The Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) or Aeronautical Institute of Technology is an institution of higher education and advanced research with emphasis in aerospace science and technology maintained by the Brazilian Federal Government with the support of the Brazilian Air Force. It is located in São José dos Campos, Brazil. ITA is rated as one of the top and most prestigious engineering schools in Brazil, accepting little more than 100 students per year at its undergraduate courses. The school's admission exams for its undergraduate courses (called vestibular in Brazil) are considered by the media to be the most difficult and most disputed in the country, and are given annually in over 25 cities throughout Brazil. It is one of four institutes that compounds the Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology (CTA), having its facilities, along with its laboratories and R&D centers, inside the campus of CTA. ITA is often mistakenly considered to be a military institution, because of its location, but it is civilian in nature, being composed of a vast majority of civilian teachers, directors and students.