Catholic University of Uruguay () (UCU) is a private university in

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of 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 the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. Established in 1985 as the successor to several

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

educational institutes dating back to the 1870s, it was the only private university in the country until 1996. It is affiliated with the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

and belongs to the world network of Jesuit universities. Its main campus is spread out in six locations in the capital city

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and there are two other campuses, in

Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este grew to become a resort for the Latin and North American jet set and tourists. T ...

and Salto.

History

The university was founded by the

Archbishop of Montevideo The Archdiocese of Montevideo () is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Uruguay. History Erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Montevideo by Pope Gregory XVI on 14 August 1832, the vicariate was promoted to the Diocese of ...

, Monseigneur Mariano Soler, in 1882. In 1985, it was reopened and entrusted to the

. The university seeks to promote a combination of academic excellence, ideological pluralism, ecumenism, and inter-religious dialogue. From its beginning, the Catholic University of Uruguay gave itself the challenge of being a different option in university teaching. It took to working in areas that had been neglected, and to playing a role as an innovator in the development of new educational methods and evangelization of culture. It is now one of the most prestigious centers of university learning in Uruguay.

Campus

The UCU campus in

is made up of several buildings located in the residential neighborhood of La Blanqueada. The Sacré Cœur Building, located on 8 de Octubre Avenue, houses the university's headquarters. Built in 1920 to the design of architect Elzeario Boix, it is neoclassical in style and housed the Sacré Cœur Jesuit School for girls until the early 1980s. The University also has two other campuses, one in the city of

, located on Roosevelt Avenue and Florencia, inaugurated in 1998, and another in the city of Salto, located on Artigas Street and inaugurated in 2003, which houses the University's Economic Observatory.

International accreditations

The School of Business Sciences and the UCU Business School (UCUBS) have been accredited by the

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is an American professional and accreditation organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to busines ...

(AACSB) since October 2021, making the University the only one in Uruguay with this certification. Since September 2023, the UCU Business School (UCUBS) has also been accredited by the International Accreditation Advisory Board of the

Association of MBAs The Association of MBAs (AMBA) is a global organisation headquartered in London, UK. It was founded in 1967 with the primary objective of accrediting Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. Roles Based in London, AMBA is one of t ...

(AMBA) and th
Business Graduates Association
(BGA).

Student life

As a fundamental objective of the University, it seeks that its students live beyond the classroom, incorporating extracurricular activities such as sports, with the Universidad Católica Club; artistic experiences such as the UCU Choir and the Espacio Crear; in addition to its traditional Pastoral. The University has an extensive academic exchange network. It has links with more than 300 universities in countries of the five continents. It receives about 200 foreign students annually.

Programs

In 2015 the university partnered with Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness to address the issue of competition between companies. Also, in conjunction with a professor at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, researchers at UCU study the effects of iron deficiency and lead toxicity on behavioral and cognitive development in children. In 2016 the university signed an agreement of cooperation with the newly founded University of Tifariti. Sponsored sports activities include futsal (male and female), volleyball, basketball, women's handball, swimming,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and hockey. The university offers students workshops to develop their artistic abilities in chorus, theater, and visual arts. Service projects are carried on for credit as integral or supplemental to classwork, as well as through voluntary projects without academic credit. In 2015 Extension Services at UCU counted 141 projects with 191 teachers and 1,700 students involved. A major vacation-time project is building homes for the poor, There are student-organized events and tournaments throughout the year, and a series of workshops voted for by the students to foster their special interests. There is also a club which raises environmental awareness by collecting all plastic bottles on campus.

Departments

The university is divided into five faculties, and two schools: UCU Business School and the School of Postgraduate Courses.

Majors

Notable people

Faculty

Alumni

Gallery

File:Universidad Católica del Uruguay-10.JPG, Montevideo Campus. File:Universidad Católica del Uruguay-06.JPG, Montevideo Campus Entrance. File:Universidad Católica del Uruguay-14.JPG, Main Building Corridor. File:Universidad Católica del Uruguay-07.JPG, Bauzá Hall. File:Universidad Católica del Uruguay-03.JPG, University Bookstore. File:Universidad Católica del Uruguay-05.JPG, Exteriors of the Montevideo Campus. File:Universidad Católica del Uruguay-12.JPG, University Library.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Catolica del Uruguay Damaso Antonio Larranaga, Universidad Universities in Uruguay Education in Montevideo Jesuit universities and colleges Catholic universities and colleges in Uruguay Universities and colleges established in 1985 1985 establishments in Uruguay