: มหาวิทยาลัยหอการค้าไทย) is a private non-profit higher education institution in Bangkok, Thailand. The university's origin dates back to 19 ...

signed an agreement to open Harbour.Space@UTCC, the institute's Bangkok-based second campus. UTCC has a student base of 20,000 students on campus and an affiliation with the Thai Chamber of Commerce. In December 2022, Harbour.Space @UTCC has been approved as one of the four programs to be piloted under the Higher Education Sandbox led by Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (TISTR) of Thailand. In 2023, Harbour.Space signed
partnership agreement
with the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, enabling students to earn a double degree and accreditation in creative programs such as Digital Marketing, High-tech Entrepreneurship, Interaction Design, and Product Management. In 2025, Harbour.Space announced its transition from university to Harbour.Space Institute of Technology, a move aimed at enhancing global accreditation and focusing on technology, entrepreneurship, and design.

Campuses

Harbour.Space Barcelona opened its doors in September 2016, in OneOcean Port Vell. The institute remained and operated from the marina until 2018 when it moved to its current location in Port Olimpic near the

22@ 22@ (read in ), also known as 22@Barcelona and Districte de la innovació (''Innovation District'') is the corporative name given to an urban renewal area in Barcelona's formerly industrial area of Poblenou, in the district of Sant Martí, ni ...

Innovation District of Barcelona. Harbour.Space@UTCC launched in January 2020 on UTCC's premises, with bachelor and master programs in High-tech Entrepreneurship, Interaction Design, Computer Science, Data Science and Digital Marketing.

Academics

Harbour.Space institute offers both bachelor's and master's degrees. Its programs are: *

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

Data Science Data science is an interdisciplinary academic field that uses statistics, scientific computing, scientific methods, processing, scientific visualization, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge from potentially noisy, stru ...

Cyber Security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

Interaction Design Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." While interaction design has an interest in form (similar to other design fields), its main area of foc ...

Digital Marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based Information technology, digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and service ...

Fintech Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, ...

* Front-end Development * Math as a Second Language * High-tech Entrepreneurship * Product Management Harbour.Space's programs are taught in English to up to 200 undergraduate, graduate and professional students per year. The Harbour.Space faculty is composed of professionals in their disciplines and instructors with current careers in the technology industry from around the world. Founding instructors include entrepreneur

Kamran Elahian Kamran Elahian () is an Iranian-American entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially invo ...

, chairman of venture capital firm Global Catalyst Partners.

Teaching methods

Programs at Harbour.Space run for an entire calendar year divided into fifteen 3-week modules. Its teaching methodology includes project-based learning, interactive and collaborative approaches, industry integration, technology-enhanced learning, and personalized learning.

Scholarships

The institute offers scholarship opportunities; merit-based, women in technology, graduate teaching assistantships and competitive programming. These scholarships are available for the institute 's Bangkok and Barcelona campuses.

Achievements

Students from harbourspace barcelona win top european informatics competition Raw 20 Pots d743b290de

Gold Medalists at SWERC

In 2021 the Harbour.Space team RAW POTS, composed of Maksym Oboznyi from Ukraine, Marco Meijer from the Netherlands, and Danil Zashikhin from Russia, won the gold medal at the SWERC against the top competitors from Southwestern Europe. The Southwestern Europe Regional Contest, also known as SWERC, is the south-western Europe selection of the

International Collegiate Programming Contest The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is an annual multi-tiered competitive programming competition among the universities of the world. Directed by ICPC Executive Director and Baylor Professor William B. Poucher, the ICPC oper ...

. Teams of three students compete in a 5-hour-long contest where they have to solve algorithmic problems and do practical coding.

Gold Medalists and European Champions at ICPC

During the 46th and 47th ICPC World Finals in April 2024, held concurrently in Luxor, Egypt, the Harbour.Space team P+P+P clinched a gold medal, securing their position a
4th Worldwide
and European champions for the year. Hosted by the Arab Academy of Science, Technology, and Maritime Transports, the competition witnessed participation from over 840 contestants representing more than 50 nations and over 170 universities.

Events and projects

Hello Programming Bootcamp

In 2017, Harbour.Space collaborated with Moscow Workshops and

to organise the Hello Barcelona Programming Bootcamp, the first edition in the series of bootcamps to prepare participants for the Intercollegiate Programming Competition World Finals. As of 2020, the Bootcamp series has continued, realising 5 bootcamps in total in Spain, India, and Oman. The latest edition was scheduled to take place in Muscat, Oman, but was postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Tech Scouts

In July 2018, Harbour.Space organised the first Tech Scouts, an 11-day summer camp for kids 12-18 with the objective of introducing them to design, computer science, and entrepreneurship. The camp had 62 participants. In July 2019, the university organised the second edition of the summer camp. The camp had 71 participants. The third edition of Tech Scouts was scheduled for July 2020 but was postponed because of the outbreak of COVID-19.

Criticism and Controversies

Harbour.Space Institute of Technology has faced criticism for its unaccredited status, leading to questions about the validity of its degrees.There have also been concerns regarding the high tuition fees and the return on investment for graduates. Additionally, some former students have reported dissatisfaction with the quality of education and the lack of support from the administration.

References

{{authority control 2015 establishments in Catalonia Schools in Barcelona Universities and colleges in Spain Universities and colleges established in 2015 Universities and colleges in Bangkok