University of the Andes, Chile


The Universidad de los Andes', also commonly self-styled as UANDES, is a non-profit private research university founded in 1989 in Santiago, Chile, that places special emphasis on research, innovation and development.
The university is accredited by the CNA for the 2012–2017 period and in 2011 was one of the first private universities integrated to the admission process of traditional universities. According to the students' scores on the National Admissions Test 2012, is ranked Top 3 among Chilean universities.
With more than 8,000 students in 2013, the university offers 25 undergraduate programs and 73 graduate programs in the health, humanities, engineering and business and administration areas. All students can receive academic advising and 26% are awarded scholarships.

Staff

The academic staff is composed of more than 1800 faculty members, with an 18,8:1 Professor/Student ratio. More than 240 full-time professors are involved in research projects and academic advising to provide students personal, academic, and professional guidelines according to their skills and talents. 75% of them hold Doctorate or Master's degrees. More than 240 research projects have been funded by the University and another 126 have been funded by the Chilean Fund for Science and Technology. Professors published 75 scientific papers in ISI and 70 in Scielo during 2010 and are constantly collaborating in major international research projects.

History

UANDES was founded on September 8, 1989. Its first campus was located in Bustamante Avenue, Providencia, Chile.
In 1990 the School of Law opened, followed the next year by the Philosophy School and the Medical School.
Other schools followed: Economics and Business and Nursing and Education, in 1992; Communication and Services Administration, in 1993. In 1994 the University started its PhD program in Philosophy, in arrangement with the Universidad de Navarra, Spain.
In 1995 the University relocated to its current campus at 2,200 San Carlos de Apoquindo Avenue, Las Condes. During that same year the Engineering School opened, followed by the Family Science Institute and the Psychology School. Also in 1999 the Universidad de los Andes Medical Center started operations in the San Bernardo area.
In 2000 the Postgraduate ESE Business School opened, which would come to have its own modern building in 2006.
In 2001 the Education Ministry granted the University its autonomy.
In 2002 the School of Dentistry started functioning, and a library building was inaugurated becoming one of the most modern libraries of South America. In 2002 UANDES began its PhD program in Law.
In 2003 the Medical School became part of the “Asociación de Facultades de Medicina de Chile”, organization in charge of taking and grading the National Medical Exam. Along with this it turns to be the first private Faculty starting the graduate programs accreditation process.
In 2005 three new undergraduate programs started: History, Preschool Education and Electrical Engineering, besides the one year associate program Bachillerato. Also, the School of Law opened its “Centro de Derecho de Seguros” and the School of Economics and Business started its “Centro de Economía de la Empresa”.
In 2006 the Postgraduate Business School moved to its new building and the University started to prepare for the accreditation process.
In 2007 the CNA granted institutional accreditation to the University, valid for five years. During the same year the Communications Department launched the first campus newspaper called “2200”, in reference to the University’s address.
In 2008 the School of History published the first volume of “Chile en Cuatro Momentos”, a literary, historical project about Chilean History, conducted alongside El Mercurio Newspaper and Enersis, for the bicentenary of Chile.
In 2010 the new undergraduate program Kinesiology started. The Kinesiology students will be able to choose a specialty between cardio-respiratory, neuro-rehabilitation, skeletal muscle or sports, making this university the first one in Chile to offer 4 specialties in the field. Also, the PhD program in Biomedicine started, along with the construction of the Clínica Universidad de los Andes.
In 2011 UANDES was integrated to the admission process of traditional universities and the federation of students began. The same year started the undergraduate program of Literature. Also, an institutional R&D unit, UANDES I+D, was created, along with new research centers, like Cells4Cells and Kinostics.
In 2012 the CNA granted institutional accreditation to the University, valid for another five years. Also, the Law Faculty inaugurates Clínica Jurídica, which provides free legal services to people who cannot hire a lawyer.
In 2013 the 25th undergraduate program Nutrition and Dietetics started.

Campus and centers

San Carlos de Apoquindo Campus

The university campus is located at the foot of the Andes and combines modern infrastructure with green areas for learning, research, sports and extracurricular activities. Facilities in the campus include the Humanities, Science and The Clock buildings, the ESE Business School for graduate and executive education, a Library Building, the Art Museum, 11 auditoriums, 70 classrooms, 37 laboratories and the Universidad de los Andes Clinic, opening at the end of 2013. There are also indoor and outdoor sports facilities, including three sport fields and a gym.
The library has the capacity to store 300,000 books and includes more than a thousand Internet connections points. It has an auditorium for 330 people and other four for up to 75 people each. It also has 23 rooms for study groups, work stations and 28 computers to look up references. The library utilizes automation software Millennium to handle all its processes, from online book reservations to remote access to databases.

San Bernardo Medical Center

The University also has the Centro de Salud Universidad de los Andes, a outpatient medical facility located in San Bernardo, where patients are treated in the areas of general medicine, psychology, and dentistry. It also houses classrooms for the medicine, nursing, psychology, and dentistry students.

The Universidad de los Andes Clinic

The Universidad de los Andes Clinic will be operational at the end of 2013.
With 55,000 m2 constructed in the first stage of the project, the building will be structured in three general areas: Administrative and Medical Offices, Center of Diagnosis and Treatment and Hospitalization.
The Clinic will further develop all graduate studies in the Health related programs the University has: Medicine, Nursing, Psychology, Dentistry, Kinesiology and Occupational Therapy, offering the necessary conditions for the continuous development and specialization of all professionals.

alumniUANDES

alumniUANDES reunites all the former students of the University in Chile, with the intention of maintaining the ties established between them during their university years.
The association was created in 1997 under the name Asociación de Exalumnos, and changed to alumniUANDES at the beginning of 2009. alumniUANDES offers various activities to the former students of Universidad de los Andes.

Notable alumni