The National Autonomous University of Honduras () is the national public university of Honduras. Founded in 1847, it has over 140 programs from the

Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

's level to the

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

, and is the largest and highest ranked university in Honduras.

History

In December 1845, La Sociedad del Genio Emprendedor y del Buen Gusto was founded by Father

José Trinidad Reyes Father José Trinidad Reyes y Sevilla (June 11, 1797 – September 20, 1855) was a Honduran priest who founded the National Autonomous University of Honduras, formerly called "" ('The Society of the Enterprising Genius and Good Taste'). He ...

as a private school. By 1847, it received backing from President

Juan Lindo Juan Nepomuceno Fernández Lindo y Zelaya (generally known as Juan Lindo) (16 May 1790, Tegucigalpa, Honduras – 23 April 1857, Gracias, Honduras) was a Conservative Central American politician, provisional president of the Republic of El Sa ...

, and was reestablished as the University of Honduras, operating in the Church of St. Francis. In 1896, it was relocated to a building next to La Merced Church. In 1957, the military government gave the University autonomy, and it was renamed the National Autonomous University of Honduras. It later moved to the University City, where it operates today.

Campuses

University city

The main campus is located in the country's capital of

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

and is home to the university's Medical School hospital and campus. Located in the city is the ''Observatorio Astronómico Centroamericano de Suyapa (OACS/UNAH)'', which uses a 42 cm Meade telescope.

Other campuses

Apart from the main campus, UNAH has eight Regional Centers. Those centers include ''UNAH Valle de Sula'' in San Pedro Sula, the ''Centro Universitario Regional del Litoral Atlantico'' (CURLA) in

La Ceiba La Ceiba () is a municipality, the capital of the Honduran department of Atlántida and a port city on the northern coast of Honduras in Central America. It is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean, forming part of the south eastern bo ...

, the ''Centro Universitario Regional del Centro'' (CURC) in Comayagua, the ''Centro Universitario Regional Litoral Pacífico'' (CURLP) in the city of Choluteca, the ''Centro Tecnológico de Danlí'' in

Danlí, El Paraíso Danlí is a city and a municipality in Honduras. It is currently the fourth most populated municipality in Honduras, located approximately 92 kilometers southeast of Tegucigalpa, in the Honduran department of El Paraíso known for its productio ...

, the ''Centro Universitario Regional de Occidente'' (CUROC) in Santa Rosa de Copán, the ''Centro Tecnológico del Valle de Aguan'' (CURVA) in

Olanchito Olanchito is a municipality in the department of Yoro, Honduras, and a town with a population of 45,270 as of 2020. The municipality was founded in 1530 and comprises 70 villages, approximately 300 hamlets, and approximately 100,000 inhabitants ...

, and the ''Centro Universitario Regional Nororiental'' (CURNO) in

Juticalpa, Olancho Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 69,850 (2020 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commerc ...

. It is currently Honduras' largest university in terms of student enrollment and one of the largest university systems in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

Athletics

UNAH's university city is home to a sports complex named the Palacio Universitario, which has the 7,500 seat Estadio Olímpico

, opened to the public in 2014. The university has 40 teams, including

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, soccer, and

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

Library

The UNAH Library system was founded in the late 1960s; the first principal was English librarian Mary Hallam (from 1968 to 1972). This library has more than 16,000 volumes. It has a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

and some

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

s. Every campus of UNAH has its own library.

Notable faculty

* María Cristina Pineda Suazo, Dean of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences

Notable alumni

* Alba Consuelo Flores, Secretary of Health of the Republic of Honduras * Marco Antonio Andino Flores, Honduran politician * Maria Elena Bottazzi, Associate Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

References

External links

UNAH
Educational institutions established in 1847 Forestry education 1847 establishments in Honduras {{Honduras-university-stub