National University of San Marcos

The National University of San Marcos (Spanish: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, UNMSM) is a public research university located in Lima, the capital of Peru. In the Americas, it is the first officially established (privilege by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor) and the oldest continuously operating university.

The university started in the general studies that were offered in the convent of the Rosario of the order of Santo Domingo—the current Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo—on July 1, 1548. Its official foundation was conceived by Fray Thomas de San Martín on May 12, 1551; with the decree of Emperor Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1571, it acquired the degree of pontifical granted by Pope Pius V, with which it ended up being named the "Royal and Pontifical University of the City of the Kings of Lima". It is also referred to as the "University of Lima" throughout the Viceroyalty.

The University of San Marcos has passed through several locations, of which it maintains and stands out: the "Casona de San Marcos", one of the buildings in the Historic Center of Lima that were recognized as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1988. The University of San Marcos has 66 professional schools, grouped into 20 faculties, and these in turn in 5 academic areas. Through its "Domingo Angulo" historical archive, the university preserves documents and writings. In 2019, the "Colonial Fund and Foundational Documents of the National University of San Marcos: 1551–1852" was incorporated into the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

It holds a ten-year institutional licensing granted by the National Superintendency of Higher Education (SUNEDU) and an international institutional accreditation. To date, twenty-one Presidents of the Republic of Peru, seven Peruvian candidates for the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Literature, and Peace, and the only Peruvian Nobel Prize laureate have been alumni or professors of this institution.

History

Early history

During the General Studies carried out in the cloisters of the Convent of the Rosario of the Order of Santo Domingo—current Basilica and Convento de Santo Domingo—on July 1, 1548, the Cabildo of Lima would send Fray Tomás de San Martín and Captain Juan Jerónimo de Aliaga to Spain, who obtained the founding order of the university from Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire and Queen Juana I of Castile. The foundation of the Royal University of the City of Kings was officially carried out. The university began to function officially on January 2, 1553.

They asked the Royal Court for compliance with the Royal decree of 1570. The university moved to its second location, near the outskirts of San Marcelo, where the Convent of the Order of Saint Augustine had previously operated. The "Royal and Pontifical University of San Marcos" was chosen as its official name on September 6, 1574, with Mark the Evangelist as the patron saint of the University. In 1575, the university changed its location again to the old Plaza del Estanque.

The officially named University of San Marcos began its work in the viceregal era with the faculties of Theology and Arts, later the canons of Law and Medicine would be created. On November 27, 1579, the professors asked King Philip II for the institution of jurisdiction that governed the University of Salamanca. In 1581, Viceroy Francisco Álvarez de Toledo authorized clerics and laymen to be elected.

1700s to 1900s

The support for the secularization of the University of San Marcos was given by Viceroy Francisco Álvarez de Toledo. It was also exercised by the rector of the Royal Convictory of San Carlos. Between 1792 and 1811, the amphitheater and medicine chairs began to develop in the Royal Hospital of San Andrés. Both the University of San Marcos and the College of Law and Letters of San Carlos and the College of Medicine of San Fernando began to be watched by the Viceroy because their house professors and students were suspected of envisioning.

The University of San Marcos became part of the current Republic of Peru since its independence in 1821. The First Constituent Congress of Peru was initially chaired by the former rector of the University of San Marcos, Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza; of the 64 constituent deputies, 54 were San Marcos's alumnus and Carolines's. In 1822, the university handed over its collection of 50,000 books to form the National Library of Peru. In 1840, the Colleges of San Carlos and San Fernando are taken over by the University of San Marcos. San Marcos was empowered by the then President Ramón Castilla to approve new universities and control the newly created ones.

Organization

Governance and administration

The University of San Marcos was originally governed by clerics of monastic orders; during the Age of Enlightenment, the Bourbon Reforms transformed it into a secular institution. The University Assembly is the highest governing body in the university. It is made up of the rector and the two vice-rectors, the deans of the faculties, the director of the graduate school, representatives of the teachers, and representatives of the students—which constitute a third of the total number of members of the assembly—representatives of the graduates, and the president of the Federation of students of the University of San Marcos with the right to speak, without a vote.

Administrative officials of the highest level can attend the assembly when they are required as advisors, without the right to vote. The main attributions of the university assembly are: the modification of the statute of the university, requiring in such a case the majority of its members; approval of the General Plan for the operation of the university and carrying out its evaluation; it is in charge of the election of the rector and vice-rectors.

The University Council is the body in charge of the direction and execution of the university. The representative of the graduates and the president of the Federation of Students have the right to speak, without a vote. Administrative officials of the highest level can attend the council when they are required as advisers, without the right to vote. The powers of the council are: to formulate the general plan for the development and operation of the university, as well as to establish its policies.

The Rectorate is the university's governing body, consisting mainly of the Rector. The rector is the first executive authority of the university, as well as its legal representative and its institutional image. The University of San Marcos has had 216 rectors since its foundation. Its Vice-Rectorate is made up of two vice-rectors: one for undergraduate academics and the other for research and postgraduate. The government and administration of the faculties and schools are in charge of the Deans and the School Directors, respectively. In addition, the postgraduate units of each faculty are in charge of their respective directors, with the Director of the Graduate School as the general director.

Faculties and academic structure

The University of San Marcos has 20 faculties grouped into 5 academic areas, in which 65 undergraduate programs, 77 master's degrees, and 27 doctorates are offered.

Health Sciences

Faculty of Medicine San Fernando is the Faculty of Human Medicine of the University of San Marcos. It is also called the "San Fernando" Faculty of Medicine. After the creation of the Royal College of Medicine and Surgery of San Fernando in 1811, it was installed as faculty on October 6, 1856, by Cayetano Heredia. In the National Medical Exams in Peru, the "San Fernando" Faculty of Medicine has obtained first place on numerous occasions.

Academics

Admissions

Admission for undergraduate studies is mainly through an entrance examination. Although there are ways to carry out a special exam in the case of transfers, foreigners, first places in schools, and the disabled. The most required type of exam is the one that is carried out twice a year: in March and in September.

In the case of postgraduate studies, admission is made through enrollment. As there are a limited number of vacancies, an admission exam is carried out that is prepared and graded by a special jury according to the area of study to which it is applied. In 2020, after the suspension of the first admission exam on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after more than six months of not applying it, the University Council decided to approve the application of the online admission exam, being the first of its kind in the history of the university, on October 2 and 3 of that same year.

International programs

The University of San Marcos is actively involved in fostering international cooperation and engagement through various academic programs, research collaborations, and global partnerships. In addition, the university has counted as a main member of the Strategic Alliance of Peruvian Universities with agreements to achieve exchanges of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the three main Peruvian universities—UNMSM, UNI and UNALM—and others Peruvian universities as associated members.

Rankings

In the first national university ranking in Peru, prepared by the National Assembly of Rectors of Peru under the auspices of UNESCO in 2006, the National University of San Marcos ranked first in the country.

Together with the Cayetano Heredia University and the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, the National University of San Marcos is one of the only three Peruvian universities—and the only public one—that has managed to rank first nationally in certain editions of different major international university rankings.

In 2021, the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) ranked the National University of San Marcos as the best university in the country in its first ranking of the year. In 2022, the university was awarded by the National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation of Peru (Concytec) and the Elsevier corporation for being the institution with the historical highest number of scientific publications in Scopus (6,907), the largest bibliographic database of abstracts and citations of articles in all the universities of Peru.

Campuses

Since its foundation, the University of San Marcos has passed through five different main locations: From 16th to 19th centuries: the first location was located at the premises of the Convent of Nuestra Señora del Rosario of the Dominican Order; the second one was near the outskirts of San Marcelo, shortly before the Convent of the Order of San Agustín had functioned; the third—since 1575—was in the primitive Plaza del Estanque, the current location of the Congress of Peru.

In the second half of the 19th century, it was moved to the premises of the old Convictorio de San Carlos. At the end of the 19th century, the "San Fernando" Faculty of Medicine moved to its permanent location on the current Avenida Grau. Since the mid-1960s, during the government of Manuel Prado, the university began to occupy its main campus, the current Ciudad Universitaria, located between Avenida Universitaria and Avenida Venezuela. The rectory, the Central Library and 17 of the 20 faculties of the university are currently located there.

University city

Since 1966, the University City of the National University of San Marcos, generally known as "University City of Lima" or simply "University City", is the main campus of the National University of San Marcos. In it are located 17 of the 20 faculties of the University of San Marcos, the Central Library, the Stadium of the University of San Marcos, and one of the university residences. In addition, the City includes the archaeological complex of Huaca San Marcos. The university has two residence halls for its two main campuses.

Since 2007, road works have been carried out outside the University City. The works were imposed by the former mayor, Luis Castañeda, of the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima. In 2008, specialists from the National University of Engineering and the CDL-College of Engineers of Peru reformulated the municipal works. The works have been stopped by a precautionary measure from the National Institute of Culture (INC) after verifying that these works damaged part of the cultural heritage in the Huaca San Marcos. In January 2011, the new municipal management deemed that the operation was unnecessary.

The "Pedro Zulen" Central Library of the university is a 19,800 m2 building. It has a multifunctional stage and 400 seats. The Central Library "Pedro Zulen", under the auspices of UNESCO, leads the initiative to develop digitalization of publications. The library directs the main activity of SISBIB. Each one of the faculties of the National University of San Marcos has its own library in the study areas of each faculty, these are connected to each other through the Library System (SISBIB) of the university.

Research

The University of San Marcos has 37 academic research units. They are classified mainly in the areas of: health sciences, basic sciences, engineering, economic and management sciences, and humanities and legal and social sciences. The research centers have museums and laboratories. Each institute also has its own publications. The university has around 500 research groups. Since 2015, the University of San Marcos has also had the Center for Technological, Biomedical and Environmental Research (CITBM). It is led by the University of San Marcos and is made up of three national companies and three international centers of excellence. Below is a list of the main research institutes of the University of San Marcos:

Production and scientific publications

According to the 2009 annual balance prepared by the National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC) of Peru, 20% of Peruvian scientific production was generated by the National University of San Marcos. Several scientific publications of the University of San Marcos and its research institutes had appeared in Nature and Science. The main scientific publications of the University of San Marcos are published in academic journals Alma Máter and Theorema and in the 20 official magazines of each of the university's faculties. Each professional school also has its own academic journal.

University Press

The Editorial Fund of the University of San Marcos is the division in charge of publishing books, magazines, and newspapers. The publications are made both in the traditional printed format and via the Internet.

Culture and heritage

Cultural centers

Currently, the National University of San Marcos has two cultural centers in two of its historic buildings. The Casona de San Marcos—its main cultural center—and the Colegio Real de San Marcos.

The Cultural Center "La Casona" of San Marcos is one of the main tourist attractions of the Historic Center of Lima. The complex is part of the area and the list of buildings in the historic center of the capital that in 1988 was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In 1989, the National University of San Marcos, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) and the National Institute of Culture sign a Peru-Spain agreement to adapting its architectural complex for culture and artistic creation.

The Royal College Cultural Center of Contemporary Peruvian Cultures, established in 2006, is located in the environment of the old "Royal College" of San Marcos, next to the Congress of the Republic of Peru. It is made up of three units of the university: the Institute of Applied Linguistics CILA, the "Domingo Angulo" Historical Archive of the University of San Marcos, and the Andean Rural History Seminar. Exhibitions and shows are regularly held.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)