National University of Colombia

Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Motto	Inter-Aulas-Academiæ-Quære-Verum
Motto in English	Among the classrooms of the Academy you look for the truth
Established	September 22, 1867
Type	Public, National
Rector	Moisés Wasserman Lérner
Admin. staff	2,862
Students	44,939
Undergraduates	38,256
Postgraduates	6,283
Doctoral students	423[1]
Location	Bogotá, D.C., Cundinamarca, Colombia 4°38′16″N 74°05′02″W / 4.637767°N 74.083987°W / 4.637767; -74.083987Coordinates: 4°38′16″N 74°05′02″W / 4.637767°N 74.083987°W / 4.637767; -74.083987
Campus	300 acres (1.2 km2), Urban
Nickname	"La Nacho", "UNAL"
Website	http://www.unal.edu.co/

The Universidad Nacional de Colombia (English: National University of Colombia), also called UNAL or just UN, is a public, national, coeducational, research university, located primarily in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, Colombia. Established in 1867 by an act of the Congress of Colombia,^[2] the university is the largest and most important higher education institution of the country with more than 44,000 students, the largest number of graduated professionals per year, and number of academic programs at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with 423 academic programs, which includes 94 graduate diplomas, 61 Academic specializations, 38 medical specialties, 131 Master's degrees, and 46 doctorates. It is also one of the few universities that employs post-doctorate fellows in the country.

The university is member of the Association of Colombian Universities (ASCUN),^[3] the Iberoamerican Association of Postgraduate Universities (AUIP),^[4] and the Iberoamerican University Network Universia. Along with the Antioquia and Valle universities, it conforms what is known as the Golden Triangle of higher education in Colombia,^[5] being among the most selective and competitive universities in the country. A study by Universia found it to be the Colombian university producing the largest number of scientific papers published in peer-refereed publications in 2005, and the 45th most prolific in Latin America.^[6][7]

Campus

University City of Bogotá: Map by Leopold Rother and Erich Lange, 1937.

The University City of Bogotá (Spanish: Ciudad Universitaria de Bogotá), also known as the White City (Spanish: Ciudad Blanca), is the main campus for the University. It is located in the Teusaquillo locality, northwest of the historical center. It is also the largest campus in Colombia, with an extension of 1,200,000 m² (300 acres) and a constructed area of 308,541 m² (76.242 acres), making it an ample campus with several green areas, open spaces, and pedestrian paths. Among its buildings there are 17 which have been declared national monuments and, as a whole, it is a representation of the last 60 years of architecture in Colombia.

Francisco de Paula Santander Plaza (Plaza Che)

The campus was designed by German architects Fritz Karsen and Leopold Rother, and its construction began in 1935, under the government of Alfonso López Pumarejo. It is organized as an ellipse, divided in five parts, each containing one of the academic divisions and its respective dependencies. The buildings were constructed as prismatic blocks, and painted white, in order to give an austere and clean look.

Some landmarks in the campus are the León de Greiff Auditorium, and the Francisco de Paula Santander Plaza, also known unofficially as the "Ché Plaza", in honor to Ernesto el Ché Guevara. The campus has its own stadium, where sometimes matches for the national soccer championship are held.

Academics

Music Conservatory

The National University of Colombia has 20 schools distributed among Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira:

Colleges in Bogotá:

• Agronomy
• Dentistry
• Economics Sciences
• Engineering Faculty
• Fine Arts
• Human Sciences
• Law, Social and Political Sciences
• Medicine
• Nursing Faculty
• Science
• Veterinary Medicine and Animal Management

Interfaculty institutes^[8]

• Institute of Biotechnology
• Institute of Science and Food Technology - ICTA
• Institute of Environmental Studies -IDEA-
• Institute of Studies in Communication - IECO-
• International institute of Political Studies and Relations -IEPRI-
• Genetics Institute

Museums in Bogotá Campus:

• Casa Museo Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (Jorge Eliecer Gaitan Museum)
• Museo de Arte Universidad Nacional de Colombia (National University's Art Museum)
• Museo de Arquitectura Leopoldo Rother (Leopoldo Rother Museum of Architecture)
• Museo de Historia Natural (Museum of Natural History)
• Museo de la Ciencia y el Juego (Museum of Science and Games)
• Museo Centro de Historia de la Medicina (Museum Center of the History of Medicine)
• Museo Entomológico (Entomological Museum)
• Museo Organológico Musical (Organologic Musical Museum)
• Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (National Astronomical Observatory)

High school (for children of professors, students, and employees):

• "Arturo Ramírez Montúfar" Pedagogical Institute -IPARM-

Colleges in Medellín:

• Sciences
• Agricultural Sciences
• Mine
• Economics and Humans Sciences
• Arquitecture

Museums in Medellín Campus:

• Earth Sciences Museum
• Entomological Museum
• Mycology museum
• "Gabriel Gutiérrez"Herbarium
• Xiloteca

Institutes:

• Center for Research in Extractive Metallurgy - CIMEX
• Energy Institute
• Institute for Systems and Decision Sciences
• System Institute
• Institute of Materials
• Water Institute
• Fuel Center
• Institute of Environmental Studies - IDEA

Media:

• Unimedios
  • News agency (Agencia de Noticias UN)
  • Internal newspaper (Carta Universitaria)
  • Radio station (UN Radio)
  • Academic newspaper (UN Periódico, with articles ranging from international issues to research within the colleges)
  • UN Televisión (TV production company)
  • Prisma TV (internet television)

Noted people

List of rectors

• 1990-1993, Antanas Mockus Sivickas
• 1994-1997, Guillermo Páramo Rocha
• 1997-2003, Víctor Manuel Moncayo Cruz
• 2003-2005, Marco Antonio Palacios Rozo
• 2005-2006, Ramón Fayad Nafah
• 2006–present, Moisés Wasserman Lérner

Notable alumni

Famous personalities among its alumni include:

• Fernando Botero
• Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
• Gabriel García Márquez
• Carlos Jacanamijoy
• Hernando Osorio
• Manuel Elkin Patarroyo
• Salomón Hakim
• Antanas Mockus
• Jaime Garzón
• Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo

Gallery

• 

  School of Economics
• 

  Chemistry Department
• 

  College of Medicine
• 

  Pharmacy Department
• 

  Sculpture Park
• 

  Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute
• 

  Ernesto Guhl Library
• 

  Alfonso López Pumarejo Stadium
• 

  Engineering Department
• 

  Fine Arts
• 

  Sociology
• 

  School of Agronomy
• 

  Library of Science and Technology
• 

  Central Library
  (“Biblioteca Camilo Torres”)
• 

  Central Library (lobby view)
• 

  Genetics Institute
• 

  Sports Complex
• 

  León de Greiff Auditorium

See also

• List of universities in Colombia

Notes

1. ^ Unidad de Medios de Comunicación, Unimedios (May 2007). "Posgrados en Colombia" (in Spanish) (PDF). Claves para el debate público (1). ISSN 1909-9096. http://www.agenciadenoticias.unal.edu.co/claves/claves-doc01.pdf. Retrieved October 8, 2007. 
2. ^ "Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Reseña histórica" (in Spanish). http://www.unal.edu.co/contenido/sobre_un/sobreun_resena.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-13. 
3. ^ "Universidades Afiliadas". http://www.ascun.org.co/afiliada.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-22. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Instituciones Asociadas a la AUIP". http://www.auip.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=282&Itemid=196&lang=es. Retrieved 2009-02-22. 
5. ^ Ordóñez Burbano, Luis A. (2007). Universidad del Valle 60 años 1945-2005: Atando cabos en clave de memoria. Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia: Universidad del Valle. p. 58. ISBN 958-44-1844-9. 
6. ^ "Ranking-Instituciones-Investigacion-Colombia" (in Spanish). universia.net. http://investigacion.universia.net/html_inv/ri3/ri3/jsp/params/indicador/a/pais/d.html. Retrieved 2008-01-13. 
7. ^ "Ranking-Instituciones-Investigacion-Latinoamerica" (in Spanish). universia.net. http://investigacion.universia.net/html_inv/ri3/ri3/jsp/params/pais/fc.html. Retrieved 2009-01-27. 
8. ^ Institutos y Centros de la UN

References

• Oficina Nacional de Planeación (September 2006). "Estadísticas e Indicadores de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2005" (in Spanish) (PDF). Estadísticas e Indicadores de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia (11). ISSN 0123-8566. http://www.plandesarrollo.unal.edu.co/Soportes/Revista_de_Indicadores_%20UNAL.pdf. Retrieved March 11, 2007. 

External links

• National University of Colombia Main Page
• National University of Colombia OCW
• National Direction of Cultural Divulgation
• National University Museum of Art
• Leopoldo Rother Museum of Architecture