University of Buenos Aires

The University of Buenos Aires (Spanish: Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university in the country by enrollment. Established in 1821, the UBA has educated 17 Argentine presidents, produced four of the country's five Nobel Prize laureates, and is responsible for approximately 40% of the country's research output.

The university's academic strength and regional leadership make it attractive to many international students, especially at the postgraduate level. Just over 4 percent of undergraduates are foreigners, while 15 percent of postgraduate students come from abroad. The Faculty of Economic Sciences has the highest rate of international postgraduate students at 30 percent, in line with its reputation as a "top business school with significant international influence."

The University of Buenos Aires enrolls more than 328,000 students and is organized into 13 independent faculties. It administers 6 hospitals, 16 museums, 13 scientific institutes, interdisciplinary commissions, 5 high schools, the Ricardo Rojas Cultural Center, the Cosmos Cinema, the University of Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra, and Eudeba (Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires), the country's largest university press.

Since 1949, all of the undergraduate programs at the University of Buenos Aires are free of charge for everyone, regardless of nationality. Tuition from postgraduate programs helps fund the UBA's social mission to provide free university education for all.

History

Early years

Unlike other major cities in the Spanish Colonial Americas, Buenos Aires did not count with a university of its own during colonial times. The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was relatively less important compared to other regions in Spanish South America, as most economic activity was based around the Andes range. Cultural and educational work in Buenos Aires was carried out by members of the Company of Jesus, and within the viceroyalty, Córdoba, Chuquisaca, and Santiago de Chile already counted with universities.

Following the May Revolution in 1810 and Argentina's Declaration of Independence in 1816, the push for a university in the capital of the newly independent nation strengthened. On 12 August 1821, the University of Buenos Aires was officially founded through a decree by Governor Martín Rodríguez. At the university's inaugural act, the cleric and statesman Antonio Sáenz was appointed as the first Rector.

During the university's early years of existence, the conflict between proponents of a laicist approach to the university's education and defendants of the traditional religious approach divided students and professors alike. From the start, existing institutions were merged into the university in order to guarantee a high level of professionalism and organization: courses on mathematics, drawing, nautic sciences and natural history were transferred from the Consulate of Buenos Aires, the Military Medical Institute and the Colegio de la Unión del Sud. In addition, law professors and courses were incorporated from the Academia de Jurisprudencia. This allowed the university to begin imparting medicine and law degrees from the moment of its foundation.

Developments in the mid-19th century

Free access to the university was suspended during the rule of caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas, and the number of students decreased considerably. Budget cuts imposed by Rosas's government meant professors were no longer being paid, and the Department of Exact Sciences was nearly forced to close down. During this period, Francisco Javier Muñiz began making the first strides in the field of paleontology in Argentina, and became dean of the Faculty of Medicine. The situation normalized following the fall of Rosas at the Battle of Caseros in 1852. The new government of the State of Buenos Aires made bettering the university's conditions a priority; the political elites began seeing higher education as a necessary part of the country's upcoming consolidation and stabilization stages.

In 1863, the university established the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires; the Escuela Superior de Comercio followed in 1890. In 1869, the first twelve Argentine engineers graduated from the University of Buenos Aires; they would henceforth be known as the "Twelve Apostles". Among them was Valentín Balbín, who would become president of the Sociedad Científica Argentina. In 1891, the department of natural sciences took the name of Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, and, in 1896, a special doctorate for chemistry was also established. By 1909, UBA had also created the faculties of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences, as well as the Instituto de Altos Estudios Comerciales y de Ciencias Económicas.

Organization

The University of Buenos Aires is made up of thirteen self-governing faculties (Spanish: facultades), which impart a number of graduate and post-graduate courses (Spanish: carreras). Although not a faculty, the university also manages the Ciclo Básico Común (CBC, "Common Basic Cycle"), a fixed set of subjects that all aspiring UBA students must pass in order to access any graduate course in the university, and that replaced entrance exams in 1985.

UBA does not count with a single, unified campus. All of its facilities are spread out throughout the City of Buenos Aires, with some (especially branches of the CBC) based in the Greater Buenos Aires metro area. The Ciudad Universitaria ("University City") complex, located in the Núñez neighborhood along the banks of the Río de la Plata, is the closest thing to a centralized campus UBA has, housing the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, a CBC branch, and various research institutes.

The faculties are:

The Faculty of Economic Sciences is the largest of the UBA's constituent colleges, with over 36,000 students. In recent years, the Faculty of Medicine has attracted the most new students, with 17,004 new enrollees in 2018 compared to the 7,584 new students the Faculty of Economic Sciences added that same year.

In addition to the thirteen faculties, the university administers 6 hospitals, 16 museums, 13 scientific institutes, 6 interdisciplinary commissions, 5 high schools (Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini, Instituto Libre de Segunda Enseñanza, Escuela Agropecuaria y Agroalimentaria, and Escuela de Educación Técnica de Villa Lugano), the Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, the Cosmos Cinema, the University of Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra, and Eudeba (Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires), Argentina's largest university press.

Administration and governance

Since the 1918 University Reform, the University of Buenos Aires has been ruled by the principle of co-governance. The university is headed by the Rector and the Consejo Superior ("Superior Council"). The Consejo Superior is made up of the rector, the deans of the thirteen faculties, and five representatives for each of the three constituent bodies in the university: professors, students and graduates, rounding up to 29 members. Deans and all other representatives of the Consejo Superior are elected every four years in democratic elections in which all professors, students and graduates of the university must partake.

Rankings and reputation

The QS World University Rankings ranked the University of Buenos Aires as 66th in the world in 2021. THE's World Reputation Rankings 2020 placed it in the 176–200 range, whereas it is not listed in the performance-based THE World University Rankings.

Notable alumni

Throughout its history, a sizeable number of UBA alumni have become notable in many varied fields, both academic and otherwise. Among them are four of Argentina's five Nobel Prize laureates, seventeen presidents of Argentina, and several other notable individuals in various fields, including sciences, business, literature, philosophy, law, medicine, the arts, architecture, and others. Many more are further associated to the university as faculty or through research at UBA institutes and dependencies.

Politics

Seventeen Argentine presidents have attended the University of Buenos Aires: Carlos Pellegrini, Luis Sáenz Peña, José Evaristo Uriburu, Manuel Quintana, Roque Sáenz Peña, Victorino de la Plaza, Hipólito Yrigoyen, Marcelo T. de Alvear, Agustín P. Justo, Roberto Ortiz, Ramón Castillo, Arturo Frondizi, Arturo Illia, Raúl Alfonsín, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, Eduardo Duhalde, and Alberto Fernández. All of them, save for Justo, an engineer, and Illia, a physician, were educated at the Faculty of Law. Manuel Quintana also served as rector of the university, while Alberto Fernández taught courses on criminal law at the graduate level for many years before being elected to the presidency.

Many political leaders and relevant figures have also been educated at UBA, such as the Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine in 1948. Several government ministers of Argentina have received their degrees at UBA, such as the foreign ministers José Luis Murature, Ángel Gallardo (also a Rector of UBA), Bonifacio del Carril, Miguel Ángel Zavala Ortiz, Juan Atilio Bramuglia, Susana Ruiz Cerutti, Guido di Tella, Adalberto Rodríguez Giavarini, Carlos Ruckauf, and Santiago Cafiero. Economy ministers of diverse political views and pertaining to different economic schools of thought have also earned their degrees at UBA; among them José Martínez de Hoz, Roberto Lavagna, Axel Kicillof, and Nicolás Dujovne.

José Pedro Montero, the 27th president of Paraguay, was educated at UBA.

Law

A number of relevant jurists have earned their law degrees at the UBA Faculty of Law. Carlos Saavedra Lamas, noted academic and jurist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1936, earned his law degree at UBA and served as rector of the university from 1941 to 1943. Luis Moreno Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, earned his degree in 1978. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda judge Inés Mónica Weinberg de Roca is also a UBA alumna and former faculty, having taught courses on International Private Law since 2001. Several ministers of the Supreme Court of Argentina have been UBA alumni as well, such as Enrique S. Petracchi, Carlos Fayt, Carmen Argibay, Elena Highton de Nolasco, and Carlos Rosenkrantz. Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina is also a UBA alumni. Prominent legal philosopher Eugenio Bulygin earned his law degree and his PhD at the UBA Faculty of Law, where he also taught throughout his career. Teodosio César Brea, founder of the prominent Allende & Brea law firm, graduated UBA and taught courses at the Faculty of Law as well. Valeria Vegh Weis, criminologist, criminal attorney, and university professor, was also educated at UBA.

Media

The university operates its own radio station, Radio Universidad de Buenos Aires, broadcast on the FM 87.9 MHz frequency. Its content is mostly oriented toward academic and social topics. Launched on 20 December 2005, after being authorized by AFSCA, its motto is El saber está en el aire ("Knowledge is in the air").

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