Central University of Venezuela

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The Central University of Venezuela ( UCV ) is a public university of Venezuela located in the Valle -down urbanization of the San Pedro parish, south of the Geographic Center of Caracas. Founded in 1721 by King Felipe V, it is the oldest higher education institution in the country. Its main headquarters, the University City of Caracas, was declared a World Heritage for UNESCO, in 2000.

According to a worldwide study for the QS World University Rankings for 2018, the UCV is in the first place nationwide and 40 in Latin America.

In 2009 it had more than sixty thousand undergraduate and postgraduate students, six thousand teachers and about eight thousand administrative and services employees, who make up 9 faculties in Caracas; 2, in Maracay Engineering Nucleus in Cagua (Aragua State), and 1 in Barquisimeto Core of Architecture in the Lara state; It has 5 cores of supervised university studies and 12 experimental stations in different locations in the country.

HISTORY

Constitutions of the College of Santa Rosa of the University of Caracas (1727).

In the XVII century a cultural and scientific movement took place in Venezuela, which led to the founding of the Colegio Seminario de Caracas in 1673, which had the official name Santiago de León de Caracas Seminary College, dedicated to Santa Rosa de Lima, for which reason it was also known as Santa Rosa College. On December 22, 1721, by means of a document issued by King Felipe V, the Royal University of Caracas was created with a category equivalent to the Royal University of Santo Domingo and on December 18, 1722, by means of the Apostolic Bull of Innocent XIII, it became in Pontifical and it becomes officially under the name of Royal and Pontifical University of Caracas. At first, classes in theology, medicine, philosophy and law were taught exclusively in the Latin language. It was called "Royal and Pontifical" for being under the tutelage and protection of the Spanish monarch and the Supreme Pontiff.

The new university was governed by the statutes of the Royal University of Santo Domingo while their own were not available, because they were the object of elaboration. The initial headquarters of the university was the chapel of the Colegio Seminario Santa Rosa and it was until 1856, the year in which it was transferred to the convent of San Francisco. It remained in this last location until 1953, when it was transferred to the Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas. The San Francisco Convent underwent repairs and became the Palace of the Academies.

Republican university and its initial modernization

Former headquarters of the UCV. Currently the Palacio de las Academias.

Until the end of the 18th century, official papal and royal censorship of books was largely ignored in Venezuela, a situation that allowed the smuggling of the works of Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu, Locke, Helvétius and Grocio on ships belonging to the Real Compañía Guipuzcoana. This could have helped educate and enlighten a generation of Venezuelans, such as Simón Rodríguez, Juan Germán Roscio, Francisco de Miranda, Simón Bolívar and Andrés Bello who were at the forefront of the ideas of self-determination and independence from Spain in the Americas. Latina by Fr. Baltasar de los Reyes Marrero and other members of the University faculty.

In May 1827 at the call of the Rector José Cecilio Ávila, the Senate met to elect a new Rector. At that moment, Dr. José María Vargas was elected, the first Rector of the now Central University of Venezuela and a reformer of Venezuelan medical studies. By modifying the old statutes, Simón Bolívar and José María Vargas dictate the new rules and doctrines of the same, breaking old and absurd taboos such as skin color as an entry requirement, the "vista et moribus" (type of letter where the life of good customs was demonstrated), Latin is no longer the language in which classes are taught and what established that only Doctors of Medicine could take the role of Rectors; new courses begin to be taught and other careers are added.

These new norms are called "The Republican Statutes of the Universidad Central Venezuela in 1827".

José María Vargas begins the economic development based on the Chuao, Cata and La Concepción Haciendas donated by Simón Bolívar, as well as the ideological autonomy that would guarantee academic freedom and the end of discrimination against new students for reasons of race, religious faith, or economic status. On October 14, 1830, with the dissolution of Gran Colombia and the stabilization of the Republic of Venezuela, the so-called "Military and Mathematics School" not as an autonomous academy for the training of officers as it had been since 1810, but as one more faculty of the Central University of Venezuela. This school became famous for being directed, among others, by Juan Manuel Cagigal and Agustín Codazzi, who strongly supported the training of officers in the fields of military engineering and artillery. In the middle of the XIX century, the University suffered several conflicts, especially at the beginning of the Federal War, until 1869, when it was intervened by the then president Antonio Guzmán Blanco as part of his program to modernize the country. A commission was appointed to reorganize the university and its library, made up of Rector Carlos Arvelo, Juan José Aguerrevere, a mathematician, Joaquín Boton, a philosophy professor, scientist Adolf Ernst, and political scientist Lucio Siso. However, President Antonio Guzmán Blanco also ordered in 1883 the sale of all the lands and estates donated by Simón Bolívar, thus eliminating the hope that José María Vargas maintained regarding the economic autonomy of the university and making it depend until today exclusively on the general budgets of the State.

20th century

Featured works
Floating Clouds of Alexander Calder
Murals of Victor Vasarely.
30th of dynamismAntoine Pevsner.
Pastor of CloudsHans Arp.
Tower of the ClockCarlos Raúl Villanueva.
AmphionHenri Laurens.

In December 1908, Juan Vicente Gómez overthrew the government of Cipriano Castro. Gómez remained in power until his death in 1935. During this time he hired foreign citizens to perform various technical functions for the development of the nation, including academics and researchers. However, on October 1, 1912, he decided to close the University. The then rector, Felipe Guevara Rojas, promotes an academic reorganization that includes the traditional division of only a few schools and their separation into modern departments. The university was reopened on July 4, 1922.

In 1928 a group of students, known as the Generation of 28 organized a series of events during "Student Week" in protest of the Gómez dictatorship, which culminated in an attempt to overthrow him on April 7 of that year. This heterogeneous group was made up of political and intellectual leaders such as Rómulo Betancourt, Miguel Otero Silva, Juan Oropeza, Isaac J. Pardo and Rodolfo Quintero, among others. Many of them were imprisoned after the fact, while some went into exile without being able to finish their studies.

The University continued to be at the forefront of the country's democratization when in 1936 then-President Eleazar López Contreras issued a decree suspending constitutional rights and declaring general press censorship in retaliation for the general strike of oil workers, a hitherto unprecedented event. The Rector of the University, Francisco Antonio Rísquez, led the protest that followed through the streets of Caracas against the policies of López Contreras. By 1942, the student population had grown considerably beyond the physical and academic capacity of the University. In this way several schools, such as Medicine, were transferred to other buildings in the city. Under the mandate of President Isaías Medina Angarita, the need arose to build a larger and more modern headquarters where the University could function as a coherent whole. The government then bought Hacienda Ibarra and responsibility for the main design was given to the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva. After a visit to the University of the city of Bogotá (citation needed), they convinced the authorities of the Ministry of Public Works that, in order to avoid the construction of a set of heterogeneous buildings, the design should be under the direction of a architect to develop a coherent complex.

On March 2, 1954, Marcos Pérez Jiménez inaugurated the Plaza Cubierta, the Aula Magna and the Central Library for the X Ibero-American Conference in Caracas. The new campus became a large urban complex of around 200 hectares and included a total of 40 buildings. Architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva worked closely with 28 of the most important avant-garde artists of the time, both from Venezuela and from around the world, to build what remains one of the most successful applications of modern architecture in Latin America. Villanueva's guiding principle was the creation of a space where art and architecture coexist in harmony in a "synthesis of the arts". Among some of the most important pieces present at the University are Floating Clouds by Alexander Calder, murals by Victor Vasarely, Wifredo Lam, Fernand Léger, and sculptures by Jean Arp and Henri Laurens. The Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which together with the Ciudad Universitaria de la UNAM and the University of Virginia are the only two university campuses in America with this distinction.

In 1958, after the fall of the dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, a government commission established a new law for universities. The new law entered into force on December 5 of the same year. In it, autonomy was initially guaranteed that allowed both teachers and students to study and work in an environment of freedom and tolerance of all currents of thought. This very important legal base, however, was abused during the 1960s when guerrillas and rebels, supported by Fidel Castro, took refuge inside the university campus trying to escape government persecution. This tense situation came to a standstill in 1969 when the students demanded radical reforms and transformations. Finally, on October 31, 1969, the administration of President Rafael Caldera ordered a raid on the university, known as Operation Kangaroo. The rector Jesús María Bianco was also forced to resign his position. The University reopened in 1971 with a new chancellor and a new plan for renovation.

In terms of the academic development of the modern university, the second half of the 20th century was a time when the body teacher at the Central University benefited greatly from the influx of European immigrants. Many intellectuals, researchers, and teachers settled in Venezuela after the end of the Spanish Civil War and World War II, finding a favorable work environment for their concerns and ideas, thus contributing to the promotion of natural sciences, technology, and social sciences. and the humanities at the Central University of Venezuela.

Composition of the University

Faculties

See also: Annex:Faculties of the Central University of Venezuela e Institutos de la Universidad Central de Venezuela.

The Faculties are integrated by Schools or Careers, these being the places where the teaching function is exercised at the undergraduate level. Each faculty is totally independent from the others, each focusing on its particular areas of knowledge. Although each faculty is autonomous, there is a program called PCI (Interfaculty Cooperation Program) that allows students from one faculty to see subject classes from another faculty, if the study program of each major allows it. Some schools can grant more than one degree, and are also made up of research and extension teaching groups (Departments and Chairs).

Input Methods

Academic Merit Admission System (SIMA)

Through this method, the applicant will be able, based on the knowledge acquired during their training in primary and secondary education, to choose the career of their choice by taking an admission test, which has two tests that the applicant must overcome to be admitted. The first is based on a psychological test in which the applicant must respond according to the career of her preference; she must pass this one in order to do the next one. The second test to put into practice knowledge skills such as: verbal, mathematical, logical and spatial.

Office of Planning of the University Sector (OPSU)

This method is used from the last year of secondary education, it works as a registry of academic, personal and socio-economic data by secondary and diversified education institutions as well as the applicant, he can choose for 6 careers in university education at any higher education institution in the country.

Samuel Robinson Program

The Samuel Robinson Program offers a 30-week course divided into three phases of 10 weeks each. Students who complete the 3 phases (approving all modules) of the program will enter their career options within the University Central Venezuela.

Art. 25

Its purpose is to provide study opportunities to artists and athletes with outstanding careers who contribute their talents in such areas to the University. It should be mentioned that the availability of places lies in 5% of those admitted for each admission period.

Agreement Act

It is the form of admission through the internal process addressed to the personnel (worker, administrative and teaching) of the Central University of Venezuela.

The University City

Main article: University City of Caracas

Botanic Garden of the Central University of Venezuela.

Space known as "Nobody's Land."

The University City of Caracas, headquarters of the Central University of Venezuela, was declared a World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in the year 2000.

This headquarters is the work of the Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva and a group of avant-garde artists from all latitudes, and that "...constitutes an example of the highest ideals of urbanism, architecture and art, representative of modern utopia, which expresses the desire to achieve an ideal world of perfection for a new society and men" (UNESCO, 2000).

Since its foundation, the Central University of Venezuela has had 3 different locations: The first, where the original Santa Rosa Seminary functioned, where the Municipal Palace of Caracas currently operates, and later was transferred to the spaces of the San Francisco Convent, where currently resides in the Palace of the Academies, both venues in downtown Caracas.

Already in the 1940s, under the mandate of Eleazar López Contreras, the university headquarters could not cope with the student population and the construction of a main campus for the university was commissioned, originally on the outskirts of the city of Caracas, the lands are selected and expropriated, among them the Ibarra Hacienda (which is currently no longer the outskirts of the city but rather the geographical center of it), former property of El Libertador Simón Bolívar, and the design is entrusted to the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva (you can still see the main house of said hacienda within the premises of the Ciudad Universitaria, it remained as a memory). Construction began in 1940, the move took place in 1953 and is currently being expanded.

The university campus has more than 70 buildings as well as the Botanical Garden of Caracas, the second most important library in the nation and 9 of the 11 faculties that make up the university. In the center of the University City is the Aula Magna, a large auditorium that has excellent acoustics thanks to Alexander Calder's Floating Clouds, which cover the entire ceiling and sides of its interior.

The other two Faculties, Veterinary Sciences and Agronomy, have a campus in the El Limón sector of the city of Maracay, west of Caracas.

There is a project to expand the Ciudad Universitaria in the area known as the Plaza Venezuela Rental Zone. The competition to make it a reality has already taken place and architects of various nationalities have shown their ideas for this World Heritage extension. It is unknown when construction will begin.

See also: Aula Magna (Central University of Venezuela), Olympic Stadium of the Central University of Venezuela and University Stadium (UCV).

No Man's Land

Panoramic of the so-called "Nobody's Land" from the Central Library.

Within the University City, there is a sector of green areas located between the Covered Plaza of the Rectorate and the paths of the Faculty of Humanities and Education and the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences. This area is known as No Man's Land'; there, students and other visitors to the university can carry out different activities such as: study groups, airships, yoga classes, dance and juggling practices, among others.

See also: Botanic Garden of the Central University of Venezuela

University Council

The University Council is the supreme authority of the University and exercises the functions of university government. It is made up of the Rector, who chairs it, the Vice-Rectors, the Secretary, the Deans of the Faculties, 5 representatives of the Professors, 3 representatives of the Students, 1 representative of the Graduates and 1 representative of the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

The representatives of the professors, the students and the representative of the graduates last in the exercise of their functions 3, 1 and 2 years respectively. The faculty and student representatives are elected in secret and direct elections held by the University Electoral Commission, in the second semester of the school year, according to the expiration of their terms and complying with the requirements established in the University Law and the Internal Regulations.

2019 Central University of Venezuela student elections

Faculty and School Councils

Corridors from the Central University of Venezuela.

The Faculty Councils have among their functions to ensure their normal functioning and the full fulfillment of their purposes: it is made up of the Dean who presides over it, seven representatives of the professors, two representatives of the students and one of the graduates.

The School Council is made up of the director, who chairs it, the Academic Coordinator of the School, the Heads of Department, two faculty representatives and two student representatives with their respective substitutes. His work consists of preparing plans and programming, coordinating teaching tasks, appointing juries for thesis work, recruiting personnel and other tasks established by law and regulations.

Faculty and student representatives are elected in the same periods and processes as those of the University Council.

Federation of University Centers and Student Centers

The Federation of University Centers and the Student Centers are the direct representation of the student government. Its representatives are elected annually, in secret and direct elections called by the University Electoral Commission, under the conditions of the Universities Law and the Internal Regulations.

The Federation of University Centers, known by its acronym as FCU, is the body with the largest student representation, in charge of defending the rights of students, both at the university, national and international level. In addition, the FCU is a strong determinant in the actions of the Venezuelan student movement at the national level, participating in activities of various kinds for the defense of all Venezuelans and the Constitution.

The Student Centers are in charge of ensuring the well-being of the students, accompanying them and seeking solutions to the inconveniences that they may present throughout the degree, following the regular channels. In the same way, they seek —through academic, cultural and sports activities— the entertainment and recreation of all the students.

Fire Department

The university has the University Volunteer Fire Department, a non-profit organization that supports the university community in emergency care and prevention and research. Its headquarters are located in the basement of the UCV Covered Gymnasium.

Sports

The UCV has 31 disciplines. The university also has a soccer stadium, the Olympic Stadium of the Central University of Venezuela, and a well-known professional soccer club, the Central University of Venezuela Fútbol Club, which plays in the Venezuelan First Division.

Symbols

Emblema

The emblem of the UCV consists of the allegory to the symbols of knowledge and academia: the oil lamp that represents wisdom, and the books, the pen and the parchment that represent study, all surrounded by a branch of olive tree that represents peace and a palm branch that represents victory and framed at the top by 7 stars that represent the flag of Venezuela, the whole set is within a circle that has the inscription "Universidad Central, Caracas - Venezuela".

Flag

The UCV flag consists of a beige rectangular cloth with the emblem located in the center. It is usually located on the right side of the national flag and on the left of the faculties.

The flags of the faculties consist of rectangular cloths with the emblem of the faculty in the center as an unofficial form, officially they carry the emblem of the UCV in the upper corner of the side of the pole; each flag is the color of the faculty it represents, which is the same as the medal ribbon for graduates.

Hymn

Choral composition of joy, celebration and positive feelings that identify the UCEVISTA community. With lyrics by Luis Pastori and Tomás Alfaro Calatrava and music by Evencio Castellanos, it was premiered in 1943 by the Orfeón Universitario, artistic heritage of the UCV.