Universidad Francisco Marroquín

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Universidad Francisco Marroquín ("Francisco Marroquín University") is a private, secular, university in Guatemala City, Guatemala that was founded in 1971. According to the school's website, "[t]he mission of Universidad Francisco Marroquín is to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal and economic principles of a society of free and responsible persons." The website also states that UFM "has the most rigorous entrance requirements in the country."

Started by members of Centro de Estudios Economico-Sociales ("Center for the Study of Socioeconomics") with $40,000 and 125 students, UFM now (as of 2005) boasts almost 1700 undergraduate students, 474 graduate students, 450 medical/dental students, and 130 non-degree-seeking students.[1] The university also offers instruction via the distance learning program, referred to by its acronym: IDEA. In 1998, the distance learning program had more than 10,000 students enrolled. The language of instruction is Spanish, but since many course texts and some lectures are in English, students are expected to be proficient in that tongue as well.

According to Milton Friedman, UFM is "...a first-rate university that is having a significant effect on the climate of opinion in Latin America. I know of hardly any comparable success story..."

Contents

[edit] General information

[edit] Mission statement

The mission of Universidad Francisco Marroquín is to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal and economic principles of a society of free and responsible persons.

[edit] Characteristics

Founded in 1971. Private, secular, coeducational, nonresidential, nonprofit.

[edit] Degrees awarded

Associate, profesorado (for secondary school teachers), licenciatura (licentiate), magister (artium and scienciae), M.D., D.D.S, doctorate.

[edit] Academic disciplines

Architecture, business administration, clinical nutrition, dentistry, economics, education, international relations, law, medicine, political studies, public accounting, psychology, social sciences.

[edit] Academic calendar

The academic year in Guatemala begins in January and ends in November. Undergraduate programs operate on a semester system; graduate on a quarter system. Most undergraduate programs have a six-week semester break, from the beginning of June to mid-July. Commencements are in May and November.

[edit] Admissions policy

UFM targets the brightest students for admission and it has the most rigorous entrance requirements in the country. The University is emphatic that selection of students be based solely on academic criteria. No information on ability to pay, ethnic, religious, or other affiliations is requested at any point in the admissions process. Students of all religions are represented, as are members of Guatemala's Maya ethnic community. Women generally comprise between 47% and 50% of the student body.

[edit] Enrollment

Enrollment 2007
Total degree programs 2,650
Undergraduate 1,709
Graduate 451
Medical/Dental 490

[edit] Language of instruction

Spanish. Knowledge of English is required of all students at the undergraduate level (acceptable TOEFL or ELASH score is a degree requirement). Students at this level are expected to be able to handle reading assignments and lectures in English. Many key texts used at the University are available only in English and this is often the language of instruction in seminars, courses and lectures given by visiting professors.

[edit] Governing boards

Board of trustees (fifty members) and board of directors (nine members).

[edit] Degree programs

In Guatemala, as in most of Latin America, the educational system concentrates students in their academic or professional discipline from the time of admission. Following secondary school, students are admitted to a particular school or department and, beginning the first year, follow a prescribed program leading to a degree.

[edit] Undergraduate

[edit] Licenciatura degree (Licentiate)

In most of Latin America, the degree that is most commonly awarded to undergraduate students is called licenciatura. Traditionally, it includes several more academic credits than a B.A. or B.S.

[edit] Disciplines

Architecture; business administration; clinical nutrition; economics; education; international relations; law; political studies; public accounting and auditing; psychology (clinical and industrial).

[edit] M.D. / D.D.S.

Students are admitted directly into medical and dental schools as high school graduates. They follow a three-year program of basic science studies, upon completion of which they receive a B.S. degree. This is followed by four years of medical or three of dental studies, and one year of internship for medical students (none for dental students). Upon completion, graduates receive an M.D. or D.D.S. degree.

[edit] Associate degree

[edit] Disciplines

Art history; personnel administration.

[edit] Profesorado degree

The profesorado is a specialized degree for secondary school teachers. In many cases, it is required for employment.

[edit] Disciplines

Art history; computer studies; social sciences and language.

[edit] Graduate

[edit] Master degree

[edit] Disciplines

Business administration (MBA); entrepreneurial economics; international political economy; international relations; finance and taxation; management of human resources; social sciences.

The MBA program offers the possibility of online and/or traditional classroom instruction. The entrepreneurial economics and the international political economy programs are available only through online instruction. The former also requires two weeks of traditional classroom instruction at the School of Management in Boston University.

Master degree in the following medical specialties: internal medicine; ophthalmology; pediatrics; radiology.

[edit] Doctoral degree

Economics; law; social sciences

[edit] Specialization

The Department of Psychology offers specialization programs that work as a platform for a master's degree abroad.

[edit] Disciplines

Psychobiology; learning skills.

[edit] Ludwig von Mises Library

Webpage (in Spanish): [[2]]

The library at UFM has 100,000 visitors annually and is the most extensive collection of works on liberty in Latin America.

There is a collection of the private libraries of prominent intellectuals and collectors:

  • Jose Cecilio del Valle, founding father of Central American independence
  • Carlos Elmenhorst, collector of Central American books and maps
  • William Hutt, South African author and economist.
  • Gordon Tullock, co-founder of the school of Public Choice
  • Sir Alan Walters, economic advisor to Margaret Thatcher.

At the beginning of the New Millenium the Library started offering access to digital resources. It is subscribed to other services in this area including EBSCOHost databases, Oxford Scholarship Online, xRefer Plus and UpToDate, MDConsult and others.

  • The library was chosen amongst all the libraries around the World within the 10 libraries to receive the Elsevier donation of 670 titles.

The library site received a Golden Award in Guatemala for the best site online.

[edit] Henry Hazlitt Center

Webpage (in Spanish): [[3]]

The purpose of the Henry Hazlitt Center is to coordinate the courses of Economic Process (I,II and III) and Social Philosophy (Hayek, and the Austrian School) that are offered to all the students at UFM in Pregrad level, in all the schools. It also offers seminars and lectures for professors in order to improve their academic and pedagogic skills.

[edit] Arboretum

Webpage (in Spanish): [[4]]

Awakening and cultivating the love for nature and conservation of plants and animals in the Campus. The land where the University Francisco Marroquin stands, is a remnant of the Montano Forest , pine and Encino trees, that used to cover Guatemala’s surface. The beautiful gardens that the University has have been carefully designed to integrate native and exotic species that have been admired by students and visitors. Since the beginning preservation of this forest was a priority to the point where the arquitectural design of the buildings was done so the trees were kept as intact as possible. We decided to take our effort much further and this is why the Arboretum was created so now we are preserving and studying many species.

[edit] New Media Department

Webpage (in Spanish): [[5]]

CREATION, IMPLEMENTATION & EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF DIGITAL RESOURCES The New Media Department specializes in streaming audio and video conferences in English and Spanish on topics related to classical liberal thought.

The New Media digital library includes 1,500 hours of digitized and indexed educational material, and receives over 1,000 visitors daily from around the world.

[edit] Popol Vuh Museum

Webpage: [[6]]

The Popol Vuh Museum offers its visitors a unique journey through Guatemalan history, illustrated by one of the best collections of prehispanic and colonial art in the country. The museum is a scientific, private, non lucrative organization part of Universidad Francisco Marroquín. The museum’s objectives include: conservation, investigation and the popularization of Guatemala’s cultural and archeological heritage

[edit] Traditions and Landmarks

[edit] Following Manuel Ayau

In 1972 the first class of students that entered to Universidad Francisco Marroquín presented a pair of bronzed shoes to the founding rector, Manuel F. Ayau, as a joke. Since then the shoes are kept at the rector´s office; as a way to remember, for the members of UFM, that they follow Manuel F. Ayau´s steps, and those of the founders of the University, in the road to freedom.

[edit] Honoring the champions of freedom

Universidad Francisco Marroquín has awarded honoris causa doctorates to scientists, intellectuals, businessmen, artists and others who have contributed to the sciences, the arts, the world of business and the cause of freedom

Four Nobel Prize winners have accepted the honorary degree awarded by UFM: Friedrich A. Hayek; Milton Friedman, James M. Buchanan y Vernon L. Smith. Vea la lista de doctores honoris causa de la UFM, list here (in Spanish).

At the House of Freedom, the library is named alter Ludwig von Mises; there are the Friedrich A. Hayek Auditorium and the Milton Friedman Auditorium. And the department in charge of the courses of Social Philosophy and Economic Process is named after Henry Hazlitt. There is a Freedom Plaza and a terrace named after Rose Friedman.

[edit] Mises’ birthday

Ludwig von Mises was born on September 29th. 1881; and to remember his birthday, profesor Joseph Keckeissen´s students celebrate a Viennese party by the second semester of every year. It includes theatrical presentations, singing and dancing.

Joseph Keckeissen attended Mises´Semminar in New York City and he began the misian theatrical tradition, at UFM in the 80s with the Guttemberg Society.

[edit] Homecoming week

Every year, during the Homecoming week, the students from UFM participate in academic and recreative activities in which both students and parents are welcome.

The Inaugural Lesson is the most solemn of them all. During the week there is also a meeting of parents and professors after a concert.

[edit] Commencement ceremony

On May and November, UFM celebrates commencement ceremonies. During these the graduating students receive their titles and diplomas. On that occasion the Board of Directors award the honoris causa doctorates.

[edit] Honor graduates ceremony

The night before the Commencement ceremony, at UFM, they celebrate a ceremony and a cocktail party in praise of those students which graduate with honors, and to celebrate excelence (in Spanish). The honors awarded are Cum Laude, for those who obtained grades between 85 and 90: Magna Cum Laude, for those who obtained grades between 91 and 94; and Summa Cum Laude, for those who accumulated an average between 95 and 100.

[edit] Inaugural Lesson

The Inaugural Lesson enjoys a long academic tradition. At Universidad Francisco Marroquín it is an opportunity to get together the faculty and the students around the philosophy of freedom presented by a local or visiting professor.

The first Inaugural Lesson, at UFM, was presented by vicerector emeritus Rigoberto Juárez-Paz, and it was about Plato´s Academy.

[edit] Landmarks on campus

[edit] Francisco Marroquín’s bust

Universidad Francisco Marroquín has no religious affiliation; but it was named after bishop Marroquín because being the first prelate ordained in America, during the colonial times, he had two interest that are shared by UFM members: respect for the individual rights and the value of education. During his tenure as Bishop, Marroquín took care of the right of the indigenous people, and he donated part of his fortune to fund the first university in Central America.

Francisco Marroquín´s bust was donated to the University by the trustee Félix Montes in January, 1975. It´s author is the sculptor José Nicolás.

[edit] The bust of Friedrich A. Hayek

Friedrich A. Hayek is a champion of Freedom. He was awarded Nobel Prize in Economy in 1974 and he visited UFM in 1977 yo e awarded as a honoris causa doctor in Social Sciences.

At the House of Freedom, the auditorium located at the Academic Building is named after Hayek. His bust is located at the Ludwig von Mises Library and it was donated by Walter S. Morris, of Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1991.

[edit] The bust of Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises is a champion of freedom. He was one of the most distinguished members of the Austrian School of Economics. He visited Guatemala when invited by the Centro de Estudios Económico-Sociales and he was of great inspiration and support for the foundation of Universidad Francisco Marroquín.

His bust is at the library that bears his name. It was donated by the class of 1975 from the School of Business.

[edit] The Central Garden

Universidad Francisco Marroquín´s campus is beautifully integrated to the environment in which it was built. It is not a university with a garden, but a university in a garden said professor Donald Livingston when he visited the University. In the Central Garden, which seems a Greek theater, are celebrated the commencement ceremonies; and the bust of Francisco Marroquin presides the garden.

[edit] The Academic Building’s Garden

The garden, at the Academia Building is surrounded by classrooms and the administration´s offices 7 stories high. Nevertheless, with an air of a Japanese garden and it´s pond, it is an oasis of tranquility and of contact with the exuberance of the campus´ flora and fauna.

[edit] The fountain at the Ludwig von Mises Library

Between the Central Garden and the Ludwig von Mises Library, which one reaches through a bridge, there is a fountain. Full of fish and surrounded by vegetation, this fountain offers a peaceful environment, ideal for studying, for relaxation and for meditation.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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