Industrial engineering was established in Spain in 1850. Despite the initial difficulties, the
profession found its role in the process of the industrialization of Spain. The industrial engineers
were the first free professionals in the world of engineerin
g, given that there was not a State Corps
linked to them. In this sense, there are some similarities between the Spanish industrial engineers
and the French
Centraliens
. Moreover, the educational system developed in Spain in the
nineteenth century gave lit
tle autonomy to the engineering schools, and this was a major
difference from the French onesPostprint (published version
