The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: Universidad de Costa Rica, abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Montes de Oca, in the province of San José. It is the oldest and largest institution of higher learning in Costa Rica, originally established as the Universidad de Santo Tomás in 1843. It is also the most important research university in the country and Central America and is counted among the most prestigious universities of Latin America. Approximately 45,000 students attend UCR throughout the year.
History
The first institution dedicated to higher education in Costa Rica was the University of Saint Thomas (Universidad de Santo Tomás), which was established in 1843. That institution maintained close ties with the Roman Catholic Church and was closed in 1888 by the progressive and anti-clerical government of President Bernardo Soto Alfaro as part of a campaign to modernize public education. The schools of law, agronomy, fine arts, and pharmacy continued to operate independently. In 1940, those four schools were re-united to establish the modern UCR, during the reformist administration of President Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia.
The UCR remained the country's sole university until the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (Tecnológico de Costa Rica) and the National University of Costa Rica (Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica) were opened by the government in 1972 and 1973, respectively. Years later, in 1979, another public university opened: the Distance State University (Universidad Estatal a Distancia), modeled after the British Open University, and lastly the National Technical University opened in 2008 after merging several trade schools. Today, Costa Rica has those five public universities, and approximately fifty-three small private ones, but the UCR remains the largest and most well funded institution.
Application
Costa Rican applicants to the UCR must take an admission test. This test is similar to the SAT in the United States. The score of this test is used along with the grades from the student's last years in high school to determine the student's admission score, which is later used to determine admission to a specific major and financial aid. 800 is the highest possible score on the admission test and 442 is the minimum score required for admission. Students who score 800 usually appear in the front pages of Costa Rican newspapers.
Undergraduate Admission is highly selective, having an acceptance rate of approximately 25%. In 2009, out of the 31.042 that completed the admission test, only 16,593 obtained a score above the 442 points required to gain admission. Gaining admission to the university, however, does not assure admission to a chosen departmental program or major. In 2007, only 60% of those admitted to the university were accepted into their chosen major. The remaining 40% have to take classes that may not work for their major, hoping it will lift their grade point average to the level necessary in order to be admitted to the program of their liking.
International applicants must revalidate their high school certificate and grades from their country of origin at the Ministry of Public Education (Ministerio de Educación Pública) in order to apply and take the admission test. Graduate school applicants must revalidate their undergraduate certificate also.
Campuses and local branches
The main campus is located on a campus in San Pedro, San José (Rodrigo Facio campus). Other regional campuses are located throughout the country to reach plural eata Costa Ricans. The regional campuses are:
Western Campus (In the city of San Ramón, Alajuela): includes a local branch in Tacares, Grecia Atlantic Campus (In the city of Turrialba, Cartago): includes a local branch in Paraíso, Cartago and another one in Guápiles, Limón Guanacaste Campus (In the city of Liberia, Guanacaste): includes a local branch in Santa Cruz Limon Campus (In the City of Port Limón, Limon). Pacific Campus (In the city of Puntarenas, Puntarenas). The Golfito Campus (Southern Pacific coast) (in the City of Golfito, Puntarenas).
The main campus in San Pedro offers the most diverse course curricula of any other campus, in addition to hosting the Medical School and graduate programs.