Every enduring institution earns its reputation through the people it shapes and the ideas it sends into the world. This autumn, the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER) invites audiences to see that story on screen. To mark its 70 years anniversary, the faculty is preparing FEROPOLIS, a film that traces seven decades of creation, research, and technical progress in Croatia. A first preview is already available, offering an early look at a documentary project dedicated to the generations of engineers, researchers, and students who built one of the region’s most respected technical faculties.
For prospective students, alumni, and anyone following developments in electrical engineering and computing, FEROPOLIS is more than a commemorative video. It is a portrait of how sustained investment in education and research builds a country’s technological capacity. Here is what the film represents, why the anniversary matters, and how you can follow the celebrations leading up to the premiere.
Seven Decades of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Croatia
Seventy years is a long span in technology. When the faculty opened its doors, television was still a novelty, computers filled entire rooms, and the discipline we now call computing did not exist as an independent field. Since then, the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing has grown alongside — and often ahead of — these changes, adapting its laboratories, curricula, and research agenda to each new wave of technology.
That history gives the 70 years anniversary real weight. FER has educated tens of thousands of engineers who now work across power grids, telecommunications companies, software firms, automotive suppliers, and research institutions worldwide. Its alumni include entrepreneurs, university professors, industry leaders, and the engineers behind infrastructure that millions of people rely on every day. FEROPOLIS sets out to capture this continuum — not as a dry timeline of dates and milestones, but as the accumulated work of people who chose to build what did not yet exist.
The Story FEROPOLIS Tells About People, Ideas, and Achievements
The guiding premise of the film is simple: every great change begins with a single idea. Rather than presenting the faculty’s history as a chronological inventory, FEROPOLIS focuses on the individuals who imagined new devices, systems, and methods — and then did the difficult work of making them real. It is a story about courage to imagine, as the faculty describes it, and about the conviction that knowledge can change the world.
The film’s preview frames FER as “a place where ideas become innovations, knowledge drives progress, and boundaries exist only to be pushed.” That framing reflects how the discipline itself works. Electrical engineering and computing advance through iteration: a concept becomes a prototype, a prototype becomes a product, and a product eventually becomes an expectation of everyday life. The film documents that process across seven decades, from early work in power systems and electronics to contemporary research in robotics, data science, and intelligent systems.
Watch the first FEROPOLIS preview on the faculty’s official YouTube channel to get a sense of the tone and scope of the project ahead of the full premiere this autumn. If the preview resonates with you, share it with classmates, colleagues, or anyone weighing a future in engineering.
Why the 70 Years Anniversary Matters for Future Engineers
If you are deciding where to study electrical engineering, computing, or information technology, an institution’s track record should factor into your decision. A 70 years anniversary is evidence of stability, sustained accreditation, employer trust, and a global network of graduates who can open professional doors. These are practical advantages, not merely ceremonial ones.
For prospective students evaluating universities in Croatia and Central Europe, the anniversary also signals continuity of quality. FER holds international ASIIN accreditation, maintains active research laboratories across more than a dozen departments, and runs structured exchange programmes with partner universities across Europe through Erasmus+ and other schemes. A faculty that has sustained this ecosystem for seven decades offers something a newly founded institution cannot: depth — in teaching staff, in laboratory infrastructure, and in the collective experience of its academic community.
Study Programmes at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing
The faculty’s current portfolio reflects the same breadth the film celebrates. Students can choose from degree programmes taught in English at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels, designed to align with international standards and labor market needs.
Bachelor Programmes in English
- Electrical Engineering and Information Technology — a rigorous foundation in circuits, systems, signal processing, and programming.
- Computing — concentrated on software engineering, algorithms, and modern computer systems.
Master Programmes in English
- Electrical Power Engineering and Microgrids — for students targeting the energy transition and next-generation grid technology.
- Information and Communication Technology – Robotics — combining control systems, sensing, and intelligent machines.
- Computing – Data Science — covering machine learning, statistics, and large-scale data processing.
Doctoral and Specialist Study
Beyond first- and second-cycle degrees, FER offers a doctoral programme with research seminars across its scientific fields, together with specialist programmes in areas such as information security, railway electrical systems, transformers, and project management. Joint international programmes add further mobility options for graduate students who want a multi-country academic experience.
Explore the faculty’s full range of bachelor and master programmes in English to compare curricula, admission requirements, and application deadlines. Choosing the right programme early gives you time to prepare documentation and meet entry requirements without pressure.
Research and Innovation: The Engine Behind the Anniversary
An institution earns a 70-year anniversary through output, and FER’s research record sits at the center of the FEROPOLIS story. The faculty operates numerous research centers and laboratories spanning departments from applied physics and mathematics to telecommunications, energy and power systems, electroacoustics, and intelligent systems. Its researchers participate in national and European projects, publish in international journals, and hold patents and awards at university, state, and international levels.
This research activity feeds directly into teaching. Master’s and doctoral students work inside the same laboratories where funded projects are developed, which means classroom knowledge is continuously tested against real engineering problems. For students, that proximity to active research is one of the strongest arguments for studying electrical engineering at an established technical faculty rather than a general-purpose institution. It is also the reason the film’s creators chose to build the anniversary narrative around research and the people behind it.
Student Life in Zagreb: Beyond the Laboratory
Anniversary films tend to focus on achievement, but life at FER extends well beyond coursework and research. The faculty supports student associations, a career centre that connects students with employers, sports and recreation programmes, and cultural activities — including the well-known KSET student club, a fixture of Zagreb’s music scene. International students can join Erasmus+ exchanges, summer internships, and orientation events designed to integrate newcomers into the academic community quickly.
Zagreb itself strengthens the overall offer. Croatia’s capital hosts a growing technology sector, offers living costs that compare favorably with Western European capitals, and places students within a short tram ride of the faculty’s campus. For international students weighing study destinations in Central and Southeastern Europe, the combination of a seven-decade technical faculty and a livable, well-connected capital city is a practical consideration, not a marketing line.
Have questions about student life, accommodation, or exchange options at FER? Write to us or share your questions in the comments below — current students and staff regularly help prospective applicants navigate the details.
How to Follow the FEROPOLIS Premiere and Anniversary Events
The full film premieres this autumn, and the faculty will publish updates through its news and insights portal and its social media channels on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. The released preview already offers the first chapter of the story: an opening look at the people whose ideas, work, and dedication have shaped technology, society, and the future in Croatia and beyond.
To stay informed about the premiere and other 70 years anniversary events, follow FER’s official channels or subscribe to faculty news. If you studied, taught, or worked at the faculty, share your own memories — films like FEROPOLIS are ultimately built from the experiences of the community they depict, and audience stories help complete the picture.
And if the preview raises a bigger question — whether FER is the right place for your own engineering education — take the next step: review the admission requirements, prepare your application today, and position yourself for the coming enrolment cycle.
Seventy Years Behind, a Future Still Under Construction
The closing message of the FEROPOLIS preview is the one that matters most: 70 years is not only about what has been left behind, but about what continues to be built together. For the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, the anniversary is both a recognition of past achievement and a statement of intent. The engineers who will define the next 70 years — in energy systems, robotics, artificial intelligence, and fields that do not yet have names — are, in many cases, only now choosing where to begin.
Watch the preview, follow the anniversary celebrations as the autumn premiere approaches, and consider whether your own story belongs in the next chapter of this faculty’s history.
