Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Infobox_University
name = Universidad San Francisco de Quito


motto = "Studium, Progressus, Labor"
established = 1987
type = Private University
chancellor= Santiago Gangotena
city = Cumbayá
province = Pichincha
country = Ecuador
undergrad = 3,300
other programs = c. 1,700
campus = 4 hectares
website= [http://www.usfq.edu.ec/ http://www.usfq.edu.ec/]

Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) is a private university founded in 1987 and legally existing beneath the umbrella organization "Corporación de Promoción Universitario (CPU)" (a non-profit foundation). USFQ is located in Cumbayá, a suburb of Quito, Ecuador. The CPU is dedicated to improving education in Ecuador through the principles of liberal arts education. USFQ which first opened its doors in 1987, and its programs have been officially recognized by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education and Culture since 1995.

USFQ’s student body numbers in the neighborhood of 5,000. 3,300 are 4-year undergraduates, 800 are “tecnología” (community college) students, 900 are in a program for police cadets, 700 are international students from 40 countries (300 is the average number from the U.S.), 200 are graduate students, 120 are in the Cisco Systems Academy, 70 are students on the Galapagos campus, and 50 study in the Women’s College.

Mission Statement

Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) is a private liberal arts institution that promotes the quest for knowledge, individual liberties, and the entrepreneurial spirit as a means for the development of Ecuadorian society through excellence in teaching, supported by qualified and committed faculty, comprehensive and rigorous curricula, and adequate resources.

Goodness, beauty, and truth are the guiding principles under which the university was created. USFQ students shall have instilled in them a passion for learning, love for justice, and the need for freedom in order to be citizens of the world objectively celebrating differences and strongly promoting free enterprise as a means for a better future.

Colleges Within the University

USFQ was the first liberal arts institution in the Andean region. Today the university offers Associates’, Bachelors’, and Masters’ degrees in the following colleges:

*COLEGIO DE ADMINISTRACION PARA EL DESARROLLO (College of Business Administration)

*COLEGIO DE AGRICULTURA, ALIMENTOS Y NUTRICION (College of Agriculture, Foods & Nutrition)

*COLEGIO DE ARQUITECTURA Y DISEÑO INTERIOR (College of Architecture and Interior Design)

*COLEGIO DE ARTES LIBERALES (College of Liberal Arts)

*COLEGIO DE CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS Y AMBIENTALES (College of Biological and Environmental Sciences)

*COLEGIO DE CIENCIAS DE LA SALUD (College of Health Sciences)

*COLEGIO DE CIENCIAS POLICIALES (College of Police Sciences)

*COLEGIO DE COMUNICACION Y ARTES CONTEMPORANEAS (College of Communication and Contemporary Arts)

*COLEGIO DE HOSPITALIDAD, ARTE CULINARIO Y TURISMO (College of Hospitality, Culinary Arts & Tourism)

*COLEGIO DE JURISPRUDENCIA (College of Jurisprudence)

*COLEGIO DE CIENCIAS E INGENIERÍA (EL POLITÉCNICO) (College of Science and Engineering - the Polytechnic)

*COLEGIO MAYOR DE EDUCACIÓN CONTINUA (College of Continuing Education)

USFQ offers 46 undergraduate programs, 16 “tecnología” (community college) programs, 14 graduate programs, and various training and postgraduate programs.

Miscellaneous Facts

*400 students participate in the mandatory community service program every semester.

*USFQ offers approximately 1500 different courses every semester.

*USFQ is a completely tuition-driven institution and receives no funding from the government of Ecuador.

*The University has a dental and medical clinic that serve the local community.

*The USFQ library has the only open-stack facility and the largest collection in the country. It also features complete on-line library services.

*USFQ has 195 full-time faculty and 465 part-time.

*USFQ employs about 100 terminal degree full time faculty, 70 of which hold a doctoral degree -- 70% of those are Ecuadorian nationals.

*USFQ employs half of the Ph.D.s in Ecuador.

*USFQ has formal collaborative agreements with over 100 universities in the U.S. and around the world.

*USFQ has a satellite campus on the Galápagos Islands (GAIAS) where it offers full degrees, as well as specialized programs focused on biology and environmental studies.

*USFQ manages, in conjunction with Boston University, the Tiputini Biodiversity Station (TBS) in the Amazon Basin. TBS holds record numbers for biodiversity; it is the most diverse place for amphibians in the planet, with 121 species. In the February 1999 issue of National Geographic, journalist Virginia Morell called TBS "the most remarkable place" after visiting several sites around the world in order to write a series of articles on biodiversity.

*Rafael Correa, Ecuador's most recently elected president taught economic theory here.

External links

* [http://www.usfq.edu.ec USFQ Website]
* [http://www.panchitux.org Panchitux]