UCEN is a national, private higher education institution with nonprofit purposes, whose commitment to the country drives in the academic training of socially conscious citizens, promoting the values of tolerance, pluralism and equality, respect and acceptance of diversity.
The holistic education of our students is the institutional value of the university. This implies a planned learning perspective, aimed to strengthen a responsible personality, critical, participatory, creative, compassionate individuals, able to recognize and interact with the environment and build their cultural identity. The university seeks to promote human growth through a process that involves a multidimensional view of the person, and tends to develop the emotional, intellectual and social intelligence, ethics and values. Similarly, the role of the corporation is important in the spread of knowledge, art, sports, traditions and national history in society.
Founded in 1982, UCEN is, along with two other institutions, the oldest private university in Chile. It currently holds a professional institute, regional headquarters in La Serena and Antofagasta and nine faculties which offer 31 undergraduate, diploma graduate, master and postgraduate degrees. The university especially supports research through study centers, research institutes, and an Internal Research Fund, in addition to research work carried out in the faculties and schools.
With more than fourteen thousand undergraduate and graduate students, the University confirms its success as a unique case in the Chilean university system. As a matter of fact, it focuses on a different educational approach that reinvests all its profits in the same entity. The University owns its buildings, land and properties, and management and development rests with its own academics through a democratic governance structure.
The university counts with a constantly updated infrastructure and first class equipment, with over 81 thousand mts2 built and several buildings located in the center of Santiago, a sports center and regional headquarters in Antofagasta and La Serena.
Our institution has a quality hallmark backed by 35 years of excellence, a highly trained academic staff and a large community outreach work carried out in order to educate skilled professionals committed to public service, principles reflected both in the mission and the values of the University.