Universia is a network that consists of 1,401

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 20 countries:

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. It has 20 internet sites, one for each country, and a global site which offers information and contents from across the network. Universia network represents 10.1 million students, 8 million users and 850,000 university teaching staff (75% of the total number of students and staff in these countries); the network is sponsored by Santander Bank.

Objectives

The goal of Universia is to: * promote change and innovation in products and services linked to the academic community, helping universities to develop shared projects and create new opportunities. * help universities build the future, which, under the name of

Web 2.0 Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, and ...

, presents the user with challenges linked to

interactivity Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but m ...

, the creation of communities, the organization of content, and multimedia development, * promote opportunities for the exchange of experience and collaboration. * give to university students

employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

and

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

opportunities as well as new ways to develop themselves both academically and professionally. * share

technological innovation Technological innovation is an extended concept of innovation. While innovation is a rather well-defined concept, it has a broad meaning to many people, and especially numerous understanding in the academic and business world. Innovation refers t ...

opportunities,

History

Universia was created in July 2000 as an internet initiative in the higher education sector. It is promoted by a group of Spanish universities with the support of the Spanish University Rectors' Board (CRUE), the

Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council ( es, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote res ...

(CSIC) and sponsored by the

Santander Group Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centres ...

. Universia was officially presented in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

(Spain) on July 9, 2000, as a Spanish initiative with a clear

Spanish American Spanish Americans ( es, españoles estadounidenses, ''hispanoestadounidenses'', or ''hispanonorteamericanos'') are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in th ...

vocation. On the same day almost all the Universia societies were also formally incorporated (

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

). The

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

branch was created a year later, followed by

in November 2005. During the 2008, Universia welcomed

and

. In order to expand the network towards the world, during March 2009 the basic information of Universia was published in Wikipedia in five languages under the edition and translation of Pabsi González from Universia Puerto Rico (http://www.universia.pr) Today, Universia is the largest network of universities in the world and more countries have been added, such as: Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Services and content

Preuniversia

Assists students from

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and helps them find scholarships as well as the right university or higher education institution.

Academic Mobility (MAI)

Helps students that are studying abroad and helps the ones that want to do it to find the best programs and scholarships available.

Jobs

Universia offers jobs in and outside the local job market.

Development

Offers conferences and seminars for development of professional education

Universia News

Universia News offers themed news: local universities, international universities, scholarships, jobs, culture and more.

Scholarships

Universia is the encounter point in which students find monetary aid that helps them continue studying.

Calendar

Local cultural activities are published.

References

References and university catalogs are included in this

virtual library The World Wide Web Virtual Library (WWW VL) was the first index of content on the World Wide Web and still operates as a directory of e-texts and information sources on the web. Overview The Virtual Library was started by Tim Berners-Lee creato ...

Courses

Promotion and details of the courses offered in Universia’s universities.

Academic research

Search tool with students’ interests in mind.

Blogs

Universia’s writers create

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

s in which students and professors can participate by asking questions, sharing experiences and providing feedback. The four blogs are: Study Abroad, Jobs, Marketing and Movies.

Innoversia

A system that gets in contact both investigators and businesses in order to find applicable solutions to the current needs of the business world and generate beneficial contributions for both spheres of activity.

Universia TV

Audiovisual material that shows Universia’s community some of the activities and promotions related to students, universities and current academic affairs.

Newsletters

Universia has four newsletters which can be accessed in the following URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20090317074045/http://www.universia.pr/pdf/publicaciones.jsp * Universia Knowledge@Wharton * Next Wave Science * GCG: Revista de Globalización, Competitividad y Gobernabilidad * Universia Business Review

Universia Network

Universia.NetUniversia Andorra Universia ArgentinaUniversia BrasilUniversia ChileUniversia ColombiaUniversia Mexico

Universia Bolivia Universia Costa Rica Universia Ecuador Universia El Salvador Universia Guatemala Universia Honduras Universia Nicaragua

Universia PanamaUniversia ParaguayUniversia PeruUniversia PortugalUniversia Dominican RepublicUniversia SpainUniversia Uruguay
{{Networks of European universities Academic computer network organizations