Universidade Cândido Mendes is a private university located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is Latin America's oldest private university.
It was founded in 1902,[1] thus being the oldest private university in Latin America,[2] by the Count Cândido Mendes de Almeida.[1] The university was renamed to Escola Técnica de Comércio Cândido Mendes in the 1950s.[1] The law school was created by Cândido Mendes de Almeida Júnior during that decade.[1] The university's research institute, named IUPERJ, or Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro, was inaugurated in the 1960s.[1] The campi located in Ipanema, Campos dos Goytacazes and Nova Friburgo were inaugurated in the 1970s.[1]