| Universidad de Panamá | |
|---|---|
| Motto | "Towards the light" |
| Established | 1935 |
| Type | State Entity (Public) |
| Rector | Dr. Gustavo García de Paredes |
| Location | Vía Simón Bolivar, Panama City, Panama |
| Website | http://www.up.ac.pa |
The University of Panama was founded on October 7, 1935, with a student body of 175 in the fields of Education, Commerce, Natural Sciences, Pharmacy, Pre-Engineering and Law. As of 2008[update], it maintains a student body of 74,059 distributed in 228 buildings around the country.
The University of Panama was founded under the administration of the President of the Republic, Dr. Harmodio Arias Madrid. Its founder and first President was the distinguished citizen Dr. Octavio Méndez Pereira. The University of Panama is a state institution of superior, independent education, inspired by the highest civic, moral, and ethical values.
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The University of Panama was created by presidential decree on May 29, 1935. However, it began operations on October 7 of the same year in one of the wings of the Instituto Nacional (National Institute). Later on, under the administration of Enrique A. Jiménez, the government purchased around 60 hectares of land in the neighborhood of El Cangrejo, destined to be the future University's main campus.
The construction work began in January, 1948, under the supervision of the Engineer Alberto De Saint Malo, who was the Dean of the Engineering and Architecture Faculty at the time. The first four buildings to be constructed were those that would be home to Humanities, Engineering and Architecture, Science Laboratories, and Administration and Library. Classes in the new buildings began on May 29, 1950. However, the campus was officially inaugurated on November 1, 1953, the same year of the Republic's 50th Anniversary of Independence. In the 1950s, the construction work continued and 11 additional buildings were raised, some of which would hold the Biochemistry Center, and the Faculties of Pharmacy, and Public Administration and Commerce. In the following decade, 15 more buildings were constructed, among of which figure the Odontology and Law Faculties, and the Experimental Center for Agricultural Research in Tocumen.
Between 1970 and 1980, the buildings that were destined for Biology, Architecture, Engineering, Humanities (other), and those destined for the Simón Bolivar Library and for the Laboratory of Specialized Analysis, among others, were finished. At the end of 1979, the University of Panama received the facilities of the Rainbow City High School in Colón, where the first of the University's Regional Centers would begin operations. In the following decade, the Regional Centers for the provinces of Veraguas, Chiriquí and Coclé, and for the region of Azuero were built, including an Agricultural Sciences Faculty in Chiriquí.
In the 1990s, the Regional Center for Panamá Oeste (Western Panama) and four buildings destined for research were constructed. At the end of the decade, in 1999 to be more specific, the ARI (Interoceanic Regional Authority) transferred the buildings of the former Curundu Junior High School to the University of Panama. This complex would later hold the Harmodio Arias Madrid Campus. Other facilities transferred were the ones later used for the Veterinary Hospital, in Corozal. Also during this time, the University expanded its number of buildings by adding 19 more, thanks to the acquisition of adjacent buildings and to the construction of the Regional Center in Bocas del Toro, the extensions of Chepo and Darién, and the Popular Universities of Azuero and Coclé, today known as Universidades del Trabajo y La Tercera Edad (Universities of Labor and Elders).
Several international research agreements and personnel exchanges have been made by government agencies with the institution. Professors in areas of science and technology, medical health, economics and law have been invited to give keynotes and also teach in other campuses around the world. The University of Panama has also sent representatives to several international congresses and meetings such as Women and Gender, World Economic Forum, environmental congresses, biological research meetings, statistics congresses and many other disciplines.